Team Librarian Consultation

Foster Business Library Databases:

The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of business databases on its homepage; see under Business Databases; see also the four folders at the top of that list for lists of Foster databases by topic:  books, articles--full text, articles--citations and abstracts, and company and industry.   For more information on the three dozen Foster business databases, click here.   For more information about which of the three dozen Foster business databases to use, click here.   For more information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, click here. For answers to some frequently-asked questions about connecting to UW library databases from off-campus, click here. And, finally, see the UW Libraries' Database Usage Guidelines.
• Hoovers Online:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Hoovers Online offers information about 14,000 public and private companies worldwide, with links to company homepages and annual reports, charts, company capsule, competitors, divisions, earnings, financials, Fortune and Forbes rankings, history, industry information, insider trading, mission statements, news links, press releases, officers, patents, products, SEC filings, splits, subsidiaries, etc. Some of the information on this site is free and available on the Web (not just through the Foster Business Library homepage) but, via the Foster homepage, you can access the more detailed Subscriber content.

  See the company fact sheet for the NIKE, Inc., as well as the longer Company Overview, Products/Operations, and Competitive Landscape. See the list of competitors in the Footwear industry.

• Investext:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases; also listed under Company and Industry. Investext contains indexing and the full text of company and industry research reports prepared by leading Wall Street firms, as well as regional and international brokerage and financial firms. All reports are in PDF format. (This database is available widely on campus and may be accessed from home via the U.W. connectivity kit or via the Libraries' proxy server.)

  A company search for the ticker symbol NKE produced a list of more than 800 reports.

• Lexis-Nexis Academic:   To find company information, go to Business and then to Company Financial where you can obtain financial and other data for companies. Information is available from twenty different sources (each of which must be searched separately). Included among the sources is Hoovers Online, with members' access to company profiles. SEC filings, particularly company 10K annual reports, are a particularly rich source of company as well as industry information. Use your browser's Find command (or Control-F) to locate references to particular terms of interest in 10K filings such as trends, strategy, competitors, industry, etc. (This database is available widely on campus and may be accessed from home via the U.W. connectivity kit or via the Libraries' proxy server.)

  A search for SEC 10-K reports for NKE, for all dates, retrieved over 74 filings (or parts of filings). In the 10K filings, look for references to Marketing, International Operations, Information Technology, China, and Russia.

• Euromonitor Market Research Monitor:   This database provides global consumer market information, with demographics, trends and developments, market background, market sizes and forecasts, market shares, key players, and company profiles. This database provides over 1,800 reports with market data and detailed company profiles, including market shares, brand information, company strategy and SWOT analyses of the companies, for many countries. For eight major countries (Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States), in-depth industry information is also available. Euromonitor also publishes important print titles in the Foster Business Library reference collection including European marketing data and statistics, International marketing data and statistics, and World consumer income and expenditure patterns.

  A search in this database, in titles, for NIKE, produced no reports. A search for Footwear produced 19 reports, including a 2003 report on the Footwear Market in the USA; there are also reports for the footwear markets in some European countries.

• EIU Online:   One of the world's top sources for country intelligence, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) employs 500 analysts who research almost 200 nations. The Foster Business Library provides access to their Country Profiles, Country Reports, Country Commerce, and Country Finance in print editions and this database provides online access to these publications, often in both HTML and PDF formats. Go to Client Access to obtain country information.

  For information on companies, products, and countries, go to Viewswires. A search in Viewswires for NIKE and Marketing produced 90 articles; for NIKE and Information Technology, over 35 articles; for NIKE and Electronic Commerce, just four articles; for NIKE and Japan, over 50 articles.

• Forrester Research:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Forrester Research provides access to reports and briefings on the effects of technology change on businesses, consumers, and society, and analyzes such technology areas as new media, computing, software, networking, telecommunications, and the Internet. To use this database, UW users must establish a personal account from a UW IP address. (Available from off-campus.)

  A search for NIKE retrieved over 40 reports—but none appeared to be very relevant.

• Mediamark Reporter:     CD-ROM version of Mediamark Research, a tool for market research, with information on demographics, product and brand usage, and advertising media preferences based on survey responses from a sample of over 25,000 consumers in the United States. Print copies of Mediamark Research are available in over 20 volumes in the Foster Business Library reference collection, call number HF5415.3 .M43, dated spring 1998; the online version offers year 2000 data. Search tips for using this database are available by clicking here. Available only on PC #19.

  Demographics of purchasers of NIKE products may be found under Apparel—Shoes—Athletic.

Web Resources:

Unlike library databases, these online 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. For links to business websites by topic, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage. Good sources for business topics include trade associations (which often provide industry data unavailable elsewhere) and government regulatory and oversight agencies (which are also a good source for industry data). When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources.
• NIKE, Inc:   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 About NIKE for Investors for their Annual Reports back to 1998; unfortunately, the report is not in PDF format so there is no easy way to search it for terms such as information technology. There is a search box on the annual reports page, however, where a search for Information Technology produced a number of hits.

• 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 NIKE.

• 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 NIKE as well as the company's position among its competitors in terms of market capitalization in the Textiles/Apparel/Footwear 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 NIKE as well as the Key Statistics and industry profile for Apparel, Shoes & Accessories.

• International Trade Industry Information:   This U.S. government site, maintained by the International Trade Administration, provides useful information and links to many valuable sources in what they call basic industries, consumer goods, environmental technologies, tourism, technology and aerospace, and textiles and apparel. The orientation is towards international trade and imports and exports but the links to sources of information and statistics are well organized and extensive.

  See their U.S. Imports of Footwear and their Footwear, Leather and Fur Products Page.

• 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 2001; NIKE is ranked #53. See also the list of 2001 Megabrands; NIKE footwear and apparel is ranked #49. And see the list of top Top Global Marketers, (18 PDF pages), where NIKE is ranked #78.

Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

The Foster Business Library reference collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in the center of the library's first floor. The reference works listed below are arranged according to call number and, since none of these books circulate, they should always be available--except when in use by a library user.
• 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.

  See Footwear Expenditures on page 390 and pages 404 to 405; see also Footwear Retail Sales on page 446.

• 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 Footwear--Consumer Expenditures in tables 650 and 651 on pages 431 and 432; Footwear--Foreign Trade in tables 972 and 1284 on pages 622 and 800; and Footwear--Sales in tables 972 and 1007 on pages 622 and 644.

• 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.

  See Footwear on pages 264 and 272 and Footwear Expenditures on pages 224 to 227 and pages 238 to 239.

• 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 (Quarterly)

  See volume one for the industry survey on Apparel & Footwear; see the comparative company analysis at the end of this survey for data on NIKE.

• 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 NIKE on pages 159 to 163.

• 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 NIKE is in volume five, on pages 372 to 374; updates are in volume eight, pages 391 to 394, and in volume 36, pages 343 to 348.

• 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 NIKE in table 466 on page 107; in tables 784 and 787 on page 177; in tables 798 and 800 on page 181; and in table 893 on page 201.

• 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 NIKE in table 372 on page 101; tables 673 and 675 on pages 183 to 184; and table 1153 on page 308.

• 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 NIKE in volume two, pages 1140 to 1142.

• 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 2003.
  

  See NIKE in volume one, on page 1827.

• 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 NIKE on pages 1248 to 1261.

• Directory of American firms operating in foreign countries.
  This three-volume annual publication lists 2,600 U.S. companies with 35,000 branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates in 190 countries. Volume one lists the firms in alphabetic order, detailing the countries in which the companies operate. The companies section is followed by listings by country, with Albania to Egypt in volume one, El Salvador to Mauritius in volume two, and Mexico to Zimbabwe in volume three.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4538 .A1 .D5 2003.

  See volume one, page 310, for NIKE, listed as doing business in Canada, England, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Vietnam.

• 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 NIKE, see volume two, pages 3931 to 3932.

• Mergent 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 (Quarterly)

  See Shoe Manufacturing, in the August 2003 to January 2004 issue, pages 435 to 437 for NIKE.

• How products are made.
  This multi-volume illustrated set explains in essay form, in simple terms, how more than 700 products are produced.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: TS146 .H67.

  See volume one for Running Shoes, pages 371 to 375.

This collection is located on the south side of the library, through the two pass-throughs to the Balmer basement. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end, near the Copy Center) to Z (at the far west end).

The Foster Business Library General Stacks collection contains 70,000 business-related books. These books may be found by searching the UW Libraries Catalog. The UW Libraries Catalog may be found on the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases or at the top of the left menu under FIND IT).

Look under Keywords for the company of your choice; limit by library Location to the Foster Business Library when doing a Keyword search for business topics. For help in searching the UW Libraries Catalog, click HELP.

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. Books that are already checked out to someone else, or books at the Bothell or Tacoma campus libraries (or elsewhere on the Seattle campus) may be reserved for your use and sent here to Foster by using the Request button on the upper menu. Books unavailable in any of the University of Washington Libraries may be available in the collections of Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, The Evergreen State College, Washington State University, or Western Washington University through the Cascade online catalog. To search Cascade, use the menu button for Repeat Search in Cascade. It can take from a few days to a week or more to obtain books from other libraries and to have them sent to Foster for you to pick up so use this option only if you can afford to wait.

A keyword search for NIKE retrieved 57 records in the UW Libraries, with eight records in the Foster Business Library, including:

• Nike culture: the sign of the swoosh   (1998)
• Just do it: the Nike spirit in the corporate world   (1994)

For some books with chapters or sections on Nike, see:

• Global and transnational business : strategy and management.   See Case Study #6
• Management mistakes and successes.   See Part 3
• The globalization reader.   See Chapter 22

A subject search for Sporting goods industry -- United States, limited to the Foster Business Library, retrieved five records.

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 with headquarters outside the U.S., click here.

Corporate annual reports are also often available on company homepages. A good source for those annual reports is Hoovers Online on the Foster Business Library homepage, under Business Databases.

The collection includes annual reports for NIKE, since 1983, as well as other companies in the Consumer Products 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. 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 for CO(Nike Inc), in multiple databases, produced a list of over 5,800 articles, including more than 50 articles in scholarly journals, over 800 magazine articles, over 1,500 articles in trade and industry publications, and over 3,000 newspaper articles. Linked to this topic are over 40 narrowing terms, including subjects such as Target Markets (for which there are over 70 articles).

  A search for NIKE and Information Technology produced 39 articles; for for NIKE and Marketing, over 2,600 articles; for for NIKE and Electronic Commerce, over 50 articles; for NIKE and Europ?, over 360 articles; for NIKE and Japan, over 300 articles.

The Foster Business Library Reference Desk is staffed nearly all the hours that the library is open. The staff at the desk will be happy to help you find research tools on any business subject. 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 Archives (arranged by class or program)      (Marketing Assignments)
• Team Consultation Archives (arranged by industry)      (Consumer Products Industry)
• Team Consultation Archives (arranged by title of assignment)
• Team Consultation Archives (arranged by academic quarter)
• Index to all Team Consultations and Research Guides

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. Giambattista's MKTG 301 Website         Examples:  Five Papers, MKTG 301, Winter Quarter 2003   (UW Net ID required for access)