This copyrighted document is intended solely for use in Jared Harris and Michael Lenoxs Business Strategy

Specialization on Coursera. Any other use is prohibited. To order The Strategists Toolkit, please contact Darden
Business Publishing at permissions@dardenbusinesspublishing.com.

GatheringStrategicIntelligence

Dow Jones Factiva. You can check for articles in major publications such as the Wall Street
Journal, BusinessWeek, or even in relevant trade journals using Factiva
(http://global.factiva.com/),adatabasethatcontainsfulltextarticlesforregionalnewspapers,
magazines, press releases, and newswires. The company Snapshot under the
Companies/Markets tab in Factiva provides Reuters business descriptions and Datamonitor
analytics.

LexisNexis Academic Universe. Much like Factiva, LexisNexis (http://web.lexis

nexis.com/universe)canbehelpfulforidentifyingnewsarticlesfromU.S.regionalnewspapers,
magazines, trade publications, newswire services, and major international newspapers. In
addition, LexisNexis provides access to SEC filings, company summaries from Hoovers, and
companyfinancialratiosforthepastthreeyears.Youcanalsoaccessbiographicalinformation,
U.S. federal and state court cases, law review articles, U.S. patents, and legal cases from a
selectionofcountries.

Mergent Online. Mergent Online (http://www.mergentonline.com) is a very useful and

comprehensive database containing detailed financial information and highlights, company
histories,anddataonjointventuresandalliances.ThedatabasehasdirectlinkstoEDGARfor
public filings. Mergent Online can be a useful if you are interested in information on a firms
boardofdirectors,keypersonnel,andinstitutionalshareholders.Youcanalsoresearchcompany
earningsestimatesandMergentOnlinesownequityresearchreports.

Mergent Horizon. Mergent Horizon (http://www.mergenthorizon.com) can be quite useful in

providing stakeholder data, such as financial and other data for a focal firms suppliers and
customers.Inaddition,thedatabasecontainsaMergerandAcquisitionScenarioReportBuilder
function,allowingyoutoseewhatahypotheticalmergeroracquisitionbetweentwopublicfirms
wouldlooklike,withaparticularfocusonoverlappingandcomplementaryproductlinesandkey
businessrelationships.

ResearchInsight.Thisdatabaserequiresspecialsoftwareinstalledonlyonselectworkstationsin
research libraries. Research Insight gives you access to the Compustat database, the most
comprehensive source of financial data available on markettraded firms. It provides annual,
quarterly,andmonthlyfinancialinformation,ratios,growthrates,lineofbusiness,monthlystock
prices, and other market data for over 10,000 active public companies that trade on U.S.
exchangesand7,000companiesthatnolongerfilewiththeSEC.

SDCPlatinum.Thisdatabasealsorequiresspecialsoftwareinstalledonlyonselectworkstations
in research libraries. SDC Platinum focuses on initial public offerings, venture capital, private
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This copyrighted document is intended solely for use in Jared Harris and Michael Lenoxs Business Strategy
Specialization on Coursera. Any other use is prohibited. To order The Strategists Toolkit, please contact Darden
Business Publishing at permissions@dardenbusinesspublishing.com.

equityinvestment,andmergers.Forinstance,itprovidesinformationanddataonalltypesof
newsecurityissues,includingbothequityanddebtissuance.

BloombergFinancialMarkets.ThisdatabaseisonlyavailableonBloombergterminalsinresearch
libraries.Bloombergprovidesrealtimeandhistoricaldataonawiderangeofinvestmentvehicles
includingstocks,bonds,commodities,currencies,indices,etc.Youcanaccesspriceandother
dataoninternationalsecurities,recentnewswirearticlesandpressreleases,informationabout
corporateexecutivesanddirectors,andfeaturesthatallowyoutocomparesecurities.

Investex
Plus.
Thomson
Researchs
Investex
Plus
(http://research.thomsonib.com/gaportal/ga.asp) gives you access to analyst reports on
particularfirmsbyvariouscontributorsandanalystinformationonindustries.

CareerSearch.Whiletypicallyusedasatoolforjobhuntingandcareerservices,CareerSearch
(http://www.careersearch.net) can also occasionally help when doing strategy research
especiallyforsmallerfirmsthataredifficulttofindinthelargerresearchdatabases.CareerSearch
contains information about companies from a number of company directories and database
providers, including CorpTech, Grey House Publishing, Thomson Financial Publishing, and
ThomsonNelson.

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