Team Librarian Consultation

Web Resources:

Unlike library databases, these Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the UW Connectivity Kit or the UW Libraries Proxy Server for authentication. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.
• The Walt Disney Company:   Public company homepages are often (but not always) an excellent source for information about the company, with links to annual reports, company news, product details, information about corporate goals and culture, company financial information, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and company history. Look for the Investor Relations and About Us areas on the company homepage for company information.

  See the Business Information and Investor Relations sections for information about the company.

• Company Research (Business Week):   Business Week offers information on 4,000 companies in its Careers section (so some of the information is aimed at job-seekers), with a Corporate Snapshot, a Vault.Com Scoop, a Wetfeet.Com profile, as well as Business Week articles about the companies (some of which are available only for subscribers but are also available in the Foster Business Library database ABI/Inform Global).

  See Business Week's company profiles for Walt Disney.

• Quicken.Com:   This site is a good source for information about companies and about their position among their competitors; use the Compare Companies feature on the left menu for this information.

  See the company profile for Disney as well as the company's position among its competitors in terms of market capitalization in the Entertainment - Diversified industry.

• Yahoo! Finance:   This site is excellent for company and investment information as well as an excellent source for financial ratio comparisons with industry, sector and S&P 500.

  See the company profile for Disney as well as the excellent Ratio Comparisons for the company, its industry (which Yahoo considers to be Broadcasting and Cable TV), its sector, and the S&P 500.

• AFMA:   The AFMA was formerly known as the American Film Marketing Association; it is the trade association for the independent film and television industry. AFMA members distribute and often produce the films and programs made by firms outside the major U.S. studios. AFMA represents more than 170 member companies from 16 countries, including two dozen financial institutions. Collectively, its members produce more than 350 independent films and many hours of television programming each year and generate more than $4 billion in distribution revenues annually. Unlike the websites of some trade associations, there appear to be no readily available industry statistics and marketing data for nonmembers of the association.

  See the AFMA Member List, with links to member homepages and to company profiles; see also the film industry Links to industry publications, periodicals, related government sites, trade associations, and film commissions.

• The Motion Picture Association of America:   This association is the trade association of the major American motion picture industry, with board members including Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Universal Studios, Inc., and Warner Bros. The association site offers some useful industry information.

  See the 2001 U.S. Economic Review (a 44-page PDF file) and the 2001 Motion Picture Attendance Study as well as Related Sites. The 2002 U.S. Economic Review will be available in March 2003.

• Career Guide to Industries:   This Bureau of Labor Statistics site, part of the online Occupational Outlook Handbook, offers a career-oriented description of many industries, with information on the nature of the industry, working conditions, employment, occupations in the industry, training, earnings and outlook, as well as sources of additional information.

  Go to Motion Picture Production and Distribution.

• Harvard Business School Cases:   This site offers access to Harvard Business School's collection of over 7,000 cases as well as numerous other products, with a site search feature. The Foster Business Library does not collect Harvard Business School cases since they are designed for classroom use.

  A search, in all products, including cases, for Disney produced 49 items.

The Foster Reference Collection is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster.
• International marketing data and statistics.
  Demographic trends and forecasts, economic indicators, labor force, trade, energy, environment, consumer expenditures and market size, and retailing information for the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania; companion volume to European marketing data and statistics.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA42 .I56. 2003.
  Also available online.

  See Cinema and Film on pages 673 and 674.

• Statistical abstract of the United States.
  Information about many industries as well as demographic information; check index for references to tables. The sources for each table are often a valuable source of additional information.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA202 .U56 2001.

  See index page 978 for tables related to the Motion Pictures Industry.

• European marketing data and statistics.
  Demographic trends and forecasts, economic indicators, labor force, trade, energy, environment, consumer expenditures and market size, and retailing information for European countries.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA1107 .E87 2002.
  Also available online.

  See Cinema and Film on pages 435 to 440.

• U.S. industry & trade outlook.
  Industry by industry overview of the U.S. economy, with numerous tables, charts, industry reviews, forecasts and analyses.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC101 .U543 2000.

  See pages 32-3 to 32-4 for Motion Pictures.

• Standard & Poor's industry surveys.
  This three-volume set provides 30-page profiles on 52 industries with a focus on the current economic environment, trends, regulation and outlook for each industry. Major companies in each industry are profiled, with references to sources of additional industry information.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC106.6 .S74 October 2002.

  See the industry survey for Movies and Home Entertainment in volume three.

• Industry surveys.
  This excellent reference provides 25 essays, mostly by professors of economics, about 13 significant industries.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC106.8 .I53 1998.

  See the industry survey for Motion Pictures on pages 292 to 316.

• Business: the ultimate resource.
  This 2,200-page single volume is "designed to offer a wide range of insights, information, and practical guidance on every aspect of management" via 2.5 million words of text from 200 contributors, with 700 illustrations and 150 maps, in seven major sections including best practice, a management library, business thinkers and management giants, a business dictionary, a world business almanac, and a guide to business sources.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD38.15 .B878 2002.

  See Walter Disney on pages 1074 and 1075.

• The ultimate book of business brands.
  This slim paperback covers 50 companies from a brand perspective, with three to six page essays on each company.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD69 .B7 .C722 2003.

  See Disney on pages 31 to 35.

• Encyclopedia of global industries.
  Twelve-page descriptions of 125 global industries, with background and development information, current conditions, industry leaders and further reading.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2324 .E53 1999.

  See Motion Picture Production and Distribution, on pages 304 to 312.

• International directory of company histories.
  Studying the history of leading companies in an industry is a good way to learn more about the history of an industry. This set of more than forty volumes covers over 5,600 company histories worldwide, with each history running just two to four pages; check the company index in the latest volume to locate a specific company history or update as well as any other references to that company in other company histories. There is also an index by industry.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2721 .I57

  The history of the Walt Disney Company is in volume two, on pages 172 to 174; updates are in volume six, pages 174 to 177, and in volume 30, pages 487 to 491.

• U.S. industry profiles : the leading 100 industries.
  Industry snapshots, outlook, regulations, research, associations, societies, statistics, websites for 100 major U.S. industries.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2771 .U8 1998

  See Motion Pictures, on pages 383 to 393.

• Market share reporter.
  Annual compilation of U.S., Canadian and Mexican market share data for companies, products and services, arranged by SIC code, and with indexes by product, company and topic.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5410 .M35 2003.

  See Motion Pictures, pages 415 to 420.

• World market share reporter.
  An annual compilation of market share information for worldwide companies culled from thousands of periodical articles; use the company, product or brand indexes in the back of the volume to identify the company that you are researching.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5410 .W67 2001/2002.

  See Motion Pictures, pages 424 to 429.

• U.S. market trends & forecasts.
  This large volume provides an overview and projections for 400 significant industries and their component products or services, arranged alphabetically by industry name. For each product or service, there is a brief indication of the value of the U.S. market in 1998 and the compound U.S. market growth rate from 1993 to 1998 as well as a graph depicting market value in dollars and the growth rate. There is also a brief analysis of the market sectors for the product or service and a description of the market segmentation by volume for 1997, plus U.S. market share and market forecast information.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5415.1 .U8 2001

  See Motion Picture Production on pages 32 to 35.

• The Advertising Age encyclopedia of advertising.
  In three volumes, this heavily-illustrated encyclopedia includes profiles of more than 120 ad agencies worldwide, essays on 80 leading agencies, detailed articles on 40 U.S. agencies, biographies of 47 major advertising figures, as well as 160 significant corporate advertisers, brands, and campaigns, 20 essays on market research methods, and 52 essays on advertising tools and operations.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5803 .A28 2003.

  See Motion Pictures, in volume two, pages 1079 to 1087.

• Red book/Standard directory of advertisers.
  This annual two-volume publication is the most comprehensive source for information on the advertising practices of 24,000 U.S. and Canadian companies spending a minimum of $200,000 on national and regional advertising. Companies may be accessed by 54 business categories or by state, province or city. Entries for companies advertising include SIC codes, business descriptions, statistics, personnel, approximate advertising expenditures, and media. Entries for ad agencies often include the companies and brand names handled and the executive assigned to each account. Volume two includes indexes by product by state or province, by brand name, by SIC code and by personnel. There is also a geographic index volume.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S7 2002 (volume 1: businesses)
  

  See Walt Disney in volume one, page 297, and Miramax on page 307.

• Company/brand$.
  This two-volume work reports and itemizes all paid advertising space and expenditures in ten major media categories for companies and brands in America, in several hundred consumer and Sunday magazines, in newspapers, outdoor advertising, television, and radio.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5813 .U6 .C68 2001.
  

  See Disney in volume two, on pages 1079 to 1085.

• Encyclopedia of major marketing campaigns.
  This massive 2,000-page reference profiles 500 of the most notable advertising and marketing campaigns of the twentieth century, from Adolph Coor's Zima to Zenith Electronics' The Quality Goes in Before The Name Goes On. Arrangement is by company name and, if the company name is that of a person, by their first name. For each campaign, there is a four-page chapter with an overview, historical content, target market, competition, market strategy and outcome, as well as a few suggestions for further reading.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5837 .E53 2000.

  See Walt Disney on page 1905.

• Value Line investment survey.
  This large two-volume investment advice service provides regular reviews of 3,500 company stocks and their expected performance. The arrangement is not alphabetically by company; instead, use the index in a pocket in the front of the standard or expanded volumes to locate which volume your company is in and the issue number in which it appears.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4501 .V26

  Find Disney in the standard edition, issue number 12, page 1865, dated November 22, 2002; see also the chapter page for the Entertainment industry.

• Mergent / Moody's industrial manual.
  This two-volume work covers all companies listed on the New York and American stock exchanges, with extensive information about companies, including history, chronology, acquisitions, mergers, spinoffs, properties, joint ventures, subsidiaries, officers and directors, consolidated income and balance sheets for three and two years, respectively, long term debit, options, etc.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4961 .M67 2002.

  For Disney, see volume one, pages 1247 to 1249.

• Moody's industry review
  Statistical data on 3,000 companies in 137 industries, with ranking, key financial information, operating data and ratios.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4961 .M68 July 2002.

  See the section on Amusements for Disney.

• Plunkett's entertainment & media industry almanac.
  This almanac provides information on major trends and statistics for this industry, as well as hundreds of company profiles for major firms in this industry.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: P88.8 .P57 2002/2003.

  See Disney on page 466 and industry statistics and trends about Motion Pictures on pages 7 and 17.

• Entertainment industry economics.
  This single volume covers the financial aspects of major entertainment enterprises including movies, television, cable, music, casinos, theme parks, and toys in considerable detail, written by a former entertainment industry analyst at Merrill Lynch.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: PN1590 .F55 .V6 2002.

  See Movie Macroeconomics on pages 35 to 70 and Making and Marketing Movies on pages 72 to 99.

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics, including many books useful for country research. To identify relevant books, go to the UW Libraries Catalog on the Foster Business Library homepage (under Business Databases). Try searching by keyword. Use the Limit/Sort feature to create a list of books in the Foster Business Library and in order from newest book to oldest. To do so, use the pulldown menu under WHERE item is located to specify Foster Business Library and click on the box near the bottom Sort results by year. Then click on Limit/sort items retrieved using above data. Clicking on the titles in the resulting list will bring up the full catalog record, indicating which Foster area has the book (general stacks, reference, reserve, etc.), the call number and the circulation status.

Circulation status is indicated in the box in the middle of each online catalog record, on the right. Check Shelf indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. Due and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated.

The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

A keyword search for Disney retrieved a list of 393 records in the UW Libraries, with six records in the Foster Business Library collections, including:

• Building a company: Roy O. Disney and the creation of an entertainment empire.   (1999)

A subject search for Motion Picture Industry retrieved 721 records in the UW Libraries, with eight records in the Foster Business Library.

Foster Business Library Corporate Annual Reports:

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of several thousand annual reports for hundreds of U.S. and foreign companies. These reports are filed in lateral filing cabinets near the Foster Reference desk under the sign Corporate Annual Reports. Annual reports for companies in an industry can be a valuable source of information about the industry itself. For a list of all the companies in the Corporate Annual Reports collection, click here. For an index to corporate annual reports in the collection by industry sector, click here. For an index to companies in the collection with headquarters outside the U.S., click here.

See the reports for The Walt Disney Company and other companies in the Media Industry.

Foster Business Library Articles:

In addition to the 800 journals in the Foster Business Library Periodicals Collection, the Foster Business Library offers access to 11,000 full text periodical articles through its full text article databases such as: ABI/Inform Global, Factiva, and Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. These article databases may be found on the Foster Business Library homepage, listed alphabetically under Business Databases or in the Articles: Full Text folder.

Of these three main sources, all but Factiva are available from any computer on the campus network (as well as from home) via the UW Connectivity Kit or via the Libraries' proxy server. The easiest of these databases to use is ABI/Inform Global. For more information about accessing Foster Business Library databases from off campus, click here. For more information about business databases, click here.

• ABI/Inform Global:

  This database offers full text articles for over 800 journals. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box. ABI/Inform Global includes journals but not national or Washington state newspapers (though the Wall Street Journal is included). It also does not include valuable trade and industry and other periodicals. Your searches will span the widest possible array of publications by expanding your search to all databases in ABI/Inform. To expand your search to include all collections in this database, click on Select Multiple Databases, to the right of the search box. Click then on Select All Databases.

  Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article. For tips on searching this database, click here.

  As an example, a search for CO(Walt Disney Motion Pictures), in all collections, produced a list of 53 articles, for articles published since 1999; repeating this search in the 1986 to 1998 backfile produced a list of 76 articles.

  As another example, a search for CO(Walt Disney Motion Pictures) and marketing, also in all collections, produced a list of eight articles, searching in citations and abstracts, for articles published since 1999; expanding this search from citations and abstracts to the full text of all articles produced a list of 16 list of 34 articles.

  A search for CO(Walt Disney Co) and motion pictures and marketing produced eight articles, searching in citations and abstracts, and 44 articles, searching throughout full text, for post-1999 articles. A search for CO(Walt Disney Co) and information technology produced just two articles, searching in citations and abstracts, and 13 articles, searching throughout full text, for post-1999 articles.

  A search for Disney and advertising and internet produced 140 articles, searching in citations and abstracts; a search for disney and advertising and internet and movies retrieved 17 articles.

  A broader search for SUB(Motion picture industry) AND SUB(Electronic commerce) produced a list of 33 articles; for SUB(Motion picture industry) AND SUB(Internet), 181 articles; for SUB(Motion picture industry) AND SUB(Internet) and Disney, 14 articles, searching in citations and abstracts, and 43 articles, searching throughout full text.

The Foster Business Library Reference Desk is staffed nearly all of the hours that the library is open. The staff at the desk will be happy to help you find business research tools and resources, exploit business databases to the fullest or advise on research strategies. For e-mail questions, direct your query to balib@u.washington.edu. For assistance by telephone, dial (206) 543-8012 during library hours.

For research guides on a wide variety of industries, products, companies, issues and topics, see the Team Librarian Consultation archives.

• Team Consultation Course/Program Index      (MKTG Assignments)
• Team Consultation Industry Index      (Media Industry)
• Team Consultation Quarter Index
• Team Consultation Title Index
• Team Consultation and Research Guide Index

Need help with writing or revising the written part of your assignment? The Business Writing Center, in Lewis Hall 304, provides consultations on business class writing assignments (as well as cover letters, and resumes) with an advanced business student trained in critiquing drafts and coaching writers. Need help citing sources? Try our guide to Citing Sources.