Library: Private Companies: Trade Associations

Trade Associations

Identify trade associations

One of the best strategies for locating information on private companies is to contact the trade association that monitors the company's specific industry or product. On the web, their home pages cover news, legislative concerns, and, most productively, data, analysis, and trends for their industry.

Search Engines

To Locate a Trade Association in a Search Engine:

Find a Trade Association in the following databases:

Gale Business: Insights This link opens in a new window
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A unique database that brings together a wide variety of resources that cover companies and industries.
This innovative resource includes company profiles (with corporate parent/sibling relationships), industry rankings, products and brands, investment reports, industry statistics, financial ratios, case studies, and corporate chronologies and history. Coverage is from 1980-present.

1. Start from the Advanced Search screen.

2. Scroll down to: by content type and select: Associations. Leave the search boxes empty and select: Search.

3. Slide to the right. Under Filter Your Results, select Publication Title, and then the encyclopedia of associations your need. Most of the time, you'll be using the second one, Encyclopedia of Associations: National Organizations of the U.S. Select: Apply.

4. Slide to the right again. Under Filter Your Results, select: Search Within, then your industry. For example, Airlines. Select : Submit.

5. Under Associations, you'll see the first few listings. In order to see the entire list, select: Associations.

ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new window
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Find articles focused on business, finance and economics. Also features company profiles.
Most scholarly and comprehensive way to explore and understand business research topics. Searches three ABI-INFORM databases: Dateline, Global, and Trade and Industry. Covers business and economic conditions, corporate strategies, management techniques, as well as competitive and product information. Its international coverage gives researchers a complete picture of companies and business trends around the world. Search nearly 8,000 publications worldwide, almost 80% available in full text. The database contains complete runs of key business and management journals, providing a unique historical perspective from 1923-present. Full text coverage of the Wall Street Journal is also included from 1984-present.

Embedded within this database, you'll find First Research.
Provides industry profiles covering over 1000 industry segments.

Follow these steps to access:

1. From the Advanced Search screen, slide to the top left and select the 3-bar menu.

2. Select: BROWSE

3. Under Industry and Market Research, select: First Research

4. Scroll down to find your industry.
5.Select: View Documents

6. Select a .PDF document that looks interesting. Scroll to the end and find a segment titled: Industry Websites. You'll find a list of associations that monitor your industry.

ABI First Research Industry websites

Business Searching Interface This link opens in a new window
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This is an enhanced interface for Business Source Premier which allows users direct access to screens for browsing Company or Industry Profiles and Country or Market Research Reports.
In addition, the following source types are included: academic journals, SWOT analyses, trade publications, industry profiles, company profiles, market research reports and product reviews.