Geography 123 Research Webpage
|
|
RESEARCH
ACTIVITY
|
SOURCES
TO USE
|
EXAMPLE
|
|
Step 1
|
Choose a TNC
|
Search
Hoover’s Online UW restricted by industry keywords to identify
companies in particular business areas
|
Q: What companies produce or sell genetically
engineered seeds and crops? Industry
Keyword:
genetic Q: What companies are involved with retail
sales, particularly the big box, discount stores? Industry
Keyword:
retail
discount
|
|
Step 2
|
Get
basic info about your TNC Officers – names,
executive compensation Finances – Share
Price, corporate balance sheet Type/location(s)
of business Corporate
structure
Terms you don't understand?
|
For
PUBLIC COMPANIES use these databases: Hoover’s Online UW restricted -
public and private companies profiled
Mergent Online UW restricted –
includes ONLY public companies
Additional Sources of
Company Information are available. What is EDGAR? Form 10-K?
What does the CEO of your TNC earn? PRIVATE COMPANIES DO NOT FILE SEC REPORTS OR
ISSUE ANNUAL REPORTS – at most they register in with the state in which they
are headquartered – info provided is limited to officer names and corporate
address. For Private Companies, to find financial
information, information about subsidiaries, corporate operations in other
countries, etc. you will have to look in magazine and newspaper articles,
gathering information from many different sources. |
Search
Hoover’s Online using the “Company
Name” option to find this entry for Wal-Mart
Stores, Inc. Compare
to Wal-Mart
info in Mergent
Online PRIVATE COMPANIES Private companies in
Washington State register with the Secretary of State. Is there anything similar for the state
where your company is headquartered? Examples of financial info in articles: “Patagonia
Comes of Age” – note mention of corporate revenue in this 1995 article and “A
Passion for the Planet” (2006)– 8th
paragraph mentions ’39 stores in seven countries’ and 9th
paragraph ‘Revenues were up … 7% last year to $260 million…’ Farther along, info about employee
benefits. |
|
Step 3
|
Learn
more about the activities of your TNC Use
a variety of sources – see options a-f à Evaluate
the evidence presented in these various sources to develop a critical
perspective on the TNC. |
a) News articles Use newspapers published in more than one
geographic area, e.g. where the TNC is headquartered; where the TNC conducts
major aspects of its business (obtaining raw materials, obtaining skilled or
unskilled labor, etc.). Review
the FINDING NEWS ARTICLES
section of the website carefully to choose databases to search.
|
Explore news coverage on Wal-Mart from several sources such as:
The
o 235
stories about Wal-Mart June-Dec 2005 The New York Times o 189
stories about Wal-Mart June-Dec 2005 Same story on the same date but the extent of coverage is very different in these two papers. Why might that be? Connecticut Finds More Labor Law Violations at Wal-Mart Stacey Stowe, New York Times, Jun 18, 2005 pg. B.2 Wal-Mart fined over child labor; state finds 11 violations at three Connecticut stores; Ritu Kalra, Hartford Courant, Jun 18, 2005, pg. A.1
|
|
|
|
b) Popular & Trade Magazines Search for articles using company name,
the names of company products and officers, and combine these with topical
keywords of interest to you such as labor, employment, outsourcing, trade,
regulation, names of activist groups monitoring the TNC, etc. |
Useful for ALL
TNCs and world regions: Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) UW restricted
ABI Inform Global UW restricted
|
|
|
|
c)
Publications
produced BY the TNC -
Annual Reports -
Website -
SEC Filings -
Balance Sheet -
Stock Prices -
Share Information
Need some help understanding SEC
filings? Info from the SEC website
explains 10-K, 8-K and other forms. |
Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. Annual Reports in Mergent Online provide
financial information & SEC filings -
Walmart
(corporate website) -
Wal-Mart (retail
website)
|
|
|
|
d) Organizations which monitor the activities of TNCs -
publications or websites.
Alt-Press
Watch UW restricted
Corporate Watch
CorpWatch
Sweatshop Watch
(website)
Greenpeace
(website)
Human Rights Watch –
Business & Human Rights |
Alt-Press Watch search found: - Featherstone, Liza. 2005.
“Wal-Mart: Rise of the Goliath.” Multinational Monitor, 26 (1/2),
28-31.
One
of several reports on Wal-Mart
available through Corporate Watch
(notice
the CorpWatch Retail & Mega-Store Resource Section |
|
|
|
e) Scholarly articles Explore
your TNC from more than one disciplinary perspective, e.g. -the world region where your TNC is active
-
the topic related to the activities of your TNC -
the aspect of business that you are
investigating (employment, trade, regulation, etc).
Review FIND ARTICLES IN SCHOLARLY
JOURNALS section of website |
Selected database search results: Bibliography of Asian Studies Huffman, Ted P. 2003. “Wal-Mart in GeoBASE Hicks, M.J. and Wilburn,
K.L. 2001. “The regional impact of Wal-Mart entrance: A panel study of
the retail trade sector in PAIS Boarnet, Marlon G., et al. 2005. “Emerging
planning challenges in retail: the case of Walmart.” Journal of
the American Planning Association, 71 (4), 433-449. |
|
|
|
f) Books,
Videos, Government Publications, Etc. -
Search the WorldCat Local Catalog using the TNC name
or keywords for the industry.
-
Search journal
titles in the UW Libraries Catalog
to find out if we have what you need. |
WorldCat
Local search results include materials located in thousands of libraries
worldwide. UW books will be listed first in results. Use the REQUEST button to
have materials from other libraries delivered. The China Business Review is
available in the Foster Business Library (1977-present) and online
(1988-present) – also selected years at the East Asia Library,
Bothell/CCC Library
|
|
Step 4
|
Have you met
Professor Sparke’s requirement to cite AT LEAST
2 SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLES? |
You must be the judge of whether your
sources meet this requirement. Look for these
characteristics when deciding whether an article is from a popular
or scholarly publication. |
Practice evaluating the
characteristics of these sample articles – it should take you
about 15 minutes.
|
Return to Geography 123 Research Webpage
Created by Anne
Zald,