WRDS – Wharton Research Data Services

WRDS is regarded as the premier financial research database at business schools worldwide. Strictly, WRDS is not a database itself but a web-based research service. The University of Manchester subscribes to databases (CRSP, Compustat, IBES, etc. ) from their providers, and also to access using WRDS because of the convenience this offers. Several key factors contribute to its popularity:

• Convenient web-based access for databases through WRDS
  CCM (CRSP Compustat Merged) example
• Web-based queries follow the same style for all the databases making WRDS easier to learn.
• Access to CRSP and Compustat, the top-rated databases for financial research on the US market
• Service designed by researchers for researchers: online documentation, able to cope with large volumes of data, and online support.

In general, WRDS is the first choice for most researchers so long as it has the data they need. Thomson Reuters Datastream is our most-used database for UK and Worldwide financial market research, where WRDS is heavily US-centric.

The Databaser blog has a good range of tips on using WRDS – For example

• Ratios, values and other instruments from the balance sheet – Compustat

Note that the University of Manchester WRDS subscription does not include Compustat Global.

Company Credit Ratings

Obtaining company credit ratings can be difficult. The credit ratings agencies traditionally rate the specific bonds, or other debt instuments, of a company rather than the company overall. In some situations this information is combined to give an overall company credit rating.

Where can I find bond credit ratings for a particular company?

For North American companies, there is a Compustat Monthly Updates – Ratings query on WRDS that gives the S&P Domestic Long Term Issuer Credit Rating (SPLTICRM).

Video demo of getting SPLTICRM for S&P 500 http://screencast.com/t/Z2i4CByn7 (using a list of gvkeys for the S&P 500 constituent list for Dec 2010)

Bloomberg’s function CRPR (Company Credit Ratings) gives ratings (where available) from Moodys, Standard and Poors and Fitch.

See also post http://finabase.blogspot.com/2010/02/databases-offering-debtcredit-ratings.html which describes tips from Vrije Universiteit.

Google scholar – Find It via JRUL

[This is now out of date – see https://bizlib247.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/google-scholar-find-it-via-uml/ ]

Google scholar is a useful resource for finding books and articles. On campus PCs are configured so that it provides Find It via JRUL links. Off campus you can configure Google scholar to include these links.

Configuring Google Scholar

1. Select the Scholar Preferences link at the top right
2. In the Library Links section, find the University of Manchester library
3. Click the Save Preferences button at the foot of the page.

Video demo of setting Google Scholar preferences – http://screencast.com/t/X1Av0Nf9

Note:

The Find It via JRUL links do not give you direct access to online articles. You still need to authenticate yourself as a member of the University to access the full text. (See the second half of the demo video http://screencast.com/t/X1Av0Nf9.)

The Find It via JRUL links are not perfect. If the link does not give you access to the article then you should double-check whether the journal is available as an e-journal.

How can I check a journal’s availability through the library?
Other e-journal related questions on the FAQ

For those interested in the details, adding the library preference to Google scholar means that it checks the library’s “link resolver” for items in the search results and adds a link where appropriate.

Science Direct – off-campus access (and a saving problem)

The following two videos record getting a Long Range Planning journal article. This journal is one of those available electronically from the Science Direct e-journal database.

Version 1 – from A-Z list

Demo video – http://screencast.com/t/HtQxHsZa0 – this starts after looking up Long Range Planning in the Electronic Journals A-Z list. The only complicated bit is how to login – see authenticate below.

Version 2 – using FindIt

Demo video – http://screencast.com/t/Zhx87bAhZ – this starts with putting article details into the FindIt service. The FindIt service takes a while to respond. When it does respond and you select Science Direct and then login (see authenticate below). By this time the details of the volume and issue number are lost so you have to select these again.

Authentication

To authenticate yourself as a member of the University of Manchester / Manchester Business School there are 3 steps involved.

1. Goto the login link at the top right, and select the Goto Athens / Institution login link
2. Select location as UK Access Management Federation, and then scroll down to University of Manchester link
3. Login at the University of Manchester Central Authentication Service. After logging in, select the volume no, issue no, and find the required article.

Saving PDF file problem

In both the example above the full text PDF was retrieved. However, in version 1 where I just clicked on the PDF link, it turned out that it was not possible to save the pdf file. (There was just no response to clicking on the save icon.) In version 2, I right-clicked on the PDF link and selected Save As. This save the file to a folder on my PC first, and then open it.

[Later I tried on-campus access and had no problems saving the PDF file.]

Further advice on off-campus access:

• Business Source Premier (EBSCO) off-campus access
• ABI Inform (Proquest) off-campus access
• Emerald off-campus access
• JSTOR off-campus access
• ABI Inform and Business Source Premier off-campus access
• Central Authentication Service

If you access library resources from off-campus regulary, then take a look at the VPN service. This software makes your remote PC appear to be an on-campus University of Manchester PC.

Factiva – business news database

Factiva (full name – Dow Jones Factiva) is a business news/information database and one of the most useful databases for researchers in all areas of business and management. It covers about 10,000 business and news publications, many in full text, including business magazines, trade journals, newspapers, newswires, media programs and company stock reports. For example it provides access to the FT from 1981.

For more information about using Factiva:

• Finding News resources from the JRUL Researchers’ Blog – http://jrulresearchers.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/finding-news-slides-etc/
• Searching for articles in Factiva  (video demo from Warwick business library blog) http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/buslib/entry/searching_for_articles/
• Our brief guide from the training and guides webpage http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/humanities/mbs/business/training/

Example Factiva search:

To search for FT articles using Factiva, select Sources and search for “Financial Times”. Selecting the small information icon next to a source will give further details about a source.

[Click to enlarge image]

Note: Access to Factiva is through its own special/database username and password. This is the same both on and off campus.

Information on inactive companies (Datastream)

Information on inactive public (quoted) companies is not always easily available. After a merger, takeover or liquidation there is usually no company website available and the company may no longer be included on financial information websites.

Datastream covers active and inactive companies worldwide. You just have to be a little careful, as the Datastream Navigator default setting is to search for active companies only.

Video demo – http://screencast.com/t/ncaB9Bhpbv shows looking up the company Arcelor and then doing a “Capital Issues & Changes” request.

This shows that Arcelor was taken over by Arcelormittal in 27 Jul 2006 but its shares were not delisted until 13 Nov 2007. (Note that Arcelormittal is the current name of the company, it may have had a different name in July 2006 when the takeover happened.)

Once you have found the company on Datastream then you can get the historical numeric data e.g. share price history, accounts / fundamentals.

Emerald off-campus access

The Emerald e-journal database is the best choice for the Journal of Service Marketing because there is no embargo so the most recent issues are available.

To access off-campus you need to authenticate using your central username and password. (Select Institution login, UK Federation and University of Manchester.)

A brief demo video – http://screencast.com/t/jaPAPi49Tl (starts after a search for Journal of Services Marketing in the A-Z e-journal list)

Demo videos

Advance apologies if our demo videos stop working.

We have had notification that the University of Manchester streaming server has significant disk errors and could fail at any time. The University has no current plans to replace this machine, so we are currently looking for a new home for our demo videos.

The affected videos all have a URL that starts streaming2.its.manchester, e.g. http://streaming2.its.manchester.ac.uk:8080/mbs/edl/Finding-eJournals_skin.swf

Business Source Premier (EBSCO) off-campus

When trying to access Business Source Premier off-campus you need to login using your University of Manchester central username and password. This is how the supplier of Business Source Premier, EBSCO, authenticates you for access to the material the UoM has paid for, e.g. the full-text of Harvard Business Review.

[Aug 2013 – The login to Business Source Premier is now easier – when required you should be taken straight to the page to login with your University of Manchester username and password. For example see How to access Marketing Review … (posted 1 September 2013)]

To login to Business Source Premier:

1) If you get this login page select the link “Shibboleth Login” below the login button.

2) At next page, select region or group as “UK Higher Education“.

3) Select “University of Manchester” from the list. (Note it is not Manchester Business School, nor Manchester University you have to pick Manchester from all the entries starting “University of …”

4) You should now get a familiar University of Manchester Central Authentication Service page. Login using your central username and password.

5) Select EBSCOhost Web and Business Source Premier, and you get to the search interface.

If you want the Harvard Business Review, you might search based on the author and title of an article or select the “Publications” tab and search for “Harvard Business Review.

There is a video demo illustrating this in the FAQ answers:

Where can I find the full-text of the Harvard Business Review? and
How do I access e-resources using my central username and password?

For additional information about off-campus access, select the off-campus category in this blog or search for off-campus on http://www.mbs.ac.uk/bizlib247

Demos, Tutorials and Guides from Cass

Cass Business School at City University London has an useful page –
Tutorials and guides for E-Resources.

This includes Captivate video demos, interactive tutorials and PDF guides. Their resources are not identical to the University of Manchester but there is significant overlap.