Industry Information

The first step in gathering industry information is to get the correct name for the industry and to find the appropriate Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code number(s). NAICS will soon be replacing the SIC code system although at this time both are used.

Basic Industry Information	Basic Statistics
Financial Analysis for Industries	Databases

Basic Industry Information

Standard &; Poor's Industry Surveys New York: Standard and Poor's Corp.
Latest at the Reference Desk. Previous years in Bay 7
This is one of the most comprehensive services available and perhaps the best place to begin research for an industry analysis.

Encyclopedia Of American Industries. Detroit: Gale Research.
Now available as part of
Business & Company Resource Center
Covers 460 manufacturing industries ranging from the large automotive and pharmaceutical industries, to smaller sectors such as porcelain electrical supplies. Also deals with services and nonmanufacturing industries. This is a classic work and is another good starting place for industry information.

Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources. Detroit: Gale Research. Annual
Davis Reference Desk HF5349 .E85 E53
Identifies print and electronic sources of information listed under alphabetically arranged subjects--industries and business concepts and practices.

Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries. Detroit: Gale Research.
Now available as part of
Business & Company Resource Center
Covers technologies from artificial intelligence to voice recognition systems; marketing initiatives from coffee houses to super-sized movie theatre complexes

Encyclopedia of Global Industries. Detroit: Gale Research. 1999.
Now available as part of
Business & Company Resource Center
Chronicles the history, development and current status of 115 of the world's most lucrative and high-profile industries.

CurrentIndustrial Reports
Since 1904, the Current Industrial Report (CIR) program has been providing 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.

Datamonitor Industry Profiles are also available as part of
Business Source Premier
and
MarketLine Business Information Center

The following almanacs contain an industry analysis plus a description of major companies within each of the industries.

Plunkett's Biotech &; Genetics Industry Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference HD9999.B44 P58 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's E-Commerce &; Internet Business Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference HF5548.32 .P55 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's Energy Industry Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference HD9502.U52 P596 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's Engineering and Research Industry Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference TA160 .P58 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's Entertainment and Media Industry Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference P88.8 .P55 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's Financial Services Industry Almanac
Row 8 Davis Reference HG181 .P58 (with disc)

Plunkett's Health Care Industry Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference RA410.53 .P56 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's Infotech Industry Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference HD9696.C63 U5287 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's On-line Trading, Finance &; Investment Web Sites Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference HG4515.95 .P596 (with disc)

Plunkett's Retail Industry Almanac
Row 8 Davis Reference HF5428 .P558 (with CD ROM)

Plunkett's Telecommunications Industry Almanac.
Row 8 Davis Reference HE7621 .P58 (with CD ROM)

Back to top

Basic Statistics

American Statistics Index. Washington: Congressional Information Service
Print Index available on Row 19 Davis Reference Department
International Index to Statistics. Washington: Congressional Information Service
Print Index available on Row 19 Davis Reference Department
Statistical Reference Index. Washington: Congressional Information Service
Print Index available on Row 19 Davis Reference Department

LexisNexis Statistical
This is a web-based service that provides indexing and abstracts from three databases (also Print editions): American Statistics Index (ASI), Statistical Reference Index (SRI), and Index to International Statistics (IIS).
The American Statistics Index (1973-present) covers statistical publications issued by the US government. Full-text of selected publications are included from 1995; links to Internet versions of publications are also included.
The Statistical Reference Index (1980-present) covers publications from trade, professional and other nonprofit associations and institutes, business organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, state government agencies and universities and affiliated research centers.
The Index to International Statistics (1983-present) covers English language statistical publications of 100 major international intergovernmental organizations.

Full-text of most items indexed in these databases, that are not linked to full text, are available in print in Davis Library or in print or microfiche in Davis Library Reference Department.
Ask at Davis Library Reference Desk for assistance.

County Business Patterns. Washington: United States Dept. of Commerce.
Available in print from 1959 (Bay 9) Davis Reference Department.
Available in CD ROM from 1983, call # C 3.204/3-3: Davis Reference Department.
Available on the Web from 1977
Provides county, state, and national level business data from 1959 to the most recent year available. Statistics include number of establishments, payroll (annual and 1st quarter), number of employees, and number of establishments by size class for 2 digit SIC industry groupings. The data is collected annually by the Bureau of the Census.

Back to top

Financial Analysis by Industry

Links to electronic possibilities for finding ratios can be found at
Financial Ratios

Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios by Leo Troy, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Davis Reference Bay 7 HF5681 .R25 T68
Gives financial and operating ratios for 181 lines of business. It covers both private and public company data and gives a 10 year summary in the “trends” section. There is a time lag for some information because this source uses tax returns as a source of calculation

Analysts' Handbook. Annual. (Updated with supplements.) New York: Standard &; Poor's Corp.
Davis Reference Desk HG4519 .S772
Contains composite corporate per share data, from 1962 to date for those industries represented in the S&;P 500 Index. Statistics and ratios cover sales, operating profits, depreciation, income taxes, cash flow, earnings, dividends, prices, etc. Income account and balance sheet data are also presented in the back of the book.
(Quarterly updated information is presented in the monthly supplements.)

"Annual Report on American Industry" in Forbes.First issue in January.
Gives only the debt/capital ratio for 20 industries. Percentages are given for 5-year and 12-month averages for return on equity and return on total capital

"Corporate Scoreboard" in Business Week. Annual, usually in late Feb or March.
Ratios for return on common equity and price/earnings, figures for sales, profits, and margins with percent changes in each.

Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios. Annual. New York: Dun &; Bradstreet.
Latest at Davis Reference Desk HC101 .I55
Financial ratios for 800 retailing, wholesaling, manufacturing, and construction lines of business. It calculates 14 key ratios based on credit reports. It does not provide historical data (although back issues are available in Bay 7) or revenue breakdowns.

RMA Annual Statement Studies. Philadelphia : Robert Morris Associates, 1977-
Davis Reference Desk HF5681.B2 R64
Financial and operating ratios for over 350 lines of business. This calculates 17 key ratios and contains many operating ratios not contained in other sources. It provides a 5 year summary. It also has a list of sources for ratios not covered by this compendium.

Back to top

Useful Databases

Business &; Company Resource Center brings together in a single database company profiles, company brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies, full-text articles, investment reports, industry overviews, and financial and trade association data.
Once an initial search has been executed, Business &; Company Resource Center provides a results tab bar. Simply click on a labelled tab to see the results.
To find industry information either search by SIC or NAICS code OR enter the name of a company within the industry. Once the company listing is checked one can click on the industry tab.

Business &; Industry database contains facts, figures and key events for international public and private companies, industries, products, and markets for manufacturing and service industries. It covers all the primary business information sources--from leading trade magazines, newsletters, and the general business press to international business dailies. Among the hundreds of business subjects you can search in the Business &; Industry database are abstracts and the full-text versions of articles about: aerospace and defense, agriculture, automotive, beverages, building products, business services, chemicals, computers and software consumer products, electronics, energy, entertainment, financial services, food, food service, forest products, information, medical, metals, mining, packaging, pharmaceuticals, retailing, telecommunications, transportation.

Business Insights
Read and download the full-page-image (pdf files) of around 300 Reuters' market research reports on a wide variety of industries. Reports are generally very extensive and lengthy, most are well over 100 pages and have lots of charts, tables and graphs. Reports are grouped into 5 broadly defined areas: Energy, Consumer Goods, Finance, Healthcare, and Technology. A very basic search engine built into the site looks for ANY of the words you type into the search field and looks through both the title and body text of publications in its archive.

Business Source Premier includes indexing, abstracting, and full text for more than 8,800 serials. It provides full text back to 1965 (or the first issue published for that journal) for more than 350 journals and searchable cited references back as far as 1998. Business Source Premier also includes: (A) Datamonitor Company and Industry Reports - including many SWOT analyses; (B) Selected books; (C) Country economic reports from the EIU, Country Watch, Global Insight (formerly DRI-WEFA), and the ICON Group; and (D) Political Risk reports from PRS.

GMID (Global Market Information Database)(Euromonitor)
The Global Market Information Database provides comparable international business intelligence on countries, consumers, and industries. It offers access to more than 1 million country, consumer lifestyle, and market statistics; 4500 market research reports (global, country, industry, company, and lifestyle); 205 country profiles; company market share and brand share rankings; all from 35,000 business information sources.

Mintel Reports
Mintel is a leading provider of competitive media, product, and consumer intelligence. The company produces market research reports for Europe, the UK, and the US. Reports cover a variety of sectors including consumer goods, travel and tourism, financial industry, internet industry, retail, and food and drink. Reports discuss market drivers, market size and trends, market segmentation, supply structure, advertising and promotion, retail distribution, consumer characteristics, and market forecasts.
Reports are customizable - mark the boxes next to the sections you want to include. Then retrieve the marked sections from the basket.

Marketline Business Resource Center
10,000+ Company Profiles: Company Profiles are an essential knowledge source on leading global companies. Each profile contains: Company & Business Description, History, Key Employees, Products & Services, Competitors, Company View, and Locations & Subsidiaries. For some companies there is a SWOT analysis and a product analysis.
3,000+ Industry Profiles: Industry Profiles are a resource for global industry information, presenting important facts on global industries in a clear and concise format: Overview & Size, Segmentation, Competitive Landscape, Leading Companies, Definitions & Key Terms, and Forecasts.
100 Country Profiles: Country Profiles give you quick access to country basic data points, trends and analysis, including: A description of the country's economic performance and GDP, An assessment of the potential for development, and a market and industry analysis of the country's business environment. (Source: Vendor Website)

Factiva
Factiva provides tools for searching and monitoring general news and company, industry, and other business information.
Included are newspapers, newswires, magazines, trade journals in 22 languages from 118 countries, more than 8,000 publications. 85% are full text. It also includes color pictures from Reuters and Knight-Ridder publications, company reports, SEC filings, web contents, and transcripts from the BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, NPR and more.

LexisNexis Academic
LexisNexis Academic is a web-based service that provides access to most of the information formerly available on the LexisNexis Educational Program (approximately 75% of the titles). It covers general, regional and international news, company and industry news as well as financial and legal information.
By clicking on the Business section at the left of the screen and then choosing Company Financial one can access the Hoovers Reports. These include the industry reports as well as company reports. One can search either by SIC number or company name. When searching by company name both company reports and industry reports will be retrieved.

Back to top

For more Business and Economics Assistance,
Please contact Rita W. Moss, Business and Economics Librarian
moss@unc.edu
(919)962-1151

Can't Find What You Are Looking For? How Can We Help You?