Business & Business Communication

Overview

This research guide contains links, tools, examples, and resources as an introduction to business and business communication.

The library is a great place to ask for help and gain reliable information to complete your courses. If you have any questions about the assignment details please reach out directly to your professor.

Finding Company Information

Finding Company information can be tricky!

Many business prefer not to publicly post internal information as a way to protect their business models. You will need to search in many places to find a company financial information, HR structures, communication pathways, another other items. In many instances you may not find exactly what you are looking for, but something very close to what you need.

Example:

  • You are not able to find the annual reports for 2023, BUT you can find the reports for 2022.
  • You can not find how much a company spend on their HR software, BUT you can find the average price of HR software that typically support a company of that size
  • You can not find the salary of the CEO, BUT you can look at average incomes for similar companies 

As long as you are using reliable and trusted information and do good detective work, you can pull assumptions and very educated guesses on what a CEO might make, or spend on certain software.

Good places to start your Company Research:

  • IBISWorld
  • Passport-Euromonitor
  • Mergent Online
  • UCanSearch
  • Company Website found though search engine *ensure you are using trusted sites*


You will need to cite all of the sources you used to support your analysis in order to show the reader how you arrived to the information.

Check out the Company Information Guide for more research tips

Instructional Videos

Introduction to Library Research: Recorded Workshop

Using the UCanSearch on the Library home page is the best place to start your research. Please watched the recording of Introduction to Library Research workshop to learn the best way to find reliable and academic sources.


This workshop is offered as live and self-guided. See the Workshops page to see the full library workshop schedule.

Vividata

This database will help you find consumer behavior information. Vividata only provides Canadian information about Canada so its easy to collect local data!

The video will give you basic instructions on how to look through variables, learn about survey questions, and create data tables. You can always download the tables into excel and create your own data visualization to support your client's needs.

Please note any information used from Vividata needs to be cited, even if you have created a chart or graph on your own, the location of where you got the information needs to be cited correctly.

Open this database from the Vividata Resource Page

Similar databases include Statista: Global Consumer Insights

 IBISWorld

This database contains thousands of Industry Reports! Every business decision you make will take place in a business environment. IBISWorld is how you learn more about the environment.

This video will how you have to do a keyword search in IBISWorld and what some of the report sections look like.

Connect to this database from the IBISWorld Resource Page

Business Reports

The intention of a business report is to inform stakeholders on the company's organization, identify obstacles, performance tracking and provide financial insights. Supports data-driven decision making.

Examples and Help Guides:

Business Proposals

A business proposal is designed to persuade a given audience to make a specific business decision.

Examples and Help Guides:

Business Plans

A business plan is a road map for yourself and stakeholders. It will demonstrate in detail future directions your company go and specific how it will accomplish specific goals. This document will showcase how your business will grow and the plan you will implement to succeed.

Examples and Help Guides:

 

Intersession Notice

The library will be operating a reduced hours schedule from March 30 - April 10 for Intersession week. Check the events calendar and hours of operations for more details.