Tips on Company Research
An in-depth investigation and analysis of your competition is one of the most important components of a comprehensive market analysis. A competitive analysis allows you to assess your competitors' strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace, and to implement effective strategies to improve your competitive advantage. Here are some research strategies for doing your competitive analysis:
- Company directories can be used to create lists of competitors by industry, product line, size, etc.
- Doing a company name search in a general research database is an excellent way to learn more about your competitor’s products, services, prices, and media coverage.
- If your competitors are public companies, learn more about them by reading their financials and annual reports.
- News archives provide a range of competitive information on both public and private companies.
- Patents are a good way to learn about the technical and design features of a competitor's products. You can refer to this UBC Library Research Guide, created by UBC Engineering Librarians, if you are looking for patent information. Most of the resources listed are freely available.
For information on primary and secondary market research, as well as common sources for secondary market research, watch our video tutorial Module One: Introduction To Market Research.
Finding information on public companies is considerably easier than finding information on privately-held companies. Information on public companies is readily available online, or at your local library. Another good starting point is the list of resources in the next section of this Accelerator Guide: Find Competitors. Unlike public companies, private companies are not required to file with the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR). Searching for private company information is considerably more difficult and will require a lot of patience, and a healthy dose of creativity.