How to look for company information with Business Source Elite (BSE)?
In addition to the Business Market Research Collection on the ProQuest platform, Business Source Elite (BSE) Database on EBSCOhost platform is another option for looking for company information.
Click the tag of “Company Profiles” on the top in the website of Business Source Elite (BSE).
Search by the name of the company, for example, Microsoft. Then, browse the general profile by clicking the company name, download PDF file to read complete report.
Company profile includes address, country, abstract, products/services.
The complete Market Line Report includes Company overview, Key facts, Business description, History, Key employees, Key employee biographies, Major products and services, SWOT analysis. Top competitors, Company view, Location and subsidiaries.
Q&A
Q1: Are there any requirement for companies to be collected in BSE Company Profiles, for example, being listed, or reaching certain amount of revenue, etc?
A1: According to the list provided on the EBSCO official website, company profiles in the BSE Database are provided by 2 companies: Informa Business Intelligence and MarketLine. Regarding the criteria of selection, please refer to the official instruction: What criteria does MarketLine use to select the companies that are included in the Company Profiles?
Q2: How many company profiles are collected in BSE Company Profiles?
A2: About 21,000 companies are collected, in which about 10,000 companies have a corresponding report. Only a few Company Profiles provided by MartketLine are not accompanied by full text report (please refer to official response), whereas Informa Business Intelligence do not provide full report.
Q3: Which regions/countries are included in the collection of BSE Company Profiles?
A3: Countries including the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, China, India, France, Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc.
Q4: How many Taiwanese companies are collected?
A4: About 1,700 profiles of Taiwanese companies are collected, e.g. ChungHwa Telecom, Acer, Fubon, Cathay Life Insurance, Bank of Taiwan, etc.
Q5: Aside from searching by the name of company, is searching and browsing by location or by industry possible?
A5: The BSE database does not support such functions.
Q6: Are there any precautions to be taken when referring to and citing MarketLine reports?
A6: According to the statement on the front page of the PDF file: “COPYRIGHT MARKETLINE. THIS CONTENT IS A LICENSED PRODUCT AND IS NOT TO BE PHOTOCOPIED OR DISTRIBUTED”, one may not photocopy and disperse contents of the report. If students are using certain content of reports for homework or term paper, make sure to do proper citation.
by Yu-Hung Kao