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.
• Home Depot:   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.

  Go to Company Information for company history, corporate responsibility, company officers, global presence, awards, etc. See also their Investor Relations for financial information, including annual reports back to 1982 (unlike many companies, who offer only the past three years or so).

• 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 the links to information on Home Depot.

• Industry At A Glance:   This U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics site is a good source for information and data about U.S. industries.

  See Retail Trade. See also the Annual Benchmark Report for Retail Trade and Food Services (92 pages in PDF format), part of their Annual Retail Trade Data.

• Ernst & Young--Industries:   This Ernst & Young site, while trying to sell their products and services, also provides some free information about seven industry sectors:   Energy/Chemicals/Utilities; Financial Services; Health Sciences; Industrial Products; Real Estate/Hospitality/Construction; Retail & Consumer Products; and Technology/Communications & Entertainment.

  See their Retail & Consumer Products industry information, including Trends and a Library of downloadable documents about this industry from Ernst & Young.

• 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 Home Depot as well as the company's position among its competitors in terms of market capitalization in the Home Improvement Stores 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 Home Depot as the Direct Competitor Comparison for the company.

• National Retail Federation:   This organization is the world's largest retail trade association, including department, specialty, independent, discount and mass merchandizing corporations in the U.S. and in 50 other nations. See their monthly retail industry pulsetakings, the Retail Executive Opinion Survey. It also publishes STORES magazine, with annual listings of the Top 100 Retailers, Top 100 Specialty Stores, and Top 200 Global Retailers (the last of these is in PDF format). There is also a search engine for STORES.

  Home Depot was near the top of most of the 2002 and 2003 rankings, right behind Wal-Mart Stores.

• Advertising Age:   This site offers an extensive amount of information about the advertising industry, including a section called Ad Age Dataplace, in the left menu, with information on such topics as measured ad spending by category and reports on Web traffic and advertising.

  See the list of 100 leading national advertisers for 2002; Home Depot is ranked #30. See also the list of 2003 Megabrands; Home Depot home supply stores is ranked #12 (ahead of Wal-Mart).

• Porter's Five Forces:   This site is from QuickMBA, with a good summary of Porter's five forces. "QuickMBA is an online knowledge resource for business administration. Our goal is to help you to quickly find the business knowledge you need, when you need it, wherever you may be. Topics are presented as frameworks and summaries in the various subjects of business administration, as taught in the world's top MBA programs. QuickMBA is operated by the Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, Inc. No registration is required." See also their SWOT Analysis page. For similar pages, see Business Resource Software, Inc.'s pages on the Michael Porter Five Forces Model and SWOT Analysis. Finally, see Porter's homepage.

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 Department Stores on pages 427 and 430.

• 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.
  Also available online.

  See index page 956 for Department Stores.

• 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 Department Stores on pages 280 and 287.

• 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

  See the industry survey, dated March 2003, for Retailing, Specialty in volume three; Home Depot is one of the companies featured in the Comparative Company Analysis at the end of the survey, in the Home Improvement Retail group.

• The encyclopedia of management.
  This one-volume covers 348 management topics, arranged alphabetically from Activity-Based Costing to Zero-Sum Game.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD30.15 .E49 2000.

  See SWOT analysis and the five forces on pages 882 to 884.

• 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 the Industry Profile for Retailing on pages 1882 to 1884. See Michael Porter on pages 900 to 901 and pages 1038 to 1039; both sections cover his five forces; see also Performing a SWOT analysis on pages 468 to 469.

• 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 Retail Department Stores, starting on page 934.

• 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 thirty volumes covers over 4,700 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

  See the history of Home Depot in volume V, pages 75 to 76, with an update in volume 18, pages 238 to 240.

• 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 2004.

  See Home Depot in tables 1402, 1403, 1495 and 1406 on pages 330 and 331, and in table 1504 on page 352.

• 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 Home Depot in table 1335 on page 359.

• Plunkett's retail industry almanac.
  This almanac offers information about major industry trends, industry statistics, industry information, major companies in the industry, with indexes by state, country, region, etc. The major part of the almanac provides one-page profiles of companies in the industry, with directory information, growth plans and special features, contacts, brief financials, brief salary and benefits data, and women officer-director and advancement information.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5428 .P558 2003.

  See Home Depot on page 292 and chapter one for major trends in the retailing industry.

• Ad $ summary.
  This two-volume work reports paid advertising expenditures in major media categories for companies and brands in America.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5801 .A18 January-December 2001.
  

  See Home Depot in Book I, on page 348.

• 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 Home Depot on page 107.

• 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 Home Depot in Book I, page 465.

• Mergent 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 2003.

  For Home Depot, see volume one, pages 1609 to 1610.

• Mergent industry review.
  Statistical data on 3,000 companies in 137 industries, with rankings, key financial information, operating data and ratios, etc.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4961 .M68.

  Home Depot may be found in the Retail—Specialty Stores industry, on pages 411 to 416, in the August 2003 to January 2004 issue.

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 Home Depot produced a list of just three records, including just two records in the Foster Business Library, one of them the company's annual reports, and the other:

• Inside Home Depot: how one company revolutionized an industry through the relentless pursuit of growth   (1999)

See also books that refer to Home Depot such as:

• The new management: democracy and enterprise are transforming organizations   (1996)
• Common interest, common good   (2000)   See chapter three, Corporate Volunteering: Home Depot and KaBOOM!.
• Getting employees to fall in love with your company   (1996)   See chapter three, Three of the Best: The Home Depot, St. Petersburg Times, Southwest Airlines.

See also the subject Department Stores; a subject search for this term, limited to the Foster Business Library, retrieved a list of over 60 records.

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.

The collection includes annual reports for Home Depot as well as competitors in the Retail sector.

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 on all of the 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 in this database, in all databases, for CO(Home Depot) produced over 5,000 articles, including ten articles in scholarly journals, over 160 articles in magazines, over 1,400 articles in trade publications, and over 2,500 newspaper articles.

  This search phrase may be combined with other subject searches to narrow and focus the list of articles. Examples include:

  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Business growth), over 140 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Competition), over 280 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Hardware stores), over 200 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Market strategy), over 115 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and Outlook, over 35 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Retail stores), over 850 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Retailing industry), over 700 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Statistical data), over 80 articles;
  • CO(Home Depot) and SUB(Trends), over 65 articles.

Help:

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      (Management/Business Policy Consultations)
• Team Consultation Industry Index      (Retail)
• 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.

Finally, if you prepare a research paper, consider submitting it for a $1000 prize. The University Libraries will award prizes for outstanding examples of undergraduate library research in any discipline and media--print, video, electronic--completed for a University of Washington course in the 2003-2004 academic year. Up to three prizes will go to lower-division students (freshman/sophomore), and three to upper-division students (junior/senior). Details are available online at http://www.lib.washington.edu/researchaward/.

Prof. Phelps' MGT 430 Webpage