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 on 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 information about responsible database usage, click here.
See the company fact sheet for the General
Electric Company, as well as
the longer
Company Overview,
Competitive
Landscape, and Financials.
Go to Industry to
see the very long list of industries in which General Electric does
business.
Searching in SEC 10-K filings and reports retrieved over 100 of the
company's
annual 10-K
reports, parts of reports, or amendments
back to 1987.
A company search for the ticker symbol GE produced a list of over 2,400
reports about
the company from
sources such as Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, Lehman Brothers, and Morgan Stanley.
A search in this database, in text, for General Electric, produced over 100 reports,
for domestic appliances, television broadcasting, motors and generators, as well as a number of
other products.
A search in Viewswires, for
"General Electric" retrieved a list of over 900
articles.
An advanced, exact phrase, search in this database,
for General Electric,
retrieved
63 reports or briefs.
See General Electric and its industry, which, according to Value Line, is
Electrical Equipment.
See Company Information at the top of the homepage
for corporate information, along with their version of the company's History and Values. See their Investor Information
for financials, SEC filings, annual reports back to 1994, etc.
See the company profile for General Electric and Key Statistics, as well as the excellent Ratio
Comparisons for the company, its industry, its sector, and the S&P 500. See also the
comparison, in terms of market capitalization and other factors, of General Electric with its
competitors in the Conglomerates sector.
In the January 2004 edition,
General Electric is included in three industry surveys: Aerospace &
Defense, Computers: Consumer Services & the Internet, and Movies & Home
Entertainment. In each of these industry surveys, the company is included in the
extensive Comparative Company Analysis at the end of each survey.
See General Electric on pages 43 to 47.
See General Electric on pages 236 to 237 (in Electric Lighting and Wiring
Equipment) and pages 246 to 247 (in Motors and Generators).
See the General Electric in volume two, pages 27 to 31, with updates in volume
12, pages 193 to 197, and in volume 34, pages 183 to 190.
See company index page 533 for over ten market share tables for General
Electric.
See company index pages 496 and 497 for market share tables for
General Electric itself as some of its subsidiaries.
See General Electric Company in volume two, pages 636 to
642.
See General Electric on page 1262.
See volume one, on pages 183 and 184, for General Electric; over sixty countries are listed.
For General Electric, see volume one, pages 1439 to 1442.
General Electric may be found in the Electrical Equipment--Major section
(on pages 170 to 172, in the February--July 2004 edition).
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 search for the keywords General Electric Company produced a list of more than 250
records; limiting this search to the location Foster Business Library produced a list of
over 25
records (some of them about Portland General Electric and many of them about Jack Welch).
A subject search for the General Electric Company retrieved over 65
records, with 18
records in the Foster
Business Library collections. Recent examples include:
There are also books in the UW Libraries with chapters about General Electric, such as:
A keyword search for Conglomerates, limited to the Foster Business Library, retrieved
of 40
records, with eleven
records in the Foster Business Library.
A cursory look at one of those records indicates that the relevant subject term is Conglomerate
Corporations; a
search for this subject, limited to the Foster Business Library, retrieved a list of over 65
records (many of them about Japanese business).
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 Corporate Annual Reports collection includes General Electric (since 1942)
as well as reports for some of the
company's competitors such as
American International
Group,
Emerson Electric,
ITT Industries,
Matsushita, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing,
Raytheon,
Siemens,
Textron,
TRW, and
United Technologies.
Foster Business Library Articles:
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.
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.
Go to Topic Guide to initiate a company search.
A company search for CO(General Electric Co) produced over
11,000 articles;
For research guides on a wide variety of industries, products, companies, issues and topics, see the Team Librarian Consultation archives.
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.
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.
Foster
Business
Library Reference Collection:
The Foster Reference Collection is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster.
Foster Business Library
Books:
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
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.
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 2003.
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
Annual compilation of market share data on U.S. 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.
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.
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.
This annual two-volume publication, also known as The Advertiser Red Book, 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. See the company index on pages A-1 to A-49.
Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S7 2004.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
for
CO(General Electric Co) and SUB(Strategy), over 90
articles;
for CO(General Electric Co) and SUB(Suppliers),
over 30
articles;
for CO(General Electric Co) and Competitors,
over
180 articles.
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.
