One of the most important components of winning a campaign is understanding your opponent. Basic corporate research can help you plan effective actions and formulate a campaign that will hit the bosses where it hurts The last thing any organizer wants in the middle of a campaign is a surprise revelation that a global giant owns the company, or that the firm is about to go belly-up. By investing just a few hours of your time, you can make sure that you have solid understanding of the company you are up against. While some information can be gleaned from general internet searching, it is not the most efficient strategy. General internet searches rarely lead you to the key primary documents or the specialized databases that professional corporate researchers regularly use. In the text below, we provide you with links to those key websites.
Before you go online, however, don’t forget what you know as a worker and an organizer. The first and most important thing to do is to set up a process for the committee and veteran workers to compile everything they know about the employer. We need to honor this knowledge. Use the ten questions we list below as a way to organize that discussion. You may have already gathered some of this information as part of your house calling and mapping of the workplace. Sometimes this information is unsystematically and contradictory, but it is a great starting point for your investigation.
And instead of doing the online work alone, why not work collaboratively with your committee and activists on the research? You will not only benefit from spreading the work around, but also build important new skills and capacity in the committee and among activists to access information about their employer. Doing this work provides everybody involved with a new skill set that has wide applications. Below are ten questions every worker and union staff member should know the answers to and some very quick and easy ways to find that information online. We don’t intend to be comprehensive here, but have included the key websites to get you going and not overwhelm you or your committee.
- What type of employer are you organizing? Before you can begin conducting research on a specific firm, you will first need to identify what kind of employer your organizing targets: a publicly traded firm (trades stock on one of the exchanges); a privately held firm; or a registered nonprofit. To check if your target firm is publicly traded in the United States, go to Yahoo Finance and enter your firm’s name. The site will tell you if the firm is listed on one of the exchanges and provide its ticker symbol. If it does not show up, then it is either privately held or a nonprofit.
To determine if your organization is a registered nonprofit in the United States, go to the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer or the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS). It will identify if your firm is a registered 501(C). If your firm is not publicly traded or a nonprofit then it is most likely privately held.
The kinds of information and where you can find it varies by employer type. Firms that trade on one of the U.S. stock exchanges are required to disclose information on a regular basis to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The most commonly used are Form 10-K (Annual Report) and Form DEF14A (Proxy Statement).
If there is a primary document for privately held firms, it is the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) report. The world of business is based on credit; some firms order supplies, and other firms send them, and the basis of this exchange is credit. This is where the D&B credit reports come in. D&B charges between $150 and $200 for each report, but the information on small privately held firms can be especially helpful when little other information is available elsewhere.
Official nonprofit organizations are required to disclose information on an annual basis to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Form 990. Form 990, like the Form 10-K that private sector publicly traded firms file, is the key primary document for not-for-profit researchers. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and the National Center for Charitable Statics (NCCS), provide access to Form 990.
Regardless of the employer firm’s type, it is important to familiarize yourself with the firm’s webpage. For publicly held companies go to the ‘investor relations’ section. Look for a recent presentations to investors and quarterly conference calls.
- What is the firm’s history and corporate strategy? Employers are not static, and it is imperative to understand where they have come from and where they are going. The company website is an excellent place to start investigating its history. Many companies have an Investor Relations section where you can often find recent company presentations. A general news search may be helpful for more recent history. For older materials use Google News Archive or the Wayback machine, which allows you to look at historical websites back to 1996.
- Who manages the firm and serves on its board? For publicly traded firms Form DEF 14A (the Proxy Statement) from the SEC is the best place to get information on management and board biographies and compensation. It is available from the SEC’s Edgar web site. The company annual report and company website typically also include biographical information of management.
For privately held firms, management and board information is available on the company website and in the D&B report.
The organization’s website is the best way to find out information about nonprofit managers and board members. While Form 990 does not provide general information on managers, both Part VII and Schedule O report the compensation of officers, directors, trustees, key employees, and the most highly compensated employees. . ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and the National Center for Charitable Statics (NCCS), all provide access to Form 990. Little Sis allows you to search by individual, and shows how they connect to others in industry and government.
- Who are the stockholders? Yahoo Finance provides basic information on major stockholders and holdings of management and board members, as well as recent insider trades. MSN Money provides similar information. Form DEF 14A (the Proxy Statement), available from the SEC’s EDGAR database, provides information on 5% stockholder and ownership by management and the board. Little Sis can help you here, too.
- How can you assess the firm’s finances? While corporate finances might seem daunting, dip your toe into the water. First-timers looking at publicly traded firms should start by reviewing the financial news available from Yahoo Finance. This will give you access to both what the company is releasing and what analysts are saying about it.
For the more adventuresome look at the three financial statements. On the Income Statement pull out Revenue which is what comes into the company, but also Net Income which is the bottom line of the income statement and their profit. On the Balance Sheet pull out Shareholders Equity and Retained Earnings which is what the company has left at the end of their fiscal year. And on the Statement of Cash Flows, pull the numbers on Free Cash Flow, which indicates their liquidity. For more information go to our Financial Analysis for Union Researchers.
For privately held firms, the D&B report provides extensive information about how your target firm pays it bills. This information allows you to identify its areas of activity and its record of on-time payments.
Form 990 contains basic financial information in Part VII, the Statement of Revenue; Part IX, Statement of Functional Expenses; Part X, Balance Sheet; Part XI Reconciliation of Net Assets; and Part XII, Financial Statements and Reporting. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer and the National Center for Charitable Statics (NCCS) provide access to Form 990.
- Where can you find information on the firm’s industry? It is fundamentally important to understand your firm in the context of the larger industry in which operates. The best way to learn about an industry is to consult industry publications. You can find these using a general news search or by consulting Web Wire. Industry publications often provide a great deal of information about current trends in the industry as well as comparative data on the industry’s top players.
- What can you learn about a firm’s suppliers, transportation methods, and customers? No need to waste your time with mostly inferior online sites, when you have the best resource at your fingertips—the workers.
- How does your target firm rate on safety and health issues? Begin at Good Jobs First Violation Tracker. Search for your firm, and sort by Agency to find all OSHA violations. You can also search by Primary Offense Type to find specific safety and health issues. By clicking on the amount for each violation, you can find out more about individual records.
- Does your target firm comply with environmental regulations? You can also use the Good Jobs First Violation Tracker to search for environmental violations. You can sort by Agency or Primary Offense Type to find specific issues.
- Does your target firm have a political agenda or affiliation? The Open Secrets provides comprehensive information on political contributions at all levels of the federal government. You can search by both employers and individuals.
Once you have completed this research go to Research to Campaigns to explore how you can build a winning campaign using the information you’ve found.