Learning Resources: Management: Recommended Websites

Evaluating websites

Finding information on the internet is easy, but finding good quality and reliable information is trickier than you think. Take a look at the tips in this section on how to get the most out of searching online. Before using any web resource in your assignment ask yourself “Is the web page as good as the information you would find in a book or academic journal?”

Webpages can be set up by anyone, therefore before referencing a site check that the information is reliable and accurate.
Check:

Who is the author? Do they have qualifications/a reputation in the relevant area?
Is the web site affiliated with an organisation? If so, what is the mission of that organisation?
Has the information been properly referenced? Are the references authoritative?
When was the site last updated?
Is there any reason for bias on this web site?
Has the website been well presented in an appropriately academic style?
Has anyone recommended this web site to you?
Does the information match what you have learned from other sources?

Look for the clues in the URL

.com – a commercial company
.co.uk – a commercial UK company
.edu – a US academic institution
.ac.uk – a UK academic institution
.org – a non-profit organisation
.gov or .gov.uk – a US or UK government site

Are you struggling to find what you need on Google?

Here are some tips to improve your results!

Try using Google Advanced Search
If you are looking for an exact phrase try using quotation marks "Obsessive compulsive disorder"
Try a Google site search "Obsessive compulsive disorder" site:ac.uk This returns results from only academic institutions in the UK.

Still not finding enough academic resources in Google?

Try using Google Scholar which only searches scholarly literature.

Government & Professional Bodies

There are many websites which you will find useful for your studies, I have listed some of the most popular ones below. Please let me know if there are other websites which you feel others may wish to know about and I will include them on this page.

British and Irish Legal Information Institute BAILII, where you can find British and Irish case law & legislation. European Union case law, Law Commission reports, and other law-related British and Irish material. A free website with legal content; which assists teaching staff and students in their law studies and which they access frequently.
British Chambers of Commerce A network of accredited Chambers of Commerce across the UK
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Set professional standards and provide the expertise to drive the HR and L&D professions forward. A career partner to more than 140,000 members. Site contains a knowledge hub containing useful topics and factsheets.
Chartered Management Institute (CMI) The Chartered Management Institute is an accredited professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom.
Confederation of British Industry Describes itself as "the premier lobbying organisation for UK business on national and international issues".
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Tools and Guidance for Business
Equality and Human Rights Commission The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) monitors human rights, protecting equality across 9 grounds - age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation and gender reassignment
European Institute for Gender Equality EIGE assists EU institutions and the Member States in the collection, analysis and dissemination of objective, reliable and comparable information and data on equality between women and men
Government Information Service Provides links to all UK national and local Government Departments
Health & Safety Executive (HSE) protects people against risks to health or safety arising out of work activities, through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, inspection, investigation and enforcement
HMRC Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes. The Treasury lead on strategic tax policy and policy development
Institute of Consulting Institute of Consulting is an organisation within the Chartered Management Institute (chartered professional body, dedicated to management and leadership) with a core focus towards consulting professionals
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA Global) The IIA is the internal audit profession's global voice, recognized authority, acknowledged leader, chief advocate, and principal educator. Members work in internal auditing, risk management, governance, internal control, information technology audit, education, and security
The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) The IAASB is an independent standard-setting body that serves the public interest by setting high-quality international standards for auditing, assurance, and other related areas.
Legislation.gov.uk The official home of UK legislation. This website is managed by The National Archives on behalf of HM Government.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

Useful websites

BAILII - The British and Irish Legal Information BAILII provides access to freely available British, Irish and European Union primary legal materials, including case transcripts and legislation and many tribunal decisions. Including decisions from the Courts of the four jurisdictions of the United Kingdom and from the Courts of Ireland. Coverage of English Court of Appeal, House of Lords and Privy Council cases is from 1996 onwards.
Bank of England Detailed information about the Bank's operations and publications, statistical series compiled by the Bank plus the texts of recent press releases.
Barclays Insight & Research Reports Barclays produce a number of insight & research reports which can be downloaded for free
BookBoon.com Provides access to over 200 free e-books on a variety of different aspects of Business Management: Strategy & Management, Marketing & Law and Economics & Finance.
British Library Business & Management Portal The Business and Management Portal delivers high quality digital reports and other publications from the British Library’s collections to business and management researchers. Rights cleared and with a simple registration process, you can download the content to your mobile device or PC
ClickZ ClickZ provides insight and analysis on the latest trends, tools and technology in digital marketing and advertising.
Entrepreneur Advice, insight, profiles and guides for established and aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide. Home of Entrepreneur magazine.
Ethics Unwrapped Ethics Unwrapped is a free ethics educational video series produced by The University of Texas at Austin. Behavioural ethics concepts and basic ethics principles are illustrated in 30+ short videos
EUbusiness Independent online business information service about the European Union
Financial Reporting Council The Financial Reporting Council promotes high quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment. It sets standards for corporate reporting, audit and actuarial practice and monitors and enforces accounting and auditing standards.
Financial Reporting Council - UK Corporate Governance Code The UK CGC sets out standards of good practice in relation to board leadership and effectiveness, remuneration, accountability and relations with shareholders
globalEDGE International business web portal created by the International Business Centre at Michigan State University. The Global Insights tab provides international business and trade information on over 200 countries, the 50 U.S. states, as well as nearly two dozen industry sectors, and many of the world’s trade blocs. The Tools and Data tab includes the Market Potential Index, which allows comparison of emerging markets.
The Guardian Latest financial, market & economic news and analysis from The Guardian
HBS Working Knowledge Collection of cutting-edge articles; brought to you by the Harvard Business School. Topics - include leadership, entrepreneurship, nonprofit management, finance, marketing, operations and e-commerce.
HRM Guide Publisher of free articles about Human Resource Management. Has student resources section covering all aspects of HRM
ICLR - The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales As well as the official Law Reports, the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales publishes The Weekly Law Reports, The Industrial Cases Reports, The Business Law Reports, The Public and Third Sector Law Reports and the Consolidated Index to leading law reports.
Information Commissioner’s Office Information Commissioner's Office covers use of information in organisations including data protection and freedom of information. Take a look in the "For Organisations" section to find out about organisation obligations including data protection, the freedom of information and much more. Follow the links on the right hand side of the page to guides on marketing, charity, business etc.
The Initiative on Global Markets Looks at international business and financial markets and the role of policies and institutions in the context of the global economy. The website includes details of research topics, an archive of working papers, details of academics working for the Initiative, news / event information and much more
Internet Advertising Bureau UK The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for online and mobile advertising. It promotes growth and best practice for advertisers, agencies and media owners.
Lawbore Lawbore is a free service developed by The City Law School, within City, University of London. Its legal portal is useful to anyone with a legal interest. It includes Topic Guides with links to key commentary, websites and published information arranged by the area of law. It also includes Learnmore – a skills wiki for learning legal skills split into the areas such as Writing, Research & Exams.
Sage Advice UK Sage Advice UK provides advice on everything from managing money to people. Tailored advice for startups, small businesses, enterprises and accountants. Website contain useful articles.
Social Media Today Social Media Today is an independent, online community for professionals in PR, marketing, advertising or any other discipline where a thorough understanding of social media is mission-critical.
Whatishumanresource.com Human Resource Management for students. This website is packed with information, articles, legislation and presentations.
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum engages political, business, academic and other leaders of society in collaborative efforts to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Together with other stakeholders, it works to define challenges, solutions and actions, always in the spirit of global citizenship

Additional websites

Business Case studies (formerly Times 100 case studies)
Business studies theory online with extensive revision pages, download free case studies from real world companies and associated lesson materials and worksheets for teachers and students.
Business in the community
Business in the Community is the Prince's Responsible Business Network. Members work together to tackle a wide range of issues that are essential to creating a fairer society and a more sustainable future. Click on Resources, then Case Studies.
The Journal of Business Case Studies
Providing access to range of case studies; directly from the journal website.
Learning Edge
Produced by MIT Sloan for case studies covering entrepreneurship, leadership/ethics, operations management, strategy, sustainability and system dynamics.
New York Times Case Studies
The New York Times site offers readers the opportunity to think along with a small-business owner who has confronted an interesting challenge. In each article, you can watch the owner assess his or her options and then make a decision -- and then you can click on the related blog post to see how other owners analyze the situation. You can also join the discussion and leave your own comments.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development: case studies
A collection of studies submitted by companies illustrating how they have improved their environmental performance.

There are many other providers of case studies online but they often charge a fee. These cases are not usually made available to libraries, but can be purchased by individuals.

Most companies provide access to their annual report on their own website. If you can't find the annual report there are a number of free sites which allow access to a selection of reports.

Edgar
U.S. companies file registration statements, and periodic reports through EDGAR ( U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). You can access and download the information free of charge from the database.
AnnualReports.com
AnnualReports.com is Americas largest annual report service. Their directory is a Free Service that allows users to review an annual report in an easy and convenient manner. Complete and up-to-date listings of annual reports, AnnualReports.com provides instant access to annual reports in their actual format in one single location.
The Annual Reports Service
A freely available website. Allows you to request annual reports for selected companies
Northcote
This Free online research tool links you to listed company information. They provide company information including Financial Reports, Webcasts & Press Releases.

Annual Survey of Hours & Earnings (ASHE)
Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. Replacing the New Earnings Survey in 2004 ASHE presents detailed data in tables on earnings and hours paid for employees within industries, occupations and regions
British Social Attitudes
Each year NatCen's British Social Attitudes survey asks around 3,000 people what it's like to live in Britain and what they think about how Britain is run.
Since 1983 they have been measuring and tracking changes in people's social, political and moral attitudes. The survey is a critical gauge of public opinion, and is used by the Government, journalists, opinion formers and academics.
Family Resources Survey
An annual report that provides facts and figures about the incomes and living circumstances of households and families in the UK.
Labour Force Survey
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a study of the employment circumstances of the UK population. It is the largest household study in the UK and provides the official measures of employment and unemployment.
Labour Market Statistics
A monthly releases by the ONS and a key guide to the current economic indicators (e.g. prices, unemployment, trade interest rates and exchange rates) and labour market data.
Life Opportunities Survey
This was a major study, carried out for the Office for Disability Issues, part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It ran from June 2009 to September 2014 and provides facts and figures comparing how disabled and non-disabled people participate in society in a number of areas.
Nomis
Nomis is the Web site for the official UK labour market statistics. It gives access to the most up-to-date and detailed labour market data produced from official sources. Nomis is a free service provided by National Statistics but you have to register for an ID and password in order to access it.
Social Trends
Social Trends draws together social and economic data from a wide range of government departments and other organisations; it paints a broad picture of UK society today, and how it has changed.
UK National Statistics Publication Hub
The Publication Hub is the first port of call for anyone who is looking for statistics released by government departments in the UK. It is the central website where the planned publication dates of new statistical data are announced in advance. The Publication Hub itself does not produce any statistics but provides a means of searching for data across all government departments. You can browse by theme or region, view the release calendar or search using key words.
Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS)
The Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS) is a national survey of people at work in Britain. It is the flagship survey of employment relations in Britain. It collects data from employers, employee representatives and employees in a representative sample of workplaces. WERS has been undertaken 6 times: 1980, 1984, 1990, 1998, 2004 and 2011.

Directories can be a useful place to start when you are looking for information on a company. The information in a directory can vary but you usually get some or all of the following:

Name, address, phone numbers
Short profiles for each company
Corporate information on leading companies including financial information
Products and services offered by companies

The following directories are available online:

Companies House
Records of all UK private and public companies. You can access two on-line databases free of charge. (a) List of disqualified directors (b) company name & address index, (with basic company information)
Europages
A European Business Directory listing 500,000 companies in 33 European Countries. You can search the directory by product or service, by company name or business sector.
Kompass
The Kompass web site provides information on 1.5 Million Companies, 23 Million services / products and 400,000 trade and brand names in over 60 Countries. Search by product or Company details. Kompass is an excellent source of information particularly in the area of trade and brand names
Yell.com
The electronic yellow pages allows you to search 1.7 million UK businesses. You can search by classification, company name and location.

Doing Business – World Bank Group
Data and analysis that measures the business environment of more than 180 countries and selected cities around the globe. By gathering and analyzing comprehensive quantitative data to compare business regulation environments across economies and over time, Doing Business encourages economies to compete towards more efficient regulation; offers measurable benchmarks for reform; and serves as a resource for academics, journalists, private sector researchers and others interested in the business climate of each economy
Global Financial Stability Reports
Assessment of global financial markets, including emerging market financing from the IMF. Focuses on current conditions and highlights financial imbalances and other issues that could jeopardize financial market stability and sustained market access by emerging market borrowers
Morningstar
Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $200 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2017. The company has operations in 27 countries.

World Bank: Private Participation in Infrastructure Database
Data on more than 4000 infrastructure projects for 137 developing countries. Select the "Get Data" tab in the center of the page to view pre-defined reports or build custom reports by country and sector.
World Bank: Transport Data & Indicators
Data and analysis on railway & private concessions and private participation in transport infrastructure. Also provides access to the Logisitics Performance Index which monitors the trade logistics performance of countries around the globe.

Looking for a way to learn more about your subject area without reading? Consider listening to podcasts that may help to increase your knowledge.

Podcasts vary in quality, frequency and reliability, so make sure you evaluate them before using the information for an assignment.

CIPD Podcast series Listen to episodes from our podcast series on a range of topical workplace, HR and L&D issues
City A.M. Unregulated This is a weekly podcast focusing on UK news. The City A.M. business section tackles career change, how businesses are developing and leadership lessons. It features case studies, interviews and leading comments from top executives. Episodes include 'Let's start over – how to completely change your career', 'Virgin Money chief executive – Jayne –Anne Gadhia on what she has learned from Richard Branson' and 'High street legend John Timpson on the key to success'.
Project Management Project Management is a business and leadership podcast aimed at UK startups and executives. It focuses on how to become a better leader and goes through the latest news, statistics and business journals to help improve in your role. Each week it is hosted by a different business leader who discusses subjects such as mentoring, training and mindfulness.
University of Oxford – A Romp Through Ethics for Complete Beginners This free site features public lectures, teaching material, interviews with leading academics, information about applying to the University, and much more. All the material is arranged within a series of related talks or lectures and may be in audio, video or document format. Content is being added regularly to.

Corruption Perceptions Index
First published in 1995 by Transparency International, the Corruption Perceptions Index measures observed levels of corruption within a country. To view corruption/transparency data at the country level, see this link
Global Financial Stability Reports
Assessment of global financial markets, including emerging market financing from the IMF. Focuses on current conditions and highlights financial imbalances and other issues that could jeopardize financial market stability and sustained market access by emerging market borrowers
The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA Global)
The IIA is the internal audit profession's global voice, recognized authority, acknowledged leader, chief advocate, and principal educator. Members work in internal auditing, risk management, governance, internal control, information technology audit, education, and security
The Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM)
The International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) is a professional body and charity that offers recognition, information and support in all areas of risk and safety management.
Institute of Risk Management
IRM is the leading body for professional risk management. They help build excellence in risk management to improve the way organisations work.
Worldwide Governance Indicators
A World Bank resource that measures six dimensions of governance: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, Control of Corruption. Data are available from 1996 - present for over 200 countries.

Eurostat
Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union situated in Luxembourg. Its mission is to provide high quality statistics for Europe. Publicly-available social and economic data about EU member states. English, German or French-language interface available. Data is displayed in pre-formatted tables which can be downloaded into Excel or SPSS. You can customise the variables displayed before downloading
Government Statistics
Similar to Office for National Statistics, this website provides the latest UK statistics regarding the UK economy, environment, agriculture etc
National Audit Office
The independent Government Office which scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament and audits the accounts of all government departments and agencies as well as a wide range of other public bodies. Site includes full text of Annual Reports, Press Notices and other publications.
OECD Factbook
The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. Published annually the OECD Factbook collates economic and social data about member states and additional major countries. Summary data is presented in tables which can also be downloaded as Excel spreadsheets
OECD Main Economic Indicators (MEI)
The Main Economic Indicators database includes a wide range of areas from 1961, such as quarterly national accounts, business surveys, retail sales, industrial production, construction, consumer prices, total employment, unemployment rates, interest rates, money and domestic finance
Office for National Statistics
The UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and the recognised national statistical institute of the UK. They also provide access to statistics from other UK government departments.
UK Data Service
More than 6,000 collections of high quality social and economic data, from international organizations including the European Commission, International Labour Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Also UK Census data (1971-2011), and data from UK surveys such as British Social Attitudes, Crime Survey for England and Wales and the General Lifestyle Survey. To access data you will need to create a personal account (free of charge).
UK National Statistics Publication Hub
The Publication Hub is the first port of call for anyone who is looking for statistics released by government departments in the UK. It is the central website where the planned publication dates of new statistical data are announced in advance. The Publication Hub itself does not produce any statistics but provides a means of searching for data across all government departments. You can browse by theme or region, view the release calendar or search using key words.
United Kingdom Balance of payments
Known as the ‘Pink Book’. It is a comprehensive guide to the United Kingdom’s external trade performance and contains a wide range of statistics covering a ten-year period.
United Kingdom National Accounts
Also known as the ‘Blue Book’ this annual ONS publication contains data on domestic and national output, income and expenditure, and includes a sector-by-sector analysis. Figures often cover ten years or more and an alphabetical index is provided. Best accessed through the Publications Hub if the whole publication is to be viewed.
World Bank Data
Access to economic indicators. Areas covered include economic policy, external debts, financial sector and labour and employment

Gov.uk UK Export Finance
UK government’s export credit agency (formerly the Exports Credit Guarantee Department) which provides assistance to exporters and investors in the form of insurance policies, guarantees and loans.
ITC International Trade Centre
Country information and statistics as well as links to trade promotion councils, trade associations, free trade zones and chambers of commerce.
UN Comtrade database
The COMTRADE database of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) covers over 110 reporting countries with time series starting from 1962 (SITC1), 1977 (SITC2) or 1988 (SITC3 correlated to HS codes). You can search for imports or exports of a commodity (keyword, HS or SITC code) between individual countries or a country and the rest of the world. Figures are given as the trade value in US dollars and net weight (kg) and can be viewed as tables and graphs. The free service allows you to download 50,000 records per data query although there is no limit on the number of data queries. Full access to the database and download facilities is by annual subscription.
United Kingdom Balance of payments
Known as the ‘Pink Book’. It is a comprehensive guide to the United Kingdom’s external trade performance and contains a wide range of statistics covering a ten-year period.
United Kingdom National Accounts
Also known as the ‘Blue Book’ this annual ONS publication contains data on domestic and national output, income and expenditure, and includes a sector-by-sector analysis. Figures often cover ten years or more and an alphabetical index is provided. Best accessed through the Publications Hub if the whole publication is to be viewed.
United Nations Conference on Trade And Development - UNCTAD
UNCTAD is the United Nations body responsible for dealing with development issues, particularly international trade – the main driver of development. They publish research on the linkages between trade, investment, technology and enterprise development. Also Being the United Nations' focal point for the integrated treatment of trade and development and the interrelated issues in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development, UNCTAD compiles, validates and processes a wide range of data collected from national and international sources. Most of the time series cover long periods, with some dating back to 1948, for almost all economies of the world. Of use is their annual UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics a convenient summary of the most useful statistics and also Development and Globalization, summarizing statistics in this area, published every 4 years. UNCTAD also produce the Least Developed Nations Report. All are available freely on their website.

BIS: YouTube channel
The UK Government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) official YouTube video channel.
The Economist – Multimedia Library
Videos from the Economist magazine. Arranged under various subject headings including Business, Finance and Economics
Euromonitor International: YouTube channel
Market Research video summaries from Euromonitor (publisher of the respected Global Market Information Database)
IMF Videos
Official video presentations from the International Monetary Fund. Videos can be selected by category, country, year and language
INET Oxford: Economics videos
Videos on finance and economics from the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
TED Talks
TED is a non-profit organisation devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages.
World Trade Organisation: Videos
The World Trade Organisation's official videos. Videos are indexed by subject.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is Google's academic search engine. It allows you to search for information published in journals and books, for example. It includes an increasing amount on open access material as well content that you would have to pay to access.

Use Google Scholar alongside the many databases that the College subscribes to so you get relevant and accurate content.