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VALE - Virtual Academic Library Environment
Ka-Neng Au
and Roberta Tipton
Business Librarians
au@newark.rutgers.edu
26 June 2007
Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Business:
Industry Research

A. Starting Points

I. Industry Overviews

  • Hundreds of industry sectors are covered by MarketLine Business Information Centre (formerly Datamonitor) Rutgers-restricted access
  • Hundreds of consumer product and service categories are covered by Mintel Reports Rutgers-restricted access
  • The Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (CAMDEN, KILMER REF HC 106.6 .S74; DANA Reference Desk) are useful for basic statistics (production, shipment, sales, revenues) for large industry groups but not for all products.
  • Mergent Online has lengthy reports on 39 major industry sectors. Rutgers-restricted Access *NEW*
  • More industry sectors are covered by the Value Line Investment Survey but the overviews are shorter. (CAMDEN REF HG 4501 .V2; DANA, KILMER Reference Desk)
  • Other titles with U.S. industry overviews are:
    • Dun & Bradstreet/Gale Group Industry Handbook
      (Vol.1: Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals; Vol.2: Computers & Software and Broadcasting & Telecommunications; Vol.3: Construction and Agriculture; Vol.4: Entertainment and Hospitality; Vol.5: Insurance and Health & Medical Services) (DANA Reference Desk)
    • Encyclopedia of American Industries
      (Vol.1: Manufacturing Industries; Vol.2: Non-manufacturing Industries) (CAMDEN, KILMER REF HC 102 .E53; DANA Reference Desk)
    • Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries
      (KILMER REF HD 62.5 .E529 ; DANA Reference Desk)
    • U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook
      (CAMDEN, KILMER REF HC 101 .U54; DANA Reference Desk)
    • U.S. Industry Profiles: The Leading 100
      (DANA Reference Desk)


  • There are also twenty "defense-essential" industry sectors covered by the Industry Studies Program of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
  • Selected industries are covered by consulting firms such as Accenture, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Resources include case studies, industry overviews, and research reports. *NEW*
  • A handful of industry, commodity, or service sectors are covered in the Industry and Trade Summaries from the U.S. International Trade Commission.
  • Industry-specific trade data for many major sectors is available from the Manufacturing and Services unit of the International Trade Administration, including Automotive Industries, Consumer Goods, and Travel and Tourism. *NEW*
  • Relevant Web links are provided for dozens of industry sectors by CorporateInformation.
  • Fairly lengthy industry reports are available (for a fee) from U.S. Business Reporter, which cover issues, trends, and characteristics of the sector.
  • The Industry Outlook 2005 from BusinessWeek Online is a good (but dated) starting point for many large industry sectors.


  • The number of establishments in each industry may be found in County Business Patterns, also available in print: (ALEXANDER U.S. DOCS; DANA Reference Desk) Data is also available by ZIP code.
  • The monthly Standard & Poor's Statistical Service (DANA Business Reference; KILMER Reference Desk) provides selected current and historical statistics on 12 industries.
  • Rutgers users may take advantage of Investext Plus to locate industry-focused reports from investment firms and brokerage houses. Rutgers-restricted access

II. Periodicals/Business Press

After you examine some industry overviews, you are probably ready to begin searching for articles in periodicals and the business press. Some of the sources for periodicals include these databases:

  • Business Source Premier. Searchable abstracts of articles selected from about a thousand periodicals and journals. Between 70-80 percent of the items also include full text. Rutgers-restricted access
  • Business & Industry. Index to articles from over a thousand business and trade journals, newspapers, and selected government documents. Full-text articles available for many entries. Rutgers-restricted access
  • Factiva (formerly Dow Jones Interactive). Searchable full text of many business periodicals and regional newspapers; international in scope. Beginning dates of coverage vary considerably according to source. Rutgers-restricted access
  • TableBase. This database specializes exclusively in tabular data on companies, industries, products, and demographics. Find market share, company and brand rankings, industry and product forecasts, production and consumption statistics, imports and exports, usage and capacity, number of users/outlets, trends and more. Rutgers-restricted access

You can also consult the many titles listed on the guide to Industry News and Trade Magazines *NEW* as well as Business News Sources on the Web.

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B. Classification Schemes

I. U.S. and North American Classification Schemes

  • SIC - Standard Industrial Classification. The SIC Manual (ALEXANDER DOCREF; CAMDEN, IMLR REF HF 1042 .S72; DANA, KILMER Reference Desk) was last revised in 1987; it provides the government-assigned (four-digit) numerical codes for identifying industries, businesses, and products. With the adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the SIC has now been replaced by NAICS.
  • NAICS - North American Industry Classification System (ALEXANDER DOCREF, CAMDEN REF HF 1042 .N67; DANA Reference Desk). NAICS-based statistics are being used for the 1997 Economic Census as well as the County Business Patterns.
  • To go back and forth between SIC and NAICS, use the Correspondence Tables for the 2002 NAICS. There are separate 1997 NAICS Correspondence Tables.
  • HTS - Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (CAMDEN REF-COM, DANA REF KF 6654.599 .U55) is the most detailed tariff classification system with over 10,000 categories. Used for tracking U.S. imports and exports.
  • Numerical List of Manufactured and Mineral Products (ALEXANDER U.S. DOCS; DANA Reference Desk) is an extension of the SIC codes to the product level, by the addition of three digits. Used for reporting production statistics in the Economic Census and the Current Industrial Reports. The online version requires Adobe Acrobat.

II. International Classification Schemes

  • HS - Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System - is the (six-digit) classification system that replaces the SITC for international trade statistics. Consult the correspondence tables for HS->SITC and SITC->HS.
  • ISIC - International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ALEXANDER DOC REF, DANA REF HA 40.I6 U6) - is the (four-digit) main classification system for statistics by economic activity (e.g. agriculture, manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade.)
  • NACE - the general (five to six-digit) industial classification of economic activities within the European Community, that corresponds with ISIC at the two-digit level.
  • SITC - Standard International Trade Classification (ALEXANDER DOC REF, DANA REF HF 1041 .S77) - is the most widely-used (five-digit) system for classifying products in external trade data, used in reports from the United Nations and the OECD.
  • A new scheme is the Industry Classification Benchmark, developed by FTSE Group and Dow Jones Indexes, which is used for classifying public companies for investment analysis.

Jon Haveman's Industry Concordances, now maintained by Raymond Robertson, provides many correspondence tables between the major classification systems.

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C. Manufacturing

Several of the Federal Reserve Banks conduct periodic surveys of the manufacturing industries in their region:

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D. Service Industries

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E. Retail and Wholesale

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F. Other Sectors

Other sources of industry statistics include:

  • AgriBiz Markets and Analysis
  • Business Statistics of the United States (ALEXANDER DOCREF HC 101.A13122; DANA Reference Desk, KILMER REF HC 101 .A13122) from Bernan Press.
  • CRB Commodity Yearbook (ALEXANDER REF HC 14 .C734; CAMDEN, DANA, KILMER REF HF 1041 .C56) from Bridge Commodity Research Bureau.
  • All currently available tables from the 2002 Economic Census at the U.S. Census Bureau site, including sector-specific subject reports such as Establishment and Firm Size.
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G. Industrial and Financial Ratios

I. Single Industry Sources

Many professional and trade associations publish financial ratios and statistical information on their industry in annual reports or special issues of trade journals. Some of these titles may be identified by searching IRIS, our online catalog, by subject using the industry name, for example, Grocery Trade, or Automobile Industry and Trade. For special issues of journals, please consult the Guide to Special Issues and Indexes of Periodicals. (CAMDEN, LSM REF HF 5351 .G85; DANA, KILMER Reference Desk)

II. Multi-Industry Sources

  • Troy's Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios. (DANA, KILMER REF HF 5681 .R25 T68) Ratios, grouped by asset size, are listed for industries and product lines, by NAICS code from the 2002 Edition onwwards. CD-ROM available.
  • Standard & Poor's Analyst's Handbook: Composite Corporate Per Share Data by Industries. (DANA REF HG 4519 .S882) Provides selected income statement items and ratios in relation to S&P stock price indexes. Up to thirty years of annual data are given for each industry.
  • Financial Studies of the Small Business. (DANA REF HD 2346 .U5 F55A) Gives ninteen ratios for small businesses with assets under $1,000,000. Arranged in groups by asset size and business category.
  • D&B Key Business Ratios Rutgers-restricted Access Also avaialble in print as D&B's Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios. (CAMDEN, KILMER REF HF 5681 .R25 I525; DANA Reference Desk) Provides key ratios (at median, upper, and lower quartiles) for industries arranged by SIC number.
  • QFR - Quarterly Financial Report for Manufacturing, Mining and Trade Corporations. (ALEXANDER U.S. DOCS; DANA Periodicals) Presents estimated statements of income and retained earnings, balance sheets, and related financial and operating ratios.
  • RMA Annual Statement Studies from the Risk Management Association (formerly Robert Morris Associates). (CAMDEN, KILMER REF HF 5681 .B2 R6; DANA Reference Desk) Gives current and historical ratios for manufacturing, wholesale, retail, and selected service industries. Includes a bibliography of ratio sources for particular industries. You can also purchase Annual Statement Studies Online.
  • The annual Fortune 500 rankings include sections on industry growth: U.S. Top Performing Industries and Global 500 Top Performing Industries. (subscription required) *UPDATED*
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H. International Business

I. U.S. Statistics

II. Regional and International Overviews

  • Panorama of EU Industry (ALEXANDER DOCREF, DANA REF HC 241.2 .P313) has very detailed industry overviews for Europe, organized by NACE.
  • Handbook of North American Industry (DANA Reference Desk; KILMER REF HF 1746 .H37) covers Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and is organized by SIC.
  • Encyclopedia of Global Industries (CAMDEN, KILMER REF HD 2324 .E53; DANA Reference Desk) has overviews organized by SIC.
  • Manufacturing Worldwide: Industry Analyses, Statistics, and Leading Companies (DANA Reference Desk) is organized by ISIC.
  • WEFA Industrial Monitor (DANA Reference Desk) is organized by SITC.
  • World Market Share Reporter (DANA Reference Desk; KILMER REF HF 5410 .W67) summarizes rankings and market share data for products and services.

III. International Statistics

Please refer to Resources For International Business for sources of international trade and industry statistics.

IV. International Companies

Both print and online resources may be found on the Company Research guide.

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I. Trade Associations

  • Start with the Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (CAMDEN, KILMER REF HE 5351 .E52; DANA Reference Desk), a guide to handbooks, statistical sources, directories, periodicals, and trade associations for specific industries.
  • The Encyclopedia of Associations (ALEXANDER REF HS 17 .G3323; DANA, DOUGLASS, KILMER Reference Desk) is more extensive in its coverage, but you have to start with an organization's name.
  • National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States (ALEXANDER, DANA, KILMER, LSM REF HD 2425 .D53; CAMDEN Reference Desk)
  • The American Society of Association Executives maintains a directory of trade associations, membership societies, and other not-for-profit associations at its Gateway to Associations. *UPDATED*
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J. Business-to-Business Trading Hubs

For an overview of different industry marketing models such as trading hubs, online exchanges, and auctions, see eMarket Basics from eMarket Services: Your guide to electronic marketplaces. Good collections of links may be found at the following sites:

Chemicals and Metals Energy Food, Fisheries and Agriculture Industrial Equipment and Capital Assets Other Services Other Sectors Back to Top of Page

K. Other Resources

  • The Economic Census, conducted every five years, covers retail trade, wholesale trade, service industries, construction industries, manufactures, mineral industries, transportation, communications, utilities, and financial, insurance, and real estate industries. Check at the Reference Desk (at ALEXANDER and DANA) for the latest volumes, or visit the U.S. Census Bureau Website.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published a series of reports entitled Sector Notebooks (ALEXANDER, DANA U.S. DOC EP 1.2:P94/no./) which profile selected industries. Each "notebook" describes the manufacturing process and the environmental impact of those processes. There is also a section summarizing the applicable federal regulations. These Sector Notebooks are also available online from the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
  • For another view on doing industry research, see How to Learn About an Industry or a Specific Company, which is a guide prepared by Polson Enterprises Research Services, a business research services firm.
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