Foster Business Library


Case Competition Resources



To use Foster Business Library online resources from off campus, be sure to go to Off-Campus Access in the upper right corner on most of the library's webpages and enter your UW Net ID and password.

On-Campus:   Foster Databases  >>>  Web Resources  >>>  Reference Books  >>>  Books  >>>  Articles  >>>  Help
Off-Campus:   Foster Databases  >>>  Web Resources  >>>  Articles  >>>  Help

Foster Business Library Databases:

    The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of over fifty databases on its homepage; see under Databases. For a complete list of Foster databases, see the List of All Business Databases. Access to these databases from off campus requires that you first go to the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. These resources may not be accessed from off campus except by those with a valid UW Net ID and password. For more information on Foster business databases, click Databases, A-Z. For information on which Foster business databases to use, see the Database Index. For information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, see Database Access. For guidelines on responsible database usage, see Database Usage.

  • EBSCO Business Source Complete:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Databases. Full text of over 8,800 magazines, newspapers and journals, including more than 1,100 peer-reviewed journals. Also includes some market research reports, SWOT analyses, and country reports.

  • 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 online access to their Country Profiles, Country Reports, Country Commerce, and Country Finance, in both HTML and PDF formats, as for example, Denmark. You can also search for countries and topics in Viewswire; an advanced search is often particularly useful; an example would be Denmark and Consumer Goods.

  • Gale Virtual Reference Library:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under List of All Business Databases.   The Gale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research; go to Business for major business sources such as the Encyclopedia of American Industries (4th ed., 2005), the Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2001), and the Encyclopedia of Small Business (2nd ed., 2002).

  • Hoovers Online:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Hoovers Online offers information about 40,000 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, S.E.C. filings, splits, subsidiaries, etc. In this database, you can also Browse Industries to find companies in the market you are assigned, and locate companies in this database by Country (such as, for instance, Denmark).

  • InfoTech Trends:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. Formerly called Computer Industry Forecasts. InfoTech Trends indexes statistics and forecasts published in computer and telecommunication trade publications and provides data in tables. For instance, a search in 2003 and 2004 publications for xBox produced 18 tables.

  • Investext:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. 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. Use this database to obtain information about public companies.

  • Kompass:   This database provides directory information for 1.9 million companies in 75 countries, with indexes for company products and services, containing 23 million product and service references, and 500,000 trademarks and brand names.  Use this database to identify companies already in the market under study, to find joint venture partners, etc. Denmark, for instance, is one of the countries in this directory.

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic:   On the Foster homepage, under Business Databases. To find company information, go to Business and then to Company Financial to obtain financial and other data for public companies. Information is available from twenty different sources (each of which must be searched separately). S.E.C. filings, particularly company 10-K 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.

  • MarketResearch.com Academic:   This database contains comprehensive full-text market research reports covering a broad range of markets, industries, and companies from reputable market intelligence sources such as Packaged Facts, Icon Group, and many others, for U.S. and global markets, covering over 2,000 industries and products.

  • Mergent Online:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. Online access to the print edition of the Mergent Manuals, with extensive information on 11,000 U.S. and 17,000 international companies, including financials, stock, properties, joint ventures, annual reports, subsidiaries, S.E.C. filings, etc. For search tips, see About Mergent Online. Use this database to identify companies in the industry under study, using SIC codes or NAICS codes. As an example, this database includes over 180 companies in Denmark.

  • Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Databases. Full text for the following S&P publications:   Bond Guide; Corporation Records; Dividend Record; Earnings Guide; Industry Surveys; Mutual Fund Reports; The Outlook; Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives; Security Dealers of North America; Stock Guide; and Stock Reports.

  • STAT-USA -- Country Commercial Guides:   Country Commercial Guides are prepared annually by U.S. embassies for 120 nations, with the assistance of several U.S. government agencies and are available in the Stat-USA database on the Foster Business Library homepage. These reports present a comprehensive look at countries' commercial environments, using economic, political and market analysis. See chapter five of these guides for in-depth information on the top markets in each country for U.S. goods. For Denmark, for instance, the top sectors for U.S. imports are telecommunications services and equipment, computer software and information technology, drugs and pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, pollution control equipment, electrical power systems and services, and oil and gas field machinery.

    See also the list of All Business Databases as well as the list of Business Databases Not Available from Foster.

Web Resources:

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 Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.

  • 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 (Annual)

  • World development indicators.
    This World Bank volume contains a large number of tables listing each country and key data about its people, environment, economy, markets, employment, poverty, etc. For data about personal computers, internet hosts, secure servers, etc., see section 5.10 for Information Age.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC59.15 .W656 (Annual)
    Also available, in part, online at http://www.worldbank.org/data/wdi/home.html.

  • The global information technology report.
    This World Economic Forum publication provides country profiles and data about the diffusion of information technology, along with chapters on network readiness, global diffusion of information technology, information technology and poverty, regulatory reform, and a case study on Finland.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC79 .I55 .G56 2003-2004.

  • 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. See the World Business Almanac section, on pages 1368 to 1767, for brief reports on 150 countries.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD38.15 .B878 2002.

  • International trade statistics yearbook.
    This annual United Nations publication, in two volumes, provides international trade information in considerable detail. Volume one is arranged alphabetically by country, for 179 countries, with data on imports and exports by region and trading partner, as well as by principal commodities, product categories, economic categories, and industrial origin. Volume two covers trade by commodity.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF91 .Y4 2004.

  • The global competitiveness report.
    Published by the World Economic Forum, this annual paperback ranks over 80 countries for their competitiveness, with essays and individual country profiles. One of the chapters covers wages in twenty-seven countries for five benchmark positions; another chapter includes rankings for computers and for internet hosts as well as for use of the internet, e-commerce, etc.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF1414 .G563 2006/2007.

  • The IMD world competitiveness yearbook.
    This very heavy 2002 yearbook, published by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, provides ranking information in many competitiveness categories for 46 major countries. Among the many categories are international trade, employment, prices, business legislation, labor markets, management practices, impact of globalization, corruption.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF1414 .W67 (Annual)

  • International financial statistics yearbook.
    Published annually by the International Monetary Fund, this compendium of statistics for every country provides information on population, GDP, producer, wholesale and consumer prices, wages, labor force, unemployment, volume and value of imports and exports, and many other categories. Statistics cover each year of the past 30 years, where data is available. The most recent decade of the monthly version of this yearbook is available in the Foster Business Library Reference collection, with the call number HG3881 .I626
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG3881 .I6263 (Annual)
    (Also available online)

  • Directory of foreign firms operating in the United States.
    This annual one-volume source provides information on over 4,000 firms, headquartered in 86 countries, operating nearly 10,000 businesses, wholly or partly owned, in the U.S.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4057 .A155 (Annual)

  • Directory of American firms operating in foreign countries.
    This four-volume annual work provides information on over 4,000 U.S. firms with 63,000 branches in 191 countries.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4538 .A1 .D5 (Annual)

  • Doing business and investing in.
    These 200-page country profiles, for about 24 countries, prepared by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, cover business environment, opportunities for foreign investment and trade, investment incentives and restrictions, the regulatory situation, banking, business entities, labor relations and social security, auditing and accounting practices and tax. New countries are added to this set since it was first published in 1999. An earlier series, Doing Business In, covers another 75 countries, published from 1984 to 1998. Click here for a list of the titles in both series by country; not all countries are covered.

Foster Business Library Books:

    The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To search for materials on all three campuses of the University of Washington, go to the UW Libraries Catalog, in the upper left corner of the Foster Business Library homepage. Search by keyword, title, author, series, etc.

    To limit the results of your search just to materials in the Foster Business Library collection, use the Modify or Limit options at the top of the search results and change the library location to Foster Business Library. Availablity is indicated on the right of each online catalog record. First, note in which collection, within Foster, your materials are in, since the library has ten different Collections, each in a different location and often with differing arrangements. "Available" 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; you can have the "Request/Place Hold" feature to recall the book for your use.

    If the material you want is not in the collections of the University of Washington, you can use the "Search Summit" feature to repeat your search in the combined holdings of over thirty cooperating libraries in Washington and Oregon. Use the "Request This Item" feature in Summit to have books in those library sent here to Foster for you to check out.

    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).

    As an example, a keyword search for Italy, limited to the Foster Business Library, retrieved a list of eighty records.

Foster Business Library Articles:

    In addition to the 800 journals in the Foster Business Library Periodicals Collection, the Foster Business Library offers access to over 100 million full text articles in over 10,000 periodicals through its full text article databases such as EBSCO Business Source Premier, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, and ProQuest Databases. These article databases may be found on the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Databases.

    All four of these databases are available from any computer on the campus network as well as from home (via the UW Connectivity Kit or the Libraries' Off-Campus Access link, using your UW Net ID and password). The easiest of these databases to use is ProQuest Databases. For more information about accessing Foster Business Library databases from off campus, see Database Access. For more information about business databases, see the research guide entitled Databases, A to Z.

  • ProQuest Databases:

    This database--actually, a family of over two dozen databases--offers full text articles for over 10,000 publications, including scholarly journals, magazines, trade and industry periodicals, newspapers, and reports on a very wide range of topics. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box--or search for your topic in the Topic Guide. Article full text is often available in several formats, including text, text plus graphics, and PDF. This database also offers a very useful subject structure, to narrow search results, as well as article citation information.

    Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article. For tips on searching this database, see About ProQuest Databases.

    As an example, a search in all databases for Denmark and Consumer Goods produced a list of over fifty articles, including six articles in scholarly journals, two magazine articles, eleven articles trade publications, and twenty newspaper 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 most case competitions, librarians may be asked to point you towards materials you specify by name or title. Competition rules typically disallow more specific questions, such as how to find market share information for a particular industry. Instead, you can only ask where to find the print volumes of, for example, Market Share Reporter.

    Global Business Case Competition FAQ's


28 February 2005; updated 7 April 2008.   Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu