Advanced Contracts: CompanyIndustry Research

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Advanced ContractsCompany/Industry Research

• DAngelo Law Library
• William A. Schwesig
• Margaret A. Schilt

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Business research is an art

• not a science. There is more than one good way
  to do it. Collected here are suggestions about
  information you will need and some suggestions
  about places to go to find it.
• For purposes of this demonstration, your firm is
  about to undertake representation of a new client.

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---- Meadwestvaco Corp.

• What you know about Meadwestvaco
• Its NYSE symbol is MWV
• It is a leading U.S. company in the pulp and
  paper/forest products industry.
• What you need to find out everything!

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What is everything?

• Company history, financial health, corporate
  structure, principal players, recent major
  transactions.
• Competitor information where does Meadwestvaco
  stand in the industry
• Industry information products, product grades,
  industry standards, specifications, definitions
  of terms, customs of contracting, if any, sample
  contracts if you can find them

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Start with Meadwestvaco itself company and
competitor information

• Starting Point Business and Economics Resources
• Bookmark this page
• www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/busecon/

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Company Information

• Contact Information
• Officer and Directors
• Business Description
• Industry Codes (SIC and NAICS)
• Subsidiaries
• The Competition
• Financials, Stock Price, Analysis

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Company Profiles

• Mergent Online
• OneSource Business Browser
• Standard and Poors NetAdvantage
• EBSCO Business Source Complete Datamonitor
  Report
• Hoovers Company Reports
• Factiva
• Bloomberg

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Mergent Online

• Look up company by name or ticker
• Advanced searching
• Click on Competition or search by SIC to find
  peer companies
• Comparison reports
• EDGAR Filings
• Connect to Mergent

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OneSource Business Browser

• Public and private companies
• Company profiles
• Competitor report
• Peer analysis
• Analyst reports
• Financials
• Articles from newspapers, trades
• Connect to OneSource

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EBSCO Business Source Complete

• Search on company name
• Select company profile to get the Datamonitor
  report
• Your search also finds stock quotes, articles in
  trades, magazines, business journals, etc.
• Connect to Business Source Complete

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Other Sources

• Disclosure excerpts from SEC filings stock
  prices
• Thomson Research SEC filings and Disclosure
  reports
• Standard and Poors NetAdvantage
• Factiva Go to Companies tab. Snapshots and SP
  Ratio Reports
• Hoovers Company Records via ProQuest
• Investext investment bank analysis
• Bloomberg New!

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Business News The Trades

• EBSCO Business Source CompleteTrades business
  journals
• Factiva news trades
• ABI-Inform on ProQuestTrades business journals
• LexisNexis industry news files, bankruptcy
  filings, troubled company news

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EDGAR Filings

• All public companies and certain insiders are
  required to make regular SEC filings.
• Investors and financial professionals rely on
  these filings
• Available free to the public since 1995 at the
  SEC web site.
• Coming soon IDEA, filings with interactive data

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Form 10-K (annual report) andForm 10-Q
(quarterly report)

• Overview of company, contact info
• Officers and directors, and salaries
• Management discussion
• Litigation
• Outstanding shares, large shareholders
• Financial condition of the company

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Information found in Other EDGAR Filings and
Exhibits

• Material contracts of the company
• Executive employment contracts
• Current reports (bad news)
• Proxy materials
• Company bylaws
• Prospectuses
• Sales of restricted shares
• Tender offers

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Sources of EDGAR Filings

• SEC Website Use the CIK search to find a
  companyList of SIC codes
• Thomson ResearchChoice of many display
  formats,Handy pre-compiled tables of financials
• Company websitesInvestor Relations section

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More Sources of EDGAR Filings

• Mergent Online
• OneSource Business Browser
• Standard Poors NetVantage
• LexisNexis offers a menu of filings and
  exhibits
• Westlaw EDGAR database
• Bloomberg

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Pulp and paper/forest products industry research
tools

• Where to find research tools
• University of Chicago Library Business
  Economics Resource Center webpage
• University Library webpage gt Research Guides by
  Subject gt Business
• http//www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/busecon/
• Find Industry Information
• See Industries A-Z under Research Guides

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Pulp and paper/forest products

• Reference Sources
• Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources
• Oxford Reference Online Business Economics
  Dictionary of Business Management

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Industry information

• Standard Poors NetAdvantage
• OneSource
• Mintel Reports
• Ebsco Business Source Complete
• Has industry profiles as well as journal article
  indexing for trade journals
• Factiva
• Industry profiles press coverage

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Industry standards definitions

• Find trade association publications
• Encyclopedia of Business Info Sources
• Ebsco Business Source Complete
• Google!

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Statistics/Regulations

• Statistics U. S. Census Bureau
• Pulp and paper a regulated industry?
• Agency website Environmental Protection Agency
• Federal Register, C.F.R.

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Contracts samples/ provisions

• In real life, your firm will likely have a
  document bank
• Print sources exist, e.g.
• Quinn's UCC forms and practice / Thomas M. Quinn.
   2 v. (loose-leaf)
• UCC Legal Forms / Stephen Flanagan. 3 v.
  (looseleaf) Also on Westlaw (UCC-LF)
• Search Annual Reports of Meadwestvaco and similar
  companies for material contracts
• Search pleadings files on L/N and WL for
  contracts attached as exhibits (be careful if
  theyre in court, might have issues ?)

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Okay, lets research the pulp and paper/forest
products industry

• Standard Poors NetAdvantage
• On Business Economics Resource Page under Find
  Industry Information

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OneSource

• OneSource
• Note Non-GSB users can access OneSource here

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Mintel Reports

• Under Find Industry Information, see Mintel
  Reports
• Enter I agree.

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Global Market Information Database

• See Global Market Information Database
• Agree to terms and conditions

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Ebsco Business Source Complete

• Law Library webpage gt Law Journals gt Non-legal
  journals gt Ebsco Business Source Complete
• Source for news and analysis includes trade
  journals as well as mainstream press coverage
• Select Industry Profile under Publication Type
  and use paper as search term
• Select Company Profile and search for
  Meadwestvaco. Note SWOT Analysis.

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Trade Associations

• In several of the sources weve looked at, we
  have found listings of trade associations.
  Examples
• National Paper Trade Association
• American Forest Paper Association
• Pulp and Paper Product Council

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Why are trade associations so useful?

• NPTA under Packaging Division
• Packaging Distribution Business Quarterly
• AFPA's Annual Survey of Paper, Paperboard Pulp
  Capacity (U.S.)
• Related Industry Links under Alliance Links

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American Forest Paper Assn.

• See Glossary under Pulp and Paper

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Pulp and Paper Products Council

• Canadian, but open to any N. American producer
• See Product Definitions
• Under Publications, Key Statistics 2006 these
  are for Canada. Are there statistics like this
  for US?

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United States Census Bureau

• www.census.gov
• Business and Industry
• Use keyword paper
• Industry Statistics Sampler
• NAICS search

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Regulatory agencies

• Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov
• General search pulp and paper
• Profile of the Pulp and Paper Industry, 2nd ed.
  see chapters entitled Introduction and
  Industrial Process Description
• Pulp and paper rulemaking actions

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Press and trade journal articles

• Ebsco Business Source Complete
• Limit Publications to trade publications
• Factiva
• Use industry and region limiters and industry
  overview as search query
• Use atleast limiter limits your results to
  those articles that contain your search term at
  least times. Enhances your results relevance.
• Use Word Count feature (wcgt) eliminate all
  those short articles

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Questions?

• Help is always available
• Reference Desk
• Ask-a-Law-Librarian