Industry Research: Mortola Library Resources
 

  1. Industry Codes

  2. Industry Survey Tools

  3. Industry Financial & Operating Ratios

  4. Investment Reports

  5. Statistical Guides & Compilations

  6. Locating News and Articles

  7. International Industry Information

  8. Internet Resources

1. An Important Note: Industry Codes

Industries are classified by codes. Many databases and reference tools use these codes to organize their information - and many library databases can be searched using these codes. There are two systems of codes in place at this time:

  • SIC Codes, these codes come from the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, and are in the process of being replaced by the: 

  • NAICS system - the North American Industry Classification System is a new economic classification system developed by the United States, Canada and Mexico in the hopes of increasing consistency between and among statistics. Check out the NAICS system online from the Census Bureau. This site allows for conversion from SIC to NAICS and vice versa.

2. INDUSTRY SURVEY TOOLS - provide overviews to an industry, how it is doing, and who the major players are.

  • Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys -  Ref Desk  HG 4501 .S7665
    Provide detailed profiles of specific industries, with key industry ratios and statistics, and brief comparative data on selected companies in the industry. (Also available full text in the NetAdvantage database; see next item below).
     
  • NetAdvantage -
  • At the NetAdvantage HOME page, you can see the "Industry in Focus" - each week a different industry that is "hot" is highlighted.
  • The Standard & Poors Industry Surveys are available online as part of the NetAdvantage database. Covered are 52 major industries in the United States, including reviews of the industry and the major players in the industry, as well as comparative company financial analysis. Surveys are updated twice a year. Use the Industries button at the top of the screen to browse the Industry Surveys.
    • HINT: the HTML version of each Survey has a Table of Contents consisting of active links, which will take you to the various sections of these very long documents.
  • In addition to stock recommendations, S & P's Outlook provides analysis on selected industries and makes projections about their performance. 
    • HINT: In the Publication Search box, you can search the Outlook for a particular company, and find those issues of the Outlook in which the company appears. Select Outlook as your publication, then search by either Ticker or Company Name.
  • Hoover's - Hoover's Online covers 14,000 public and private enterprises worldwide. 
  • Browse Industries to access information on over 300 industries.
  • OR - search for a company to see the Competitive Landscape and Major Competitors of a particular industry.
  • Current Industrial Reports - from the U.S. Census Bureau
    "the Current Industrial Report (CIR) program provides monthly, quarterly, and annual measures of industrial activity. The primary objective of the CIR program is to produce timely, accurate data on production and shipments of selected products ... These surveys measure manufacturing activity in important commodity areas such as textiles and apparel, chemicals, primary metals, computer and electronic components, industrial equipment, aerospace equipment, and consumer goods." Browsable by subject as well as NAICS and NAICS subsectors, and available for viewing in PDF format.
  • Industry Profiles from Business Source Premier (This is a library subscription database, Help is available.)
    • From the Browse menu on the right, follow the "Industry Profiles" link to brose documents in alphabetical order.
  • Business Rankings Annual - Ref Desk HG 4050 .B88 -
    Lists of "Top Tens" for various industries, for example, "Most Admired Computer Software Companies," "Top Potato Chips Sold," and "Fastest Growing Electronic Companies." Lists are grouped by subject, and there are indexes for easy access.
     
  • Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries - Ref HD2324 .E54 2002
    Provides industry snapshot, background and current conditions, industry leaders and more.
  • Market Share Reporter - Ref Desk HG 5410.M35 -
    "An annual compilation of reported market share data on companies, products and services." Includes over 2,000 entries, organized by industry, SIC code, products/services, company name and brand name.
     
  • U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook (replaced U.S. Industrial Outlook) - Ref Desk HC 106.5 .A17 -
    Provides information on a variety of industries, how those industries affect the U.S. economy, and where they are going in the global marketplace. Includes a subject and company name index to ease searching. Also browsable by industry and sub-industries.
     
  • Search for Trade Associations affiliated with an industry using one of the many online trade association search pages.

3.  INDUSTRY FINANCIAL & OPERATING RATIOS

  • Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios - Ref Desk HF 5681 R25 T68
    Beginning in 2002 this publication uses the NAICS (see above). Provides 50 performance indicators for 192 industries. Companies with and without Net Income are included, in separate tables. Indicators are reported not only for all companies in an industry, but also broken down by asset size groups.
  • County and City Data Book - Ref HA 202 .A36 (Click on the link for the 2000 edition in PDF format.)
    Includes economic and demographic information on counties and cities in the U.S. It also includes manufacturing, construction, agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information and utilities industry data.
  • Dun & Bradstreet’s Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios: One Year Desk-Top Edition - Ref Desk HC 106 .7 .D86x -
    This publication provides "typical" balance sheets and income statements, and "common-size" financial figures, as well as Key Business Ratios. Norms and ratios allow for a quick check between one's own company and that company's line of business, or industry.
     
  • Moody’s Industry Review - Ref HG 4961 .M68
    Provides financial information, operating data, and ratios on approximately 3,500 companies, arranged by industry, in 137 industry groups. Companies may be compared with each other, and they may also be measured against certain averages for that industry. Operating statistics are updated twice each year. The Industry Review is published every other Friday, with a different set of industry groupings, according to the publication schedule.

  • Industry Surveys from NetAdvantage (This is a library subscription database.)
    Industry Surveys provide "Key Industry Ratios and Statistics," as well as Profit Ratios, Balance Sheet Ratios, and Equity Ratios.

4. INVESTMENT REPORTS - Investment reports are written by analysts who study an industry, as well as companies in a particular industry.

  • In the General Businessfile ASAP database, go to the Advanced Search screen. Click on the Investext link in the middle of the screen. You can then search for a particular industry using the search boxes. TIP: Search for "footwear industry" not just "footwear." NOTE: These can be very long reports, some of which have Table of Contents links, and some which do not.

  • Investment Reports are also available when searching for company information within the Business and Company Resource Center database.

  • The Value Line Investment Survey (This is a library subscription database.)
    Also available in Print: Ref Desk HG 4501 .V26
    "Contains one-page reports on approximately 1,700 companies and more than 90 industries." Brief overviews of an industry and its performance, anddetailed analysis of major players in the industry.

5. STATISTICAL GUIDES & COMPILATIONS

  • BLS Handbook of Methods - Ref HD 8064 .U54 1982
  • Business Statistics of the United States - Ref Desk HC 101 .A131222 1998
  • Industrial Commodity Statistics Yearbook - Ref HC 10 .I53
  • Standard & Poor’s Statistical Service - Ref Desk HG 4915 .S68
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States - Ref HA 202 (Current issue at Ref Desk) Click on the link for an Online Version.

6. FINDING NEWS AND ARTICLES ABOUT AN INDUSTRY

  • ABI/Inform - Provides citations and abstracts to articles from over 1,000 management, marketing and business journals from 1971 to the current year. Full text coverage of more than 500 major publications is available from 1991 onward. 
     
  • Business and Industry - Provides citations and selected full-text of articles from leading trade magazines, newsletters, general business press, and international business dailies. 
     
  • Business Source Premier - Provides full text for over 2,710 scholarly business journals covering management, economics, finance, accounting, international business and much more.
     
  • Use the Lexis-Nexis Universe database to find out what's new in an industry. In the Business research area, select the Industry and Market link to search for news from publications in 25 major industries.

7. INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY INFORMATION

  • The National Trade Data Bank (NTDB) database provides access to a number of resources to aide in research of industries overseas. From the NTDB main page, you may want to try browsing the Industry Sector Analysis Reports and the Country Commercial Guides.
  • Global Market Information Database (GMID) (This is a library subscription database. Help is available.)
    From the main page select a geographic region or a country, then Select a Category - industry information, company information, market share data, and/or statistics are available depending on your selection. Analysis of markets provided by Euromonitor researchers.

8. INTERNET RESOURCES

Created by Pace University Library
Last Revised 7/05
Sarah Burns Feyl
sburnsfeyl@pace.edu