Business documentation
This page is designed to provide some tips about locating common public facing business documents for the purpose of analysis. See the Writing for business page for tips on writing your own documentation.
Common business documents
Annual report:
Annual reports are good for researching how a company is presenting itself. They typically include a letter from the chief executive officer, a summary of the year's events and a financial overview. Financial reporting is not typically as in-depth as that required by the SEC or what is filed with the 10-K report.
Business plan:
Business plans lay out the major goals of a business, how the business intends to achieve those goals and how they will measure their success. Included are the products or services the company will provide, the intended business structure, key members of the business team and the businesses financing needs.. A section of the business plan, the marketing plan, addresses how the business offerings are unique or provide a competitive advantage over other businesses, the markets the business will serve and the marketing approach. A typical plan is between 10-15 pages but can be significantly longer. Plans are often provided to potential stakeholders, partners, and/or funders to encourage their participation in the business.
Case study:
A case study, sometimes called a business case, summarizes the events and organizational circumstances surrounding a particular business situation. Some cases will focus on a particular aspect of an industry while others will focus on a specific business, product, market or business tool. For example, this case focuses on collection of data from the video game "Star Wars Battlefront II" and how that data can be used to inform marketing decisions. In contrast, this case discusses how an individual theatre company remains financially viable and this case analyzes a specific industry, freeze-drying, within a country, Poland.
Executive summary:
Typically a portion of a larger document, an executive summary is similar to an academic abstract. It generally provides the key points of the accompanying document in 1-2 pages. It takes its name from the idea that busy executives often don't have time to read a lengthy report.
Financial documents:
The primary financial documents necessary for analysis include a balance sheet, a cash flow statement and a profit-loss statement. One of the most common places to find these documents in the United States is through the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC); this source is only available for publicly traded companies.
Note: publicly traded companies have additional documents that are generally unavailable for private companies. Because being publicly traded is primarily a financial decision, these documents are financial in nature. Regular financial reporting is required for publicly traded companies. In the United States, this documentation must be submitted to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in the form of the following reports:
10-K (Annual)
10-Q (Quarterly)
8-K (Current)
Marketing plan:
An element of a business plan, the marketing plan contains specific information about the market a business intends to serve and strategies to reach that group. It should include detailed market analysis as well as the marketing strategy for the company.
Media kit:
Usually another component of the marketing plan, a media kit is a packaged set of documents designed for release to the media. They are generally released prior to significant changes or major company events.
Pitch deck:
A specific type of marketing tool, the pitch deck is slide deck designed to provide a company snapshot or product for potential investors or partners.
Press release:
An element of a media kit and occasionally included in marketing plans, this is a short factual piece written in news style. It is intended for publication in the press. As with media kits they are often released prior to company changes, product launches,milestones or other major events.
SWOT Analysis
A specific type of strategic analysis that considers the Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats of particular company or industry, this analysis is a common element of most business plans and is also often included in company and industry overviews.
By default, the search tool opens with "Company" selected. After searching the company name, you may get multiple results, especially for large multinational companies with lots of subsidiaries. Look for "headquarters" in the location type and the word corporation or consolidated in the business name for the best bet at finding the parent company.
Business Report Guides : Research Reports and Business Plans
Streetwise Complete Business Plan
The One-Hour Business Plan : The Simple and Practical Way to Start Anything New
Faster Disaster Recovery : The Business Owner's Guide to Developing a Business Continuity Plan
Writing and Implementing a Marketing Plan : A Guide for Small Business Owners
The ultimate marketing plan: find your hook, communicate your message, make your mark.
Columbia Historical Corporate Reports
UPenn Historical Corporate Reports
Not there? Often the company posts its own annual report on their website or the website of their parent company.
9 business plan examples to inspire your own
Arthur Andersen Case Studies in Business Ethics
MIT Teaching Resources Library Case Studies
Yale Case Studies Note: Filter this list to locate the free cases.
Journal of Business Cases and Applications
Sample marketing plan Note: this link will immediately prompt you to save the sample plan
This site offers example pitch decks, analysis, and tips as well as free templates through their parent organization, Slide Bean. Note: It does require the creation of a free account. The basic level account allows unlimited presentations but requires upgrade to the paid level to share or collaborate within the platform.
This site offers well-known company pitch decks as well as analysis and tips. The parent organization, Piktochart also requires a free account with discounts for educators and students to upgrade to their professional level. The free level account allows open sharing of decks but requires the upgrade for password protected decks. Additionally, Piktochart offers other types of desktop publishing and templates.
Decks of note here include Strong Roots(plant based snacks), Arcus (FinTech) Bolt(Payment processing) and Recogni (autonomous vehicles). Also check out the unicorn list for well-known companies that reached billion dollar valuation such as Facebook, Tesla, AirBNB, DoorDash and Peloton. Note: while the site offers templates, they are not free.
Business Insider list of decks to check out
Note: This is a link to the article which does not include links to the decks it describes. Use it as a launching point to locate decks on the other sites above.
SEC.gov | EDGAR Full Text Search
