| How to Define an Industry | Articles about Industries |
| Industry Overviews | Industry Statistics |
| Industry-specific Resources | Financial Ratios |
| If you need to know what an industry is called or what companies are within a particular industries, you can use SIC / NAICS codes. SIC / NAICS Codes are classification systems which group like companies and industries together.
The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) consists of 4-digit numbers that apply to companies based on the type of products or services they produce. Companies that do the same thing have the same SIC code. Examples of SIC Codes:
Newer industries, such as many of the high-tech industries, are not well defined using SIC codes, so there is a transition to another classification system — North American Industry Classification System which uses 6-digit numbers for more details. Examples of NAICS Codes:
The best way to find SIC or NAICS codes are by using a database such as Hoover’s or Business and Company Resource Center to search for the name of a company which you know is the kind of service or product you are interested in. These databases will include classification codes for the company’s industry. You can also try searching the US Census Bureau’s NAICS Webpage. |
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Business & Company Resource Center — ELECTRONIC Choose “Industry” to search for an industry by SIC or NAICS code. Or try a keyword search. |
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| Business & Industry — ELECTRONIC To find industry overviews using this database, use the Concept Term menu to choose Industry Forecasts or Industry Overview. You may also want to use the Industry menu to select an industry. |
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| Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries — PRINT Ref HD 2324 .E528 The Encylopedia of Emerging Industries offers over 100 detailed industry overviews on business sectors that have grown significantly or show potential for growth. This is a good place to look for information on new industries. |
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IBISWorld — ELECTRONIC IBISWorld offers industry reports covering over 700 US industries (at the 5-digit NAICS level) and provide key statistics, market characteristics, segmentation, industry conditions, and industry outlook. You can search by NAICS code or by keyword. It’s very easy to browse report titles as well. |
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| Mergent Online — ELECTRONIC Mergent Industry Reports provide in-depth analysis of key industries covering United States as well as Canada, Asia Pacific and Europe. These reports describe the market environment and industry landscape for companies, industries, countries and regions as well as key trends and market outlooks. The Comparable Company Data area provides key company data for the leading companies in the industry being covered. Each report is updated twice a year. |
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Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys — PRINT Don’t overlook this print resource! Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys offer in-depth, timely industry overviews covering a wide range of industries. The surveys provide detailed information including the current environment, industry trends, and key industry ratios. |
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| Reuters Business Insight — ELECTRONIC Reuters Business Insight is joint venture between Reuters and Datamonitor. It includes in-depth analysis of industries in the areas of consumer goods, energy, healthcare, and technology. This database can be a little hit-or-miss. If they actually have an analysis of your industry, they are usually very in-depth. |
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| ValueLine — ELECTRONIC Mainly known as a valuable stock analysis tool, ValueLine also contains terrific one-page industry snapshots. Click on “Industry Lookup,” and then click on the .pdf for the Industry Commentary. |
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| Automotive News Market Data Book — PRINT Ref HD9710 .U5 A94X Includes global data, production & sales, dealer data, and top suppliers. |
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| Automotive Industries — WWW Industry news, suppliers, statistics, new vehicle and product information. |
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| Office Of Automotive Affairs — WWW The mission of the Office of Automotive Affairs of the Department of Commerce is to “facilitate and expand global business opportunities for US automotive vehicles and parts manufacturers.” To this end, the OAA provides a variety of resources including industry overviews, trend reports, and data sets. |
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| Dollars & Cents of Shopping Centers — PRINT Ref HF 5430.3 .U7 Designed as an overview of operating costs of shopping centers, this book contains detailed financial and operating data on shopping centers of all sizes. Information is indexed by store type and by geographic region. |
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| Fairchild’s Textile & Apparel Financial Directory — PRINT Ref HD 9853 .F2 (Annual) This annual publication contains the financial details of major manufactures and wholesalers in the textile and apparel industry. Important industry statisticsare found in the book’s first section. |
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| Plunkett’s Retail Almanac — E-BOOK/PRINT Ref HF 5429.3 .P596x Plunkett’s profiles the leading 500 retail firms and catalog / online companies. The industry overview in the beginning of the book is also noteworthy. |
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Articles about Industries
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ABI/Inform — ELECTRONIC ABI/inform is the database to use when looking for a broad range of types of articles from scholarly, trade, and popular business publications. It contains full-text articles from over 600 business publications as well as abstracts and citations for over 1300 publications. |
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Business & Company Resource Center — ELECTRONIC To find articles using Business & Company Resource Center. Enter the name of your industry into the “subject in article” box. After you get your search results, you can click on the “narrow by subdivision” link to view the articles by subtopic. You may also search this database by SIC or NAICS code. The database focuses on trade and popular publications along with some scholarly journals as well. |
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| Business & Industry — ELECTRONIC Along with articles from over 600 trade and business sources covering a variety of major industries, you can use Business & Industry to find market and product information as well. You can keyword search in the top search box or use the pull-down menus to create your search. |
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Business Source Premier — ELECTRONIC This database offer indexes to 3,800 scholarly business journals (including the Harvard Business Review) covering management, economics, finance, accounting, and international business including full text for nearly 1,100 peer-reviewed business publications |
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Industry Statistics
| Current Industrial Reports — WWW The US Census Bureau’s Current Industrial Report program provides data the production and shipment of certain products on an annual, quarterly, and monthly basis. The data sets are searchable by title and by NAICS code. |
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IBISWorld — ELECTRONIC IBISWorld offers industry reports covering over 700 US industries (at the 5-digit NAICS level) and provide key statistics, market characteristics, segmentation, industry conditions, and industry outlook. You can search by NAICS code or by keyword. It’s very easy to browse report titles as well. |
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Market Share Reporter — PRINT Ref HF 5410. M35 An invaluable resource, Market Share Reporter compiles market share statistics for both public and private comanies. The information stems from periodicals and brokerage reports and is arranged by SIC Use the book’s index to look up a particular company, brand, or product. |
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| Service Industries USA — PRINT Ref HD 9981.3 .S47x A comprehensive guide to economic activity in 150 service industries, Service Industries USA includes statistics from federal sources, ratios, state-level and metro-level data, and projections of employment growth and decline. |
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| STAT-USA — ELECTRONIC A product of the U.S. Department of Commerce, STAT-USA provides market research reports on individual countries and markets. |
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Tablebase — ELECTRONIC Tablebase is a user-friendly database containing tables and text pulled from over 1000 publications. Along with simple keyword searching, you can also limit searches by choosing from lists of concept terms, marketing terms, countries, industries, and document types. A sister product to Business & Industry, this database is great for market share information and rankings within a particular industry. |
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| World Market Share Reporter — PRINT Ref HD 2757.15 .W67 (Biennial) World Market Share Reporter is the international version of Market Share Reporter. It has market share statistics compiled from a wide range of periodicals and brokerage reports. |
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Financial Ratios
| Almanac of Business & Industrial Financial Ratios — PRINT Ref HF 5681 .R25A4x Provides financial and operating ratios for over 200 industries. The information, from both public and private companies, is derived from federal tax returns and has a three-year time lag. The data for each industry is presented in two ways: first by incorporating all companies within the industry, and again, including only companies operating with a net profit. Data is also broken down by company asset size. |
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| Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios — PRINT Ref HD 2771 .I52x This annual publication from Dun & Bradstreet summarizes financial data and ratios for over 800 types of business and over a million companies. Arrangement is a typical balance sheet and summary income statement for each industry. This tome of business research’s strengths include its currency and the extensive variety of industries covered. |
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