What is a private company?

A private company is owned by a single person or a select group of people. It is not traded on a stock exchange (New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, etc). Therefore it is not required to file documents to the Securities & Exchange Commission(SEC). In essence, it does not have to
tell anyone anything about its business.

Other documents that both public and private companies can produce include:

• Press Releases = announcing company events, position changes, etc.
• Product Announcements = announcing new products or services.
• Marketing/Promotional Literature = information on products, advertising campaigns, prices, etc.

What is a public company?

A public company is owned by shareholders. It is traded on a stock exchange and by law must
file certain documents to the SEC. Therefore finding information on a public company is much easier than find information on a private company.
A public company must publish a series of documents that are available to the general public. This can include the following:

• 10 – K = Annual filing of financial information.
• 10 – Q = Quarterly filing of financial information.
• Prospectus = Document detailing the benefits of investing in the company, sent out to potential investors.
• Proxy = Document sent out to current shareholders discussing recent changes and often allowing shareholders to vote for corporate officers.
• Annual Report = Document sent out to current shareholders detailing the previous year’s activities including some financial information from the 10 – K.

Public & Private Companies

Business & Company Resource Center: Information on companies, rankings, suits & claims, and much more

Business Source Premier: Business magazines & journals; industry reports, and company analysis.

Hoover´s: Database containing large public & private companies.  Information includes profiles, competitors, financials, and recent articles.

Public Companies

Mergent Online: Financial and management information on US & International public companies.

Competitive Advantage

Competitive Advantage
Explains the concept of competitive advantage, using a diagram to illustrate how distinctive competencies and positional advantages create superior value.

Strategic Planning Process

The Strategic Planning Process
An overview of the strategic planning process including mission statement, environmental scan, strategy formulation, implementation, and control.

Porter’s Five Forces

QuickMBA: Porter’s Five Forces
Discusses the five forces, including rivalry, the threat of substitutes, buyer power, supplier power, and barriers to entry.

Investopedia: Industry Handbook
The Industry Handbook provides examples of 5-forces analysis for a selection of industries. Also has an explanation for the 5-forces model: What is Porter’s 5-Forces Analysis?

SWOT Analysis

QuickMBA: SWOT Analysis
The role of SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) in strategic planning, including an overview of the TOWS matrix.

PEST Analysis

QuickMBA: PEST Analysis
How a PEST analysis fits into the environmental scan. Provides some examples of the political, economic, social, and technological factors of the external macroenvironment.

Marketing Research

QuickMBA: Marketing Research
Marketing research, including problem definition, research design, data types and sources, sampling plan, data collection, data analysis, and reporting of the results.