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 competitors 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.