Conducting Industry Research
• Determine the SIC/NAICS Codes which describe the
industry
• Use these codes to find a list of companies in either
databases or directories
• Determine the Market Leaders ($ or market share)
• Determine the Size of the Industry ($)
Where to get Industry Information?
– Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (Reference
Desk)
– Standard & Poor’s Industry Survey (Reference)
– Business and Company Resource Center (Overviews)
– Business Source Premier (Search by NAICS) and choose
Source Type: Industry Profile
– Industry Associations
– Other Databases (Lexis/Nexis, ABI/Inform)
– Government Sources
– Marketing/Analyst Reports (may be hard to get $$$)
Questions to Ask
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News, Trends, Forecasts/Predictions
Economic Indicators that Influence (Cyclical/Non-cyclical)
Domestic – vs – International (Where are the $)
Market Share
Financial/Ratio Questions (only works for publicly traded)
Innovations/new products (slow or fast, constantly changing,
set times for introduction such as automobiles)
• Legal/Regulatory Issues
• Technology (driven by technology or not?)
• Information Dissemination
Domestic – vs – International ( $)
• Is the industry mostly domestic or is it global?
• Where is manufacturing? Sales?
• Can people in other countries afford or want it? (income per
capita, cultural/religious barriers)
• Demographics to support it?
News, Trends, Forecasts/Predictions
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Where is the industry now?
Where might it be in 3-6 months or longer?
Where has it been? Historical background
Is it in growth or decline or a holding pattern?
What factors might influence it the most?
Economic Indicators that Influence /Drive
• Cyclical vs noncyclical industry
• Raw material prices (agricultural prices such
as corn, wheat, steel prices, cost of computer
chips, etc.)
• Transportation costs (fuel, etc.)
• Cost of Living
• Others?
Market Share
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Who are the dominant players?
% of market share
Is the market share widely fragmented?
Is it fairly stable or ever changing?
How hard is it to determine?
Financial/Ratio Questions
• What are the key ratios in analyzing the particular industry?
– S&P Industry Survey
– StockVal
Innovations/new products
• How often?
• Product cycles
• Is there a certain time of year that new
products are introduced? Such as Consumer
Electronics Show, etc.
Legal/Regulatory Issues
• Is the industry heavily regulated or not?
• How do we keep up with the regulations?
Where do we go? What are the impacts?
• Legal cases
• Patents/Trademarks
• Bills/Laws pending in Congress
• How do these effect the product and price?
Technology (driven by or not?)
• Does the industry use technology heavily?
• How is it used?
• Does the industry use cutting edge technology or not?
Information Dissemination
• How do we find the most current industry news?
• What are the major trade publications?
• Are they readily available? Do you need to be a member? Are
they on various databases? Can you get articles on interlibrary
loan or from regional libraries?
• Industry Associations –do they publish, release statistics or
have a research center?
• Trade shows & Industry Experts or spokespersons
• Twitter, Blogs, etc.