Business Blog

The Wikipedia can be a good resource to use, with limitations. It is a resource that is under constant scrutiny in the academic and library communities. Some view the Wikipedia as an excellent free source of information. Others disregard it as a valuable resource because they are concerned about the Wikipedia’s authority. Personally, I think it is a great resource to use when you are first getting started on a topic, and perhaps know nothing about the topic. Because the Wikipedia is so broad, you can search for almost anything. The articles that you find might give you a better idea of the subject, which can help you figure out other places to look for information.

For the business researcher, there are several categories and articles in the Wikipedia that might be of some interest. I am suggesting these as a starting point for ideas, as I strongly encourage you to do the lion’s share of your business research in the library’s databases.

Wikipedia articles of interest to the business researcher:

• The Fortune 500
• Companies Trade on the NYSE
• Types of Companies
• Companies By Stock Exchange
• Companies Based in Ohio

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Business Week has released a Top 100 Global Brands Scorecard. “The brands were selected according to two criteria. They had to be global in nature, deriving 20% or more of sales from outside their home country. There also had to be publicly available marketing and financial data on which to base the valuation.”

Link via Resourceshelf

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I am constantly updating the Biz Wiki, but I thought I would mention a few new updates for this week. The beautiful thing about this wiki is that I can add things as they come up. Additions are usually driven by patron questions. If you’d like to see something added, let me know.

One question we get a lot is about International Tax law and international business regulations. I ahave an article in the Biz Wiki called International Tax, Finance, and Legal Information.

Also, students are always looking for Industry reports/overviews/analyses. I just discovered this morning that I have been neglecting using Mergent Online for Industry reports. They are really good reports, I’ve just forgotten about them for 2 years. (Actually, when we bought Mergent 2 years ago, the collection was not very good, but is has since grown). Take a look at the Biz Wiki article called Mergent Online Industry Reports.

Finally, students still have problems finding annual reports, so I wrote an article at titled Company Annual Reports.

All articles are works in progress (as is the Biz Wiki). If you want to add or edit something, simply click Edit at the top of the page. A user account is required, but it’s easy to create.

As you look at the articles, make sure you take a look at the Category for each one. The category link is like a subject heading (albeit created by Chad) and will lead you to similar stuff. The link to an article’s category is always at the bottom of the page. Also, at times I will put a “See also” link at the bottom of the page to cross-reference another article.

Also, if you’d like to see a list of all the articles, take a look at the All Pages Section. If you want to see which ones have been getting the most traffic, go to the Popular Pages section.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.

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