Subject Research Guides   University of West Florida Libraries

RESOURCES FOR INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Reference Guides Guides for Conducting an Industry Analysis General Background Data on Industries SIC/NAICS Codes Books on Specific Industries Articles on Industries

Specialized Reference Sources Trade Associations Industry Web Sites

 

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Guides for Conducting an Industry Analysis

• Company and Industry Research  http://www.library.pitt.edu/guides/business
• How to Learn about an Industry  http://www.virtualpet.com/industry/howto/search.htm
• Industry Overview and Outlook  http://valuationresources.com/IndustryOutlook.htm
• Industry Research  http://www.library.cornell.edu/johnson/library/faq/index.html#three
• Industry Research  http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/busi/industry.shtml
• Industry Research  http://www.marshall.usc.edu/web/Library.cfm?doc_id=2023

General Background Data on Industries

• Value Line  Weekly. (Ref. Desk HG 4501 V26) - An introduction page describing the industry precedes individual company data sheets
  
  
• Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys  [NetAdvantage]  - An excellent beginning point that is almost a required source for industry analysis. Provides extensive assessment of industries
  
  
• Handbook of North American Industry.  1999. (Ref. Desk HF 1746 H36) - Describes NAFTA industries
  
  
• Investext  [Gale]  - Company, industry, product and regional business analysis from investment banks, brokerage houses, and research firms worldwide. Selected full text available. Some texts are available for a fee. The Business and Company Resource Center  [Gale]  incorporates the Investext reports within its company search feature and can be useful for very current analyses of companies and industries.
  
  
• Mergent's Industry Review. Biweekly. (Ref. Desk HG 4907 M66) - Provides statistical comparisons and rankings of companies within each industry
  
  
• U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook. 1998-2000. (Ref. Desk HC 101 U543) & Emerald Coast Library - Presents narrative analyses of U.S. industries
  
  
• Business and Company Resources Center  [Gale]  - Used the "Advanced Search" option, select "Industry overview" and combine with a key word relating to the industry.  The industry overviews are very thorough but somewhat dated.

SIC/NAICS Codes

• Standard Industrial Classification Manual. 1987. (Ref. Desk HF 1042 A55) & Emerald Coast Library,  http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html  - Provides the SIC codes useful in searching databases by industry or product. This code is being replaced by the NAICS code. In several sources, these codes are useful in locating information about an industry or product.
  
  
• North American Industry Classification System. (NAICS) (Ref. Desk U.S. Docs PREX 2.6/4:IN 27/2002) & Emerald Coast Library  http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html  - This site translates SIC codes into the new NAICS codes and vice versa.

Books on Specific Industries

   Use WebLUIS to find books by going into the UWF Library  catalog and, using the basic screen, typing in the name of your industry as a subject (i.e. telecommunication). Look for subheadings "forecasting" "economic conditions," etc. Or using the advanced screen, select "telecommunication?" as a subject keyword and "forecast?" as a subject keyword.

   Specialized books such as Plunkett's Entertainment and Media Industry Almanac (Ref. PN 2289 P58 1998  and 2000  netLibrary)  and Plunkett's Health Care Industry Almanac (Ref. RA 410.53 P54 1997/1998  and 2004  netLibrary)  may be located in the UWF Library catalog. Other books on the industry may be listed in the  SUS Library catalogs,  FirstSearch's WorldCat,  and  Eureka's Bibliographic File. Books not owned by the UWF library can be requested on  Interlibrary Loan.

Articles on Industries

• ABI Inform Trade & Industry  [Proquest] - Indexes business journals and provides full text contents for most articles



• Business and Company Resource Center  [Gale]



• Business & Industry. 1994-.  [RDS] - Specializies in indexing trade journals



• Business File ASAP. 1980-.  [InfoTrac] - Similar to ABI Inform but contains more industry specific journals. Use "industry overview" as keyword phrase to refine search.



• Factiva - Provides full text articles and also compares company with industry data. Formerly known as Dow Jones Interactive



• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe

    These indexes contain many full text sources. Combine terms such as "forecasting," "economic conditions," "industry overview," "innovations" or "market share" with various terms describing the industry. Articles not available at the UWF Library or full text online can be requested through  Interlibrary Loans.

Specialized Reference Sources

• Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate USA. 1999. (Ref. HG 181 F56)
• Manufacturing & Distribution USA. 2005. (Ref. HD 9721 M364)
• Manufacturing Worldwide. 1998. (Ref. HD 9720.4 M36) - Industry analyses, statistics, products, and leading companies and countries
• Service Industries USA. 1999. (Ref. HD 9981.1 S47) & Emerald Coast Library, and  Gale Business Resources

• Market Share Reporter. 2003. (Ref. HF 5410 M35) and Business and Company Resource Center  [Gale]
• For articles on market share, search Business File ASAP  and other periodical indexes with the industry topic combined with "market share."

• Demographics USA. Annual. (Ref. HF 5415.3 S8) & Emerald Coast Library
• The American Marketplace. 2001. (Ref. HA 214 A6)
• U.S. Market Trends & Forecasts. 2001. (Ref. Desk HF 5415.1 U7)

• Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios. 2003. (Ref. Desk HF 5681 R25 T86) & Emerald Coast Library
• Factiva - Formerly known as Dow Jones Interactive, compares ratios of companies to industry averages
• Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios. Annual. (Ref. Desk HF 5681 R25 D85)
• RMA Annual Statement Studies. Annual. (Ref. Desk HF 5681 B2 R6) & Emerald Coast Library

• Business and Company Resource Center  [Gale]
• Business Rankings Annual. 1994. (Ref. HG 4057 A353) and  Gale Business Resources
• D & B Business Rankings. 1997. (Ref. HG 4057 A364)
• Mergent's Industry Review. Monthly. (Ref. Desk HG 4907 M66)

• Factiva - Provides historical stock data for companies and financial indices. Formerly known as Dow Jones Interactive
• Industry Statistics  http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stecind.html
• Standard & Poor’s Statistical Service. Looseleaf binder. (Ref. Desk HG 4921 S75)
• Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Annual. (Ref. Desk HA 202 U58) & Emerald Coast Library,   http://www.census.gov/statab/www  - Website has selected tables.
• Statistical Universe  [Lexis-Nexis] - Indexes articles and reports that contain data and provides some full text tables and articles
• TableBase  [RDS] - Provides tables of data retrieved from journals and other publications

Trade Associations

   Often the trade associations are valuable sources for statistics, news, or legal sites about the specific industry. If the industry has a trade association, there may be an Internet site for it.

• Use the Gateway to Associations Online  http://www.asaecenter.org/Directories/AssociationSearch.cfm  to identify associations that have web sites.
• To obtain addresses and telephone numbers for associations, ask at the Reference Desk for the Encyclopedia of Associations. 2003. (Ref. Desk AS 22 E5) & Emerald Coast Library; or use  Gale's Ready Reference Shelf for the electronic version entitled Associations Unlimited.
• In FirstSearch use the  Business Organizations, Agencies & Publications Directory.
• The Business and Company Resource Center  [Gale] will list the relevant associations after a search is done by company name.
• NetAdvantage  [Standard & Poor's]  lists associations for each industry in its "Industry Survey" reports.

Industry Web Sites

• Current Industry Reports  http://www.census.gov/cir/www/index.html  - Provides data relating to production, etc. of manufacturing industries
• Factiva  - Go to the Web Center and look for the "Industry Specific" section.
• Hoovers Online  http://www.hoovers.com   - For sites about the industry, look for "Companies & Industries" then "Industry Links". The section "Industry Masterlist" gives major companies in each industry.
• Industry Link  http://www.industrylink.com - Emphasizes manufacturing industries
• Industry Portals  http://www.virtualpet.com/industry/mfg/mfg.htm
• Industry Specific Directories  http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/trade/index.cfm
• Price's List of Lists  http://www.specialissues.com/lol/ - Contains lists of rankings, market share, company names, etc.

    See also  Specific Industries  for more Internet sites listed by industry.

See also other UWF Library ELi Pages:

• Where to Find Information on Companies
• Basic Information Sources: Business
• Selected Resources for Investment Research

Maintained by: Shari Johnson
Business/Government Documents Librarian
University of West Florida Library
Date Last Updated: May 2005
Links Maintained by Bryan Reingruber: May 2006