03. Facilities

3.1 List all facilities, locations, and operations.
3.2 What is the status of each company property? Are they owned or leased?
3.3 List any industrial development funds or other public monies used in construction, renovation, or purchase.
3.4 What is the value of their major facilities?

Com­pil­ing an inven­tory of the company’s facil­i­ties is cen­tral to under­stand­ing a firm’s oper­a­tions. Cou­pled with an under­stand­ing of their prod­ucts and ser­vices, it allows you to geo­graph­i­cally map out their activ­i­ties.  It is cru­cial in devel­op­ing a cam­paign to understand which facilities are responsible for which kinds of products/services. In what may be the first example of corporate research in the labor movement, in 1936 the UAW identified that GM was making body parts in only one plant in Flint, Michigan which became their strike target.   If any pub­lic monies are involved in build­ing or ren­o­vat­ing facil­i­ties, it raises the pub­lic pro­file of the tar­get firm con­sid­er­ably. What may have been an issue with a pri­vate com­pany now becomes a pub­lic issue.

Businesses must register with the Secretary of State office in the state they are located. Search Systems provides a meta search for all states in the U.S. and provinces in Canada. The best way to proceed is to choose “Corporations and Companies” and then select the state or province where the firm is headquartered. This will bring you to one or more corporate directories. This may vary by state or province. You can also search by state or province alone and explore all the possible information that is collected.

Open Corporates also provides access to public records on privately held firms worldwide.

You can find information on industrial development funds or other public monies in the sources above, or by using a general news search.

The AFL-CIO maintains the UNICORE database which includes information on corporate facilities, their location, if they are unionized, and information on the union. This database is only available to AFL-CIO affiliates.

The Dunn and Bradstreet Report on your firm may contain additional information. You will need to purchase it from D&B.

In addition to identifying the location of facilities, you can find property values online in most states. Search Systems and BRBPub provide access to state databases that will link you to the assessor’s or deeds office in local communities. Records often include detailed information on building permits and the cost of renovations. In communities where this information is not available, you will need to go to the courthouse, deeds, or assessor’s office.

Paid Resources (Requires Subscription)

Business Source Complete provides general information on privately held firms and, depending on size, also provides a Medtrack or Market Line report.

Mergent Market Atlas provides detailed company data on over 50,000 US and foreign companies, current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, ESG scores, economic time series data, industry analytics and reports, and more.

Mergent Intellect  is another excellent gateway site for beginning corporate research. It includes information form Hoovers and the D&B Million Dollar Directory.