Business Resources: Researching an Industry
Resources for finding industry...
? Industry Classification:Define the industry as precisely as possible and determine the appropriate industry code. Industry codes were developed to facilitate analysis and reporting of the state of U.S. industry based on line of business for companies engaged in production, trade, and service. The current standard is the North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code, but many company and industry directories continue to use the older Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, it is a good idea to be familiar with both. These codes describe a company's line of business using a 4-digit (SIC) or 6-digit (NAICS) number.
North American Industry Classification Systems, 1997 (NAICS)
Ref Desk HF 1041.5 .N674 1997 - lists and defines the NAICS codes. Searchable online NAICS: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual
Ref Desk PREX 2.6/2:IN 27/987 (Gov. Doc.) - lists and defines SIC Codes. Searchable online SIC Manual: http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html.
? Government Publications: Surveys, reports, and statistics:
Through industry and company censuses and surveys, government agencies provide much of the source data used in industry analyses and profiles. Government publications often include statistics, charts, and tables that aid in interpretation of the source data. Government Publications are located on the 2nd floor of IUPUI University Library, adjacent to the Reference area, unless otherwise noted.
| Annual Survey of Manufactures | C3.24/9-2: |
| Census of Financial, Insurance, and Real Estate Industries | C3.291: |
| Census of Manufactures | C3.24/3: |
| Census of Retail Trade | C3.255/1 |
| Census of Service Industries | C3.257/2: |
| Census of Wholesale Trade | C3.256/2: |
| Current Business Reports (Monthly and Annual) | C3.133/x: and C3.138/3-x: |
| Economic Indicators | Y4.Ec7: |
| Federal Register | AE 2.106/3: |
| Public regulations and legal notices issued by Federal agencies. Federal agency regulations often affect entire industries and influence the nature of doing business for that particular industry. | |
| Statistical Abstract of the United States | C 3.134: (Ref Desk) |
| Statistical tables published by U.S. Department of Commerce includes, but not limited to, industry statistics. Footnotes indicate original government source for each table, useful for further research. | |
| Survey of Current Business | C59.11: |
U.S. Department of Commerce Homepage
International Trade Administration
Industries Information (International Trade Administration)
Trade and export information by industry.
Latest Economic Indicator (U.S. Census Bureau)
Includes links to industry censuses and surveys.
ABI/INFORM Suite includes three distinct databases:
- ABI/INFORM Dateline - Local and regional coverage of company, industry and business news; excellent source of information about private and small public companies not typically found in the national business press.
- ABI/INFORM Global - Search 1000 premier worldwide business periodicals for information on business topics: advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, management; also company and industry information.
- ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry - Contains more than 700 trade publications covering every major industry, including finance, insurance, transportation, construction, and health.
Business & Company Resource Center - a fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals; search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information.
Business Insights Interactive - Provides an objective source of data analysis and market insight and is a source for a variety of business information needs focusing on consumer goods, energy, financial services, healthcare, technology, eCommerce, and human resources.
Business Source Premier - full text for more than 2,950 scholarly business journals, including full text for nearly 900 peer-reviewed business publications dating as far back as 1922; coverage includes virtually all subject areas related to business.
Factiva - global business content, including Reuters Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, full-text; content covers nearly 8,000 sources.
Federal Reserve Bulletin
HG 2401 .A5 - reports on, and analyzes, economic development and banking industry news. Current issues shelved with journals and magazines, older issues on 3rd floor.
Investext Plus - financial research database contains domestic and foreign company and industry investment reports from more than 500 analysts.
LexisNexis Academic Universe (Restricted to authorized IUPUI users within the US) - "Business" segment includes public and private company directories; business, industry, and market news.
MarketLine (formerly Datamonitor) - Reports draw on extensive primary and secondary research. Company Profiles include company overviews, business descriptions, company history, executive listings, product listings, locations, news and commentary. Industry Profiles provide key industrial and consumer sectors across the world's leading economies. Country Profiles give you quick access to country data points, trends and analysis.
NetAdvantage (Standard and Poor's) - see the Industries section for Industry Surveys, Sub-Industry Review, Industry in Focus, Stovall's Sector Watch, Economic Insight, Economic Calendar, and Trends and Projections.
Newsletters ASAP - business, industry and technology newsletters issued by various news services and industry watchers.
Plunkett Research Online - industry overview and outlook; statistics; market research and trends; industry-related associations, organizations, and government agencies; profiles of major companies doing business in each industry.
RDS Business Reference Suite (BizSuite) - collection of three complementary business information databases - Business & Industry, Business & Management Practices, and TableBase; search one database or combine them; the BizSuite interface allows the researcher to search all three databases and is useful for broad profiling information about companies or industries; searching Business & Industry and TableBase together produces the textual content from Business & Industry supported by the tabular content of TableBase.
Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys
Ref HF 5001 .S8 - provides current analysis of most major domestic industries. Most recent two years shelved in Reference, previous years shelved in "stacks"; available online via NetAdvantage.
