Get familiar with an industry -- profiles provide good overviews of industries and include things like market share, major players, size of the market, trends, history, and more.

Best bet... 

• IBIS World: 700 in-depth industry profiles (US only).  Just type in an industry name and hit enter.

See also...

• Business Source Complete: Reports on hundreds of industries worldwide.  Type in an industry name and then filter results by "Industry Profiles."
• S&P Industry Surveys: broad overviews of ~50 major industries. Use the "Industry Surveys" pull-down menu in the "Quick Links" box.
• Business & Company Resource Center: click on the "Industry" icon and search by industry description.
  
  

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Investment Research Reports (also called Analyst Reports, Brokerage Reports or Equity Research Reports) are a good source for market share data, financials, industry analyses and projections.

Best bet...

• OneSource: Under "News & Reports,"  click on "Analysts Reports."

See also...

• Business & Company Resource Center: Click on "Advanced Search," then select "Investment Reports" from the "Content Area" pull down menu. Do a keyword search on industry name.
  
• Value Line Investment Surveys: one page overviews of over 90 industries followed by profiles of the major public companies in the industry.   Available in print at Lockwood Library (Ref HG 4501 .V26).

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News Articles from newspapers, magazines and trade publications can provide insight into the recent developments in an industry.

Best bet...

• Factiva: full-text access to many of the best business news sources. Factiva is the most comprehensive source for access to two top business publications, The Wall Street Journal (1979 to present) and Barron's (1987 to present).
  Tip: in the "Select Sources" section, click on "Industry" and search on the name of an industry.

See also...

• The industry sections of free business websites like Yahoo! Finance, Reuters and BusinessWeek Online also provide reliable and up-to-date industry news and information.

Journal Articles from Academic Journals (also called Scholarly or Refereed Journals) can be great sources for comprehensive, scholarly industry studies that often provide more insight on specific aspects of an industry.

Best bet...

• Business Source Complete: full-text access to thousands of business-related journals, including top business journal, The Harvard Business Review .
  Tip : do a keyword search on the name of the industry and then click on "Academic Journals" under the "Filter Results By" tab.

See also...

• Business Index ASAP: searches InfoTrac's collection of hundreds of business publications.
  Tip : click on "Subject Guide" in the left hand column and enter industry name. Limit results to journal articles by clicking the "To Refereed Journals" box.

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Industry Statistics contained in Government Reports can help quantify an industry.

• The Economic Census provides detailed statistical portraits of US industries. Updated every five years, each industry profile includes key economic data such as: number of companies, sales, payroll and number of employees.
  
• Industry at a Glance profiles from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics provide statistical profiles (mainly employment statistics) of 12 industry super-sectors.
  
• The Statistical Abstract of the United States : brings together a variety of statistics that affect industries.
  Tip : To get the most current data, click on "2001-2005" and then select the most relevant industry from sections 16 - 27.

Three primary sources for industry ratios are available in print at the Lockwood Library reference desk:

• Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios (Ref HF 5681 R25 A46)
• D&B Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios (Ref HF 5681 R25 I525)
• RMA Annual Statement Studies (Ref HF 5681 B2 R6)

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Identifying who the major players are is an integral part of industry research. Several UB Library databases can be queried to identify companies in a specific industry

Best bet...

• Hoovers: 20 million companies worldwide.  Click on "Build a List" in the upper right.

See also...

• ReferenceUSA: US only.  Try searching by Yellow Pages Heading. Click on the "Custom Search" tab, then select "YP Heading or SIC," then click "Create Search Form." Enter industry name in the "Yellow Page Heading" search box and the search automatically suggests industry categories with related words.

• TableBase: statistical tables from hundreds of business periodicals that contain rankings of companies in various industries, market share data and more.

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NAICS and SIC codes can make industry research quicker and easier, so it pays to know the code! Here's what you need to know:

• What are NAICS and SIC codes? North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) systems are the primary industry classification systems in North America. These codes facilitate research by categorizing all companies engaged in the same principle activity with the same six digit industry code.
  
• Why are there two types of codes? NAICS codes were developed to replace SIC codes but the transition is taking time. Currently, we are in the middle ground where some databases still utilize SIC codes, some have moved to NAICS, and many use both codes.
  
• How do I look up NAICS and SIC codes for an industry?
  
  • Free Online Look Up Tools: Search for codes using the Census Bureau's NAICS Page and the NAICS Association's Code Search. Both of these look up tools allow you to convert SIC codes to NAICS codes (and vice versa).
    
  • Databases: Many of the primary business databases you will use when doing company and industry research provide NAICS and SIC codes. For example, check out the Business and Company Resource Center's look up tool - click on the "Industry" icon and then you can search by keyword or browse lists of NAICS and SIC codes.
    
  • Books: North American Industry Classification System, United states, 2002 (Ref HF 1042 N6) is available at the reference desk in Lockwood Library.
    
  • Tip: when looking up codes, try a wide variety of descriptors for your industry. For example if you are researching the "forest products" industry, try searching using such keywords as "wood," "lumber," "timber," "paper," "pulp" and so on.
    
• Do I have to know the code? While many databases do not require NAICS or SIC codes, knowing the code will help you more clearly define the parameters of your industry, especially when searching government resources. The latest Economic Census (2002), for example, categorizes businesses using NAICS codes.

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