Canon's quarterly earnings releases and annual reports will give you all the financial info you'd need, I suspect. These reports also contain a lot of intersting info (that could be made into various Excel charts) on their products by revenue, geography, etc. The management discussions would get into strategy, a little on problems and what not.
As far as outside info, try checking with some of your local librarians (both public libraries and business school.) Ideally, you'd be able to get access to databases with business info. For example, a lot of MBA schools provide access to investment banking report (i.e. by equity analysts writing about Canon) on companies and industries but you'd probably have to be a current or former student. As you go "down" the list of educational institutions here in the states, for example ("universities," "state universities," "city colleges") you'd probably find that they have lesser and lesser "finance/business" databases but ones that non-students could access. And ones that might not be present in regular public libraries. Just depends. Of course, if you're a current student you have better access to that school's resources and potentially to other colleges/universities that have electronic link-ups to the one you're attending.
If it were me, I'd just walk into the major undergraduate, graduate and MBA libraries of the nearest major university (in my case UC Berkeley) and find out what they've got and who's got access.
Alex, I have to agree with Jeremy. I really like your shots!
Having spent time on Dartmoor in the military, I can appreciate the pain you must have gone through to get those shots!
Reminds me how beautiful the South West of England is.
lol I had a similar project last year when i was studying in an university. If you are currently a college student, you should use the E marketing/business database at your school library.
Trust me, your school library's database is much better than google. google only has free information which is not very creditable for academic use. Most colleges in North America and UK pay a lot of momey to marketing research companies for access of their database and those information couldnt be access through google without a fee. If you dont know how to use it, ask your school librarian, i am sure they are willing to help you.
If you are not a college student, and you probably have to pay few thousands dollar to access those database. or you can try public library and see if they have access to those database. If you dont want to make it looks like a high school student presentation, you need reliable and crediable sources.
okay, as for Canon. Inc, after you collect all the information you need, you can start to make a SWOT analysis about Canon.
From what i remember in my research last year.
The major competitors are HP, Kodak, Sony, Nikon and Olympus.
Finanical Figures: it varies in every year, but you can find it onlkine very easily. (stock chart and annual financial paper)
Market Share: they have it in marketing database.
company stragegy: it's on their annual paper.
For Strength, I talk about its techonolgy development and current mareket achievement (annual sales growth)
For Weakness, I will talk about appreciation of Yens against USD, and how does it affect Canon's profitablity. As you know, most Canon's camera production is still in Japan. (lol it was a strength to Canon last year because it actually helps them to keep their business secret from potential competitors and in fact production in Japan is more efficent than if they move it to China/Thailand/Malaysia/Taiwan, but I dont think it can apply to current situation since Yen value has appreciated in past couple months. (there is an article talking about it in economist magazine 2007)
Opportunity and Threat: well you can figure them out by yourself.
I think you should start to collect information about Photocopy and optical industry first. By doing that, you need to find Canon NAISC and SIC code first. After that, it will become very easy to find information about Canon Inc.
good luck on your presentation.
Sorry I don't have anything to offer for your question. I just wanted to comment on your galleries. WOW - they are amazing. The Water Gallery is my favorite. You are very talented!
Thanks guys, that really all the information I need. This is actually for a relatively small bit of coursework as part of a professional studies project. The numbers I need are fairly top level and it looks like the sources suggested here have all that I need.
Paul and oajlu thankyou for taking the time with such complete comments.
Thanks Jeremy (I enjoyed your portraits!), EyeBrock and rachp, for complimenting me on my photography, I am glad you enjoyed my photographs.
Jeremy Reitman wrote:
I don't know anything about where to find the type of info you're looking for, but you have some spectacular images on your website.
Really. Forget writing a report and get back behind the camera!
Just take a look at their full published yearly financial reports for the past 3-5 years. All the 'top-level' figures you'll need should be found there. As with most public listed companies.
A good report should include the companies pluses and minuses and the competition it perceives to exist.
)