When students, job candidates, business executives, historians and investors need accurate and detailed information on the development of any of the world's 4,550 largest and most influential companies, direct them to International Directory of Company Histories. This multi-volume work is the first major reference to bring together histories of companies that are a leading influence in a particular industry or geographic location.

Each three- to five-page entry is meticulously detailed with facts gathered from popular magazines, academic periodicals, books, annual reports and the archives of the companies themselves. Entries provide information on founders, expansions and losses, labor/management actions, NAIC codes, key dates, ticker symbol, principal subsidiaries, principal divisions, principal operating units, principle competators and other significant milestones -- all peppered with statistics, dates and names of key players.

Vols. 1-6 are organized alphabetically by major industries; Vol. 7 and subsequent volumes are arranged alphabetically by company name within each volume. Each volume includes a cumulative index to companies and personal names. Vol. 7 and subsequent volumes include a cumulative index to industries.

The histories were compiled from publicly accessible sources, as well as from material supplied by the companies themselves. Entries on companies that have had major changes since they were last profiled may be selected for updating.

Startin with Volume 37 a geographical index to companies sorted by country of head office. The index includes Country name, alphabetical list of companies from that country, and volume numberwhere the company profile can be found.