BUS 100, Introduction to Business

I. Marketing Strategy

In this section, you will analyze and discuss your company's marketing strategy, focusing on all elements of the market mix (i.e., the 4Ps, or price, product, promotion, and place).

Company Web Site

This should be your first stop when researching a company - it's a good source for:

• mission, vision and values statements
• recent annual reports
• environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports
• corporate standards (e.g., ethics, sustainabilty, and equity, diversity and inclusion)
• strategic statements
• organization & structure of a company
• current financial information
• company promotion & marketing tools
• product information
• employment information, including current openings

Corporate information may be buried on the main web site - look for an "About Us" or "Company" or "Investors" link on the home page.

But remember: the main purpose of a company's web and annual report site is to promote itself, so "trust but verify" - all of the information on the company's achievements and performance can (and should be) be verified in external sources.

About Company Filings

Public companies around the world (and, in many countries, private companies, too) are legally required to file documents containing financial and other information with the government. These filings, as they're typically called, are then made publicly available.

Finding Company Filings

Finding Company Filings for Companies Traded Outside Canada and the United States

For companies operating outside of the U.S. and Canada, you'll need to search the web for company filings [country].

• Many countries (including most of Europe), require both private and public companies to file documents with the government.
• Required company filings may not have the same structure or content as those in SEDAR and EDGAR.
• Documents from non-English speaking countries may not be available in English. 

Help Finding Company Filings

The following are terms you might consider using when searching our research databases for information about your company's marketing strategy. You would use these terms in conjunction with the name of your company.

• marketing strategy
• products
• brand
• advertising OR advertisements
• marketing mix
• market
• target
• digital marketing
• content marketing
• market research
• marketing management

The following databases are good places to search for news, articles, reports, reviews and other sources related to a product, brand, company or industry.

Not all product review sites are created equal, and it's good to treat product reviews with a healthy skepticism. There are essentially two types of review sites:

• Consumer or customer reviews: these offer reviews based on individual experience with products, and may or may not compare products. Always seek customer reviews from multiple sources and reviewers, so that you get a fuller, more balanced picture.
• Product testing reviews: these reviews focus on multiple brands in a product category and rate each brand tested using the same criteria and methodology. The best of these sites will explain their criteria or methodology and document any outside sources.

Both types of review sites are valuable. The best strategy is to read multiple reviews from both types of review sites and look for patterns of agreement or disagreement. Here are a few that we can recommend: