When researching a corporations you’re fighting, you’ll want to get familiar with the parts of the Internet that will be most helpful to you. Here are a few good places to start.
- Visit the Corporate Dirt Archives page and visit the websites of the existing directories listed at the top of the page.
- See what the the Company’s own website and other pro-corporation sites say about the company you’re researching. You can look up corporate information through Yahoo’s Finance Research Center.
- After you’ve exhausted what you can find on those sites, use the following links to find out specific things about the corporation you’re researching:
- Researching Your Politicians (Campaign Contributions & Voting Records)
- They Rule (Flash-enabled mapping of interlocking directorates of major corporations)
- ZoomInfo (search profiles based on news article archives for corporations or people)
- OSHA Inspections (look up a specific corporation here to see what worker safety violations they may have.)
- CEO Pay Database
- Search the EDGAR database at the Securities & Exchange Commission website to find corporate filings. 10-K reports, if available, are generally fairly complete and will often list corporate subsidiaries. See how to phrase your search terms at the Search Overview page. Use the Customized Forms Selection if you need to search for specific things (for example, shareholder proxies are under DEF).
- Public Record Sites (links to government websites where you can search online public national, state and local databases)
- Right-To-Know Network (Their environmental databases can help you find out what pollution they’re responsible for.)
- AnyWho’s online phone directory includes a reverse search by telephone for people and businesses.
Then, use a good search engine to locate other online resources about the corporation.
- Google (Advanced Search Form)
- Neeva (search privately)
- Altavista Search Engine (Search Tips)
- Dogpile Multi-Search Engine
- Here two books that might help:
- Get the Facts on Anyone, by Dennis King (MacMillan Press, 1995)
- Citizen Muckraking, by Charles Lewis (Common Courage Press, 2000)
As a last resort, there are organizations that will research a corporation for you if you pay them to do so: