International Business

Many tools for industry research use industry designation codes to organize information. Industry designation codes describe the industry or industries in which a business operates. They are commonly used in business research, and include:

• The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS): the standard used by governments and businesses in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It is a multi-tiered system of aggregation describing a business's main operations.
• The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS): a standard used by many investors. It is a 4-tiered system applied to companies globally based on their principle business activities.
• The Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB): a standard used by global stock exchanges to categorize listed companies. Similar to the GICS, companies are allocated to a code using a 4-tiered system.