Online Resources: Business Insights
About Business Insights
Business Insights
Business Insights is the library's best database for business research. It provides access to information about countries, companies, and industries, more than 1,500 case studies, comparison charts, articles, and a company finder tool. Extensive information for publicly traded companies includes company profiles and history, SWOT reports, and financial data.
Public or Private?
Before trying to do research on a company--especially before choosing a company to base a project/paper on--first determine if the company is public or private.
Public companies are traded on a stock exchange (e.g. NYSE, NASDAQ), and since members of the public can become part-owners of those companies, the SEC requires them to publish extensive information, especially financial information, so the public can make informed decisions.
Private companies are not traded on any public stock exchange, so they do not have the SEC disclosure requirements of public companies. These companies can be owned by families, small groups, individual investors, and/or any combination. Some large private companies include Cargill, Mars, and State Farm.
- Since private companies are not required to disclose/publish any information about themselves, there is less information available about private companies--this is especially true for financial information.
For all companies, but especially public companies, you also need to check whether the company you're considering is a Parent or Subsidiary. In today's business world, many companies, even those which used to be independent, are now subsidiaries of large conglomerates. A good example is The Walt Disney Company (Disney)--subsidiaries include ESPN and ABC television networks, multiple theme parks, and multiple movie studio names including Pixar and Marvel Studios. (https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/)
**So, financial information for subsidiaries is often filed under the name of the parent company. Also, some subsidiaries of public companies are privately-held.**
If you're having trouble with this essential initial stage of your company research, please contact the library for assistance (so you're searching our databases under the correct name).
Accessing Business Insights
- Business Insights This link opens in a new window
Do I have to log in?
If you are using a campus computer or campus WiFi, you should be able to directly access the resource. If you are off-campus, you will be prompted to log in using your Single Sign-On username and password. Contact the library if you have any problems accessing the resource.
Searching in Business Insights
Searching
The main page of Business Insights offers a number of shortcuts. Scroll to see Most Searched Companies, Most Used Publications, Most Used Topics, Most Searched Industries, and Most Searched Countries / Territories. You can also browse all of those categories by clicking the buttons on the left. If you know what you are looking for you can use the search box at the top to search by:
- Company name or ticker symbol
- Article title
- Country
- Industry
- Topic
As you enter your terms suggested searches will appear below.
Advanced Search
- Placing your keywords on different lines and using the drop-down boxes allows you to connect your search with AND, OR, and NOT
- If you type more than one word into the same box, the search automatically places AND between the words (for example, if you type the search string health care field your search string is interpreted as health AND care AND field), so…
- Use quotation marks (“ ”) to search for an exact phrase ("health care field")
- Use an asterisk (*) to look for multiple characters (ex. 'penn*' will search for 'penny' or 'Pennsylvania')
- Use a question mark (?) to look for a single character (ex. 'm?th' will search for 'moth', 'math' or 'myth')
<Insert training video. As of 10/25/2022 Gale didn't have any with new interface>
Finding Company Information
Finding companies
If you are not sure which company to look for, from the main page, click Browse All Companies
or click the Browse icon and select companies. 
You can then use the drop down arrows to select if you are looking for Public or Private companies, the range of revenue, search by NAICS code, the location by country and by state or province, and if you are looking companies with specific data available - SWOT analysis, company history, and / or chronology. Click Apply as you select your filters and the applied filters will appear below the options.
Company Profile Page
Once you have selected a company the Company profile page at the top you can quickly access the company's official website and social media platforms, Revenue, number of Employees, the company hierarchy (if it is or has subsidiaries), if the company is private or public (with its ticker symbol), where the headquarters are, who the CEO is, which country it is in, and when it was founded.
As you scroll down the page you can access the company overview and SWOT analysis, followed by Financial performance, who their main competitors are, and information on the Industry the company operates in. At the bottom there will be articles. You can scroll through to select the type of articles you'd like or select: Academic, Magazine, News, or trade articles, as well as articles on market share, and case studies.
Within articles you can highlight and take notes. Download or Send these to yourself before exiting the page.
Financial Information
Under Financial performance on a company's profile page you can access their Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Income Statement, Ratios, and view the company's Financial Performance Over Time. From within any of these you can download the data to create your own tables and charts in Excel, and add competitors to compare to your selected company . Investment Reports will download as pdfs and SEC filings are also available from within the financial performance options. 
Comparing companies, industries, or countries
There are 2 ways to compare companies. The 1st was mentioned earlier - from within a company's financial performance pages you can add company's to compare. The 2nd way is from the tools at the top right of the page. 
Using this tool allows you to compare industries, and countries / territories, as well as companies.
On the left, select what you are comparing (Companies, Industries, or Countries), who you are comparing, and if you want to view the information as a chart or a table.
With the tools at the top right you can Print your results or use 'Send To' to save the results to your Google Drive or OneDrive, or email it (as a pdf). The 'Get Link' option only takes you to the compare options, not to your results.
Download the results as an image (jpg or pdf), or in csv or xlsx format.
Using a Company's Website
A company's website is a valuable source of information. Many companies, especially large and publicly-traded companies, have extensive websites that provide much of the basic information you might need for a paper or project. (See the main Company Information page for an example using the Bank of America website.)
If you need help navigating one of these websites, please contact the library.
How to cite a database reference
**When using a generated citation, you must double check it for accuracy! It’s not unusual for a database to have an error in a citation!**
Database information is typically not included in most references because sources can be found in multiple platforms. The goal of a citation is to allow the reader to find the source, not to tell them how to find the source. Meaning a particular article may be found in Ebsco, or Gale, on the publisher's website. Database information is only included if they have "original, proprietary content and works of limited circulation" (Business Insights, Proquest dissertations & theses, Cochrane database of systematic reviews). URLs are usually not included because the reader would need to login to access the source, but your professor may request that you include them.
- Business Insights This link opens in a new window
Your business intelligence resource containing case studies, statistical data sources, news articles, academic journals, and other material organized by country, company and industry.
The citation tool above results in this for an article:
Peters, R., & Quinn, M. (2018). Agrowtopia: Cultivating Community, Consciousness and Capital on Campus. Journal of Case Studies, 36(3). Retrieved from https://bi.gale.com/global/article/GALE|A597895516/48398b0d65e763958fb4d0e51125f445?u=centpenn_itc1#
The correct citation will not include the database information because the article can be found in other databases or through an online search. If there were a DOI, the DOI url would be included. If there were page numbers, they would be included after the issue number. Since there isn't a DOI, or page numbers, and the URL would take the reader to a login page the URL is not included. The reference ends after the volume number.
Peters, R., & Quinn, M. (2018). Agrowtopia: Cultivating community, consciousness and capital on campus. Journal of Case Studies, 36(3).
In Business Insights there is a good chance you will be retrieving items that are not articles, but reports and other data. These sources do not have the citation tool option. These reports might not be found elsewhere so the name of the database is included, along with the retrieval date if they update over time and are not archived.
Author. (Year, Month day of publication). Title of the report [Type of report]. Database name.
OR, if the content updates and you should include the retrieval date:
Author. (Year, Month day of publication). Title of the report [Type of report]. Retrieved date, from Database name.
For example:
GlobalData. (2019, March). Starbucks Corp - Financial and strategic analysis review. Business Insights.
New Constructs. (2022, February 19). Meta Platforms Inc. (FB) [Investment report]. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from Business Insights.
Starbucks Corp. [Company profile]. (2019). Business Insights. Retrieved February 13, 2020, from Business Insights.
McDonald's Corp. (2020). [McDonald's Corp. interim - last 5 periods Income statement]. Retrieved February 18, 2020, from Business Insights.
** When using a generated citation, you must double check it for accuracy! It’s not unusual for a database to have an error in a citation!**
Database information is not included in most references because sources can be found in multiple platforms. The goal of a citation is to allow the reader to find the source, not to tell them how to find the source. Meaning a particular article may be found in Ebsco, or Gale, on the publisher's website. Database information is only included if they have "original, proprietary content and works of limited circulation" (Proquest dissertations & theses, Cochrane database of systematic reviews). URLs are not included because the reader would need to login to access the source.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
A great place to start your research. Credo provides 24/7 access to general reference works (dictionaries & encyclopedias) as well as charts and images. Among other tools there are thousands of topic pages to assist research by highlighting additional resources provided by the library.
In Credo, either use the citation tool at the top of the page or find the APA citation following each entry.
Copy and paste the citation, and then make any necessary corrections.
This is how a citation from a reference work is generally structured.
Author's last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Year). Title of entry. In Title of reference work (edition). Publisher name.
This is what the copied citation looks like using the citation tools in Credo:
Almost correct, but it does not need the URL in 7th edition APA. This is how it should look:
Posluszny, D., Spencer, S., & Baum, A. (2007). Post-traumatic stress disorder. In S. Ayers, A. Baum, C. McManus, & et. al. (Eds.), Cambridge handbook of psychology, health and medicine (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
The following example, is if there is no author.
Hormone therapy. (2016). In Merriam Webster's Medical Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
** When using a generated citation, you must double check it for accuracy! It’s not unusual for a database to have an error in a citation!**
Database information is not included in most references because sources can be found in multiple platforms. The goal of a citation is to allow the reader to find the source, not to tell them how to find the source. Meaning a particular article may be found in Ebsco, or Gale, on the publisher's website. Database information is only included if they have "original, proprietary content and works of limited circulation" (Proquest dissertations & theses, Cochrane database of systematic reviews). URLs are not included because the reader would need to login to access the source.
- Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
Ebook Central offers full-text access to thousands of books. In your personal bookshelf, you may customize your content by adding notes and highlighting text. Use your Blackboard account information to log into your personal bookshelf.
Ebook Central has a Citation tool available both on the Detail Page and in the Reader view of the ebook. 
Book and ebook citations are treated the same. They require the following elements: author(s), year of publication, book title, book edition (if applicable), and publisher name. Ebook Central does not need to be listed as the database.
Author's last name, initials. (year of publication). Title of book: With only capitalization of first word of title and subtitle and any proper nouns. Publisher. DOI or URL
Change the format in the drop-down box to APA. The citation ends after the publisher's name because there is no DOI and the URL will not work without logging in. "Dark Knight" is one of Batman's most well-known nicknames, and the name Batman is also a proper noun, so all three words should be capitalized. You also don't need to include the business structure information (Limited). The corrected citation is:
Brooker, W. (2012). Hunting the Dark Knight: Twenty-first century Batman. I.B. Tauris & Company.
**When using a generated citation, you must double check it for accuracy! It’s not unusual for a database to have an error in a citation!**
Database information is not included in most references because sources can be found in multiple platforms. The goal of a citation is to allow the reader to find the source, not to tell them how to find the source. Meaning a particular article may be found in Ebsco, or Gale, on the publisher's website. Database information is only included if they have "original, proprietary content and works of limited circulation" (Proquest dissertations & theses, Cochrane database of systematic reviews). URLs are usually not included because the reader would need to login to access the source.
- EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
EBSCOhost Web is our most powerful periodicals database, offering the most full text access to scholarly journals, magazines, news articles and e-books.
When you click the Cite tool button the popup screen provides citations in a variety of styles. Scroll down to find the APA citation. Copy & paste it into your paper and then correct it for 7th edition style if necessary. Articles should follow this format:
Author's last name, first initial. middle initial. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume#(issue#), pages-pages. DOI or URL
In the example below, the first word of the subtitle (after the colon) should be capitalized, but the 'of' in the Journal title should not be.
Corrected citation:
Dury, R. (2016). COPD and emotional distress: Not always noticed and therefore untreated. British Journal of Community Nursing, 21(3), 138–141. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjcn.2016.21.3.138
Business reports are treated differently because these reports might not be found elsewhere; in this situation the name of the database is included. If the information updates over time and is not be archived, include the retrieval date.
Author. (Year, Month day of publication). Title of the report [Type of report]. Database name.
OR, if the content updates and you should include the retrieval date:
Author. (Year, Month day of publication). Title of the report [Type of report]. Retrieved date, from Database name.
Citation example of corrected MarketLine report in Business Source Premier:
MarketLine. (2019, October 28). Company profile: Netflix, Inc. Business source Premier.
[You'll find the date on the first page of the PDF, bottom left.]
**When using a generated citation, you must double check it for accuracy! It’s not unusual for a database to have an error in a citation!**
Database information is not included in most references because sources can be found in multiple platforms. The goal of a citation is to allow the reader to find the source, not to tell them how to find the source. Meaning a particular article may be found in Ebsco, or Gale, on the publisher's website. Database information is only included if they have "original, proprietary content and works of limited circulation" (Proquest dissertations & theses, Cochrane database of systematic reviews). URLs are not included because the reader would need to login to access the source.
- Films On Demand This link opens in a new window
Films On Demand is a Web-based digital video delivery service that allows you to view streaming videos from Films Media Group anytime, anywhere, 24/7! Choose from thousands of high-quality educational titles in dozens of subject areas.
Films on Demand does have a Citation tool available directly below the video frame.
HOWEVER--Films on Demand citations for APA are usually incomplete and should not include a URL (APA citations should only have a retrieval date if the content might change).
You can start with the citation from Films on Demand, but you will need to correct it and finish it yourself with help from a style guide, a librarian, and/or your professor.
Here is an example citation from a Films on Demand video:
As you can see, the video director or producer is missing. However, that information is easily available in the database.
In the image below you can see, in the Details section, that the video producer is Java Films.
A correct APA citation for this film would be:
Java Films (Producer). (2014). The mobile revolution [Video].
Many videos in Films on Demand are divided into segments, and sometimes you might only use a segment in a project/presentation.
To cite a segment: Add the segment name and number to the citation
Java Films (Producer). (2014). Disruptive technology [segment 13]. In The mobile revolution [Video].
**When using a generated citation, you must double check it for accuracy! It’s not unusual for a database to have an error in a citation!**
Database information is not included in most references because sources can be found in multiple platforms. The goal of a citation is to allow the reader to find the source, not to tell them how to find the source. Meaning a particular article may be found in Ebsco, or Gale, on the publisher's website. Database information is only included if they have "original, proprietary content and works of limited circulation" (Proquest dissertations & theses, Cochrane database of systematic reviews). URLs are not included because the reader would need to login to access the source.
- Gale Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
This collection of databases contains extensive coverage in business, physical sciences, information science and technology, medicine, terrorism, criminal justice and much more.
Articles should follow this basic format:
Author's last name, first initial. middle initial. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume#(issue#), pages-pages. DOI or URL
This is the citation that Gale displays:
Volkow, N. D., & Blanco, C. (2020). Medications for opioid use disorders: clinical and pharmacological considerations. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 130(1), 10+. Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A612694392/AONE?u=centpenn_itc1&sid=AONE&xid=64436e81.
It should be:
Volkow, N. D., & Blanco, C. (2020). Medications for opioid use disorders: Clinical and pharmacological considerations. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 130(1), 10-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1172/JCI134708
The page numbers indicated (10+) weren't correct. Downloading the article you are able to find the page range on the PDF, and there was a doi provided.
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