Research Guides: Company & Industry Research: 3: Company Directories

Company Directories, Databases & Statistics

You can identify competitors using a variety of business or company directories, databases, and web sites. You can often identify competitors within the same industry by searching by NAICS code or by keywords in the NAICS description.

Statistics (website):

Canadian Business Counts and Statistics (Statistics Canada)
Statistics Canada gathers data through the Business Register Program to provide counts of active businesses by sector (two digit NAICS industry classification) and employment-size categories for Canada and the provinces and territories.

Canadian Company Directories (Library Databases):

Company Profile Canada (via Nexis Uni) Provides information on thousands of Canadian companies and organizations. 80% of the companies covered are privately owned. Each profile includes details on the company's location, size, year of incorporation, industry SIC code, and revenues.
Report on Business Company Profiles (via Nexis Uni) The Report on Business Corporate Fundamental Database created in 1985 contains information on more than 4,000 active Canadian Incorporated companies including approximately: - 2,700 Canadian incorporated public companies listed in Canada - 1,200 private companies, primarily federally incorporated Canadian companies (less timely as information on these companies generally must be obtained by yearly surveys). - 55 crown corporations, both federal and provincial large crown corporations that compete in the commercial sector. - 70 financial and non-financial co-operatives

Global/International Company Directories (Library Databases):

Mergent Intellect This link opens in a new window A deep collection of worldwide business information that enables companies to generate insightful business intelligence.Permitted Uses
Mergent Market Atlas This link opens in a new window Contains global business and financial data including company and industry profiles and annual reports.Coverage: Current plus up to 15 years of historical data.Until June 2025 this content is also available on the legacy Mergent Online platform.Permitted Uses
Factiva This link opens in a new window A current international news database from Dow Jones which provides access to premium content from 200 countries, in 28 languages.Users have access to a wide range of information from newspapers, newswires, industry publications, websites, company reports, and more.Permitted Uses
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window The Company Dossier search tool brings together hundreds of company information sources covering news, legal activity, financial data and more info a customized company report.The search template lets you search by NAICS code to identify competitors across a large number of popular company directories.

Other Sources for Company Profiles

Learn more about your target company's competitors by consulting the following sources of company profiles:

Websites:

CrunchBase (from TechCrunch)
OpenCorporates
"The largest open database of companies in the world".

Library Databases:

ProQuest One Business This link opens in a new window Find scholarly journals, books, trade publications, dissertations, working papers, company, industry and market research reports, newspapers, business cases, ebooks, streaming video, and other sources relevant to research in business and economics.Permitted Uses
- Includes the ABI/Inform Collection, J. P. Morgan Research, the Entrepreneurship Database, the Business Video Database, the Accounting, Tax & Banking Collection, the Asian & European Business Collection, and the Business Market Research Collection. More Information.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window All disciplines of businessFind scholarly business journals, trade journals and business magazinesIncludes company profiles, industry reports, market research reports, country economic reportsPermitted Uses
Passport This link opens in a new window Access company profiles for thousands of popular consumer companies.
- Includes Economies & Consumers, as well as Industrial-Canada reports for industries across the entire Canadian economy

GlobalData Company Profiles (via Nexis Uni)
Hoover's Company Records (via Nexis Uni) Hoover's provides basic company information on 12 million companies (public & private) worldwide. In-depth records are available for 40,000 major public and private companies worldwide and provide overviews, histories, key financial data, lists of products and identify key competitors.

Finding small & local businesses

It can be difficult to identify small, local businesses in standard company directories or databases. Think outside the box and try the following resources:

Directory (South Niagara Chamber of Commerce)
Directory of businesses in South Niagara (Greater Fort Erie, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne/Wainfleet, Welland/Pelham).
Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce
Kijiji
Manta
more info...close...
Some company profile information is "locked" and only available to registered Manta members. Registration is free.
Yellow Pages Directory (Canada)
Yellow Pages Directory (United States)

Government and Nonprofit Organizations

Canadian

U.S.

Canadian Trade Directories

Consult one of the following trade directories in order to identify companies that manufacture or distribute industrial products and services. Most directories allow you to search by company, product, or brand name, or to browse by category.

Canadian B2B Network (Canadian Chamber of Commerce)
Search or browse this B2B directory for businesses providing products and services in industries across Canada. Can filter by location, industry type, or services offered.
Frasers Directory
more info...close...
You can also search for articles in trade journals in Frasers.
Canadian Manufacturer's Database (via Nexis Uni)
This database incorporates the Canadian Trade Index and lists Canadian manufacturers, distributors, and industrial service companies. Profiles include details on the company size (number of employees), key officers and directors, industry codes, products, markets, and annual sales.

Company & Industry Research