Libraries
 

H209: Apparel Industries

Research for the Business Review 

Annual Reports 

Factiva, Hoovers, Mergent Online, and Thomson (see “Recommended Resources” on the left) contain annual reports and company profiles including divisions, number of retail stores, store locations, projected growth, key competitors, number of employees, top executive salaries, and target market. Your search may be more efficient if you know the SIC or stock ticker for your company.

 

For some companies the 2007 annual report may not be available. If this happens feel free to get advanced help at the library or online through the Ask A Librarian service (phone, e-mail, IM, chat)

 

Business Articles 

ABI Inform, Business Source, and Factiva (see “Recommended Resources” on the left) are excellent resources for finding trade or business publications.

 

Example:

Click on ABI Inform and try the following search

 

nieman marcus and marketing

 

wal mart and apparel and partnering

 

Important: Use “and” between search terms. Do not use words like “of”, “for”, “from” etc. in your searches. Read more about search techniques in “Class Links”

 

Locating the Wall Street Journal & Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) 

1) Go to ABI/Inform

2) Click on the “Publications” tab

3) Type Wall Street Journal

OR WWD

4) Search for a specific article or browse all past issues

 

What is a business or trade publication? 

The following are typical characteristics of a business or trade publication:

  • Discuss practical information and concerns in a particular industry.
  • Contain business news, product information, advertising, trends in technology, and laws.
  • Targeted at the professionals in that industry, or students researching that industry.
  • Articles are written by experts in the field for other experts in the field.
  • Articles use specialized jargon of the discipline.
  • Often include colorful illustrations and advertisements.
  • Publication does not involve a peer review process.
  • Sources are sometimes cited, but articles do not usually include footnotes or a bibliography.
  • Are typically published weekly or monthly.