Library Guides: Business: Industry Research

Getting Started With Industry Research

Industry research is used to gather information about the internal and external factors impacting an industry. This information analyzed to understand the industry's competitive landscape, product and service trends, and the impact of political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental forces on the industry and companies.

Get started by clearly identifying and defining an industry. Industry designation codes, such as NAICS, SIC, ICB, and GICS, describe the industry (or industries) in which a business operates. They are used in standardized classification systems, which are usually created and maintained by a government or international body, and aid in locating a variety of industry information.

Industry Analysis: Overview & Methods
A short article from the Corporate Finance Institute defining industry analysis methods.
Find Industry Designation Codes
Resources for locating NAICS, SIC, ICB, and GICS codes for industry research.

Industry Profiles and Reports

IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
IBISWorld is the best starting point for industry research. Industry profiles are broken into chapters with current information about product, market, economic, and financial trends.
NetAdvantage This link opens in a new window
NetAdvantage provides detailed, comprehensive reports in the Industry Surveys tab.
Mergent Market Atlas This link opens in a new window
Open the Industry tab to find industry overviews and performance data. Click on Reports to download ICB industry reports.
Also includes corporate information covering over 50,000 US and foreign public companies, current and historical (past 15 years) firm descriptions, statistics, financial information and ratios, annual reports, mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, long-term debt, capital stock, and insider trading.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Find industry profiles, trade publications, and other articles relevant to industry activity. Search by industry keyword or NAICS code, and use Advanced Search to select publication types.
Access full-text articles from thousands of scholarly business journals, magazines, and trade journals from the fields of marketing, management, accounting, finance, and economics. Plus company and industry profiles, SWOT analyses, country economic reports, financial data, and investment reports. This database includes rigorous curation and indexing of open access (OA) journals. Full-text non-journal content includes company profiles, informational records, case studies, industry reports, business executive interviews, working papers, and over 75,000 videos from the Associated Press.

Data and Statistics

Bizminer This link opens in a new window
Industry Market Reports provide data on companies, financial, and market activity for specified industries and geographic areas.
Quickly search startup and small business statistics, such as annual sales and market share, failure rates, and entrepreneurial activity rates. Reports are available for states and local areas as well as the national level. Data includes access to 9000+ markets and more than 10 million companies.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Provides statistics, industry and market research reports, and data for over 170 industries.

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Industry Data
Analysis of economic performance of industries, including GDP, input, output, employment, and production data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Industry Data
Workforce, wage, and price statistics by industry.

Trade & Industry Association Websites

Trade and industry associations are organizations made up of businesses from specific industries or sectors. Many trade and industry associations conduct research, publish educational materials, and engage in a variety of public relations and political activities. Their websites can be sources of data and information useful for industry research.

A simple Google search for an industry term + "trade association" can help you find trade associations relevant to an industry.

Examples: