Economics for Managers
Appendix 9A
Data Sources for Firm and Industry Analysis
La Loria Konata
Policy Studies Liaison Librarian
Georgia State University Library
Atlanta, GA
Gardner Neely
Information Center
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA
This appendix is intended as a guide to help you research a company and/or an industry. There are various sources that you can use for this purpose, but this appendix will list sources most likely to be found in an academic library. Once you know what to look for, you can apply that knowledge to find a similar source in your library.
FINDING THE SIC/NAICS CODE
Before you begin your research, you must determine what you know and what you need to know. For example, are you researching a company or an industry? Are you comparing one company to the rest of the industry? Do you have a brand name versus the company name? If you know the company name, does this company produce products in different industries? If so, which products or industries will you examine?
To find information on an industry, we must first find the numeric classification for that industry or the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code. SICs are four-digit numerical classifications that the U.S. government assigns to companies to identify their primary business or industry. The codes give us a progressive layer of detail, from industry

type to product or service, e.g. footwear manufacturing, broadly, to running shoes, specifically. The first two digits represent the broad industry for the business and the last two digits narrow that industry. To find the SIC for an industry, conduct a keyword search on the
Department of Labor's SIC website: http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html
. For example, let’s search for the shoe industry and use “footwear” or “shoe industry” as our keyword. From the list of results, select the appropriate industry to get a full description of what is covered in that industry. For our example, let’s select SIC 3021: Rubber and Plastics
Footwear . Clicking on that link gives us a full description of what is covered in that industry.
Now, that we have identified the SIC code 3021 for our industry, we can use that code to do an industry search in the databases below. The SIC allows you to narrow your focus and be more exact. It is important to note, however, that in addition to the Standard Industrial
Classification code, companies are also assigned North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS ) codes. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS ) is a more expansive code system that includes newer industries. NAICS differ from SICs in that they contain six digits instead of four. This allows NAICS to better classify newer industries, such as information technology, that are still somewhat broadly defined with SICs. For a bridge between the two codes, visit http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97brdg/ .
For background information on NAICS, visit http://www.census.gov/epcd/naics02/naifr02c.htm
. For more information on SICs and
NAICS, visit: http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/subject/business/siccode.htm
.
Searching using the SIC code 3021 will lead us to the top companies or competitors in that industry. One of those companies is Nike. Most of the databases/resources listed below will also allow you to do a company search by company name. Doing a company

search using Nike as our company, we will get a listing of all SICs for Nike because it is involved in more than one industry. They are:
3021 - Rubber And Plastics Footwear
3149 - Footwear, Except Rubber, Not Elsewhere Classified
2329 - Men’s & Boys Clothing, Not Elsewhere Classified
2339 - Women’s Misses & Jr Outerwear, Not Elsewhere Classified
5661 - Shoe Stores
You will also get a list of products or brand names for Nike. You can use either the SIC code, the company name or brand name to conduct a search. It just depends on how specific you need to be.
Company Research
Industry Information
Abstracts and Articles

Bizlink
(The Public Library of Charlotte &
Mecklenburg County, NC) http://www.bizlink.org/
EDGAR (U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission) http://www.sec.gov/ .
Mergent Online
Dun & Bradstreet’s Million Dollar Directory
Plus www.mergentonline.com
.
Available via subscription only.
Factiva http://www.factiva.com/
Available via subscription only
Investext Research Bank
Gale Business and Company Resource Center
(Thomson Financial ) http://infotrac.galegroup.com/menu
Summary of links to information on local, national, and international business. Covers careers, company information, international business, investments, marketing, personal finance, salaries, starting a business, and taxes.
Annual reports of companies and their Web sites.
EDGAR, short for Electronic Data Gathering,
Analysis, and Retrieval system, hosts the company filings and forms, regulatory actions, required by the U.S. SEC.
Searching under "Companies and Filings" yields filings of companies. This lists name, address, telephone number, state of incorporation, Central
Index Key (CIK) number, Standard Industrial
Classification (SIC) code, and fiscal year end statements.
Covers public companies and their SEC filings information from the stock exchanges. The FIS
Annuals/U.S and International file accesses annual reports on U.S. public companies.
Company histories from 1995. Institutional holdings for U.S. companies and international, aggregate institutional buyers and sellers.
Provides content from news sources Dow Jones and Reuters Newswires and The Wall Street
Journal, unique to this service. Factiva has multiple language interfaces and multilingual content covering nearly 8,000 sources. SEC filings, summary & in depth financial data.
Find investment, company and industry reports and forecasts from over 500 brokers in North
America, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Latin America,
Africa and the Middle East.
Coverage from 1980.

Available via subscription only
Market Insight (Standard & Poor’s) http://umi.compustat.com/cgi-mi-auth/mihome.cgi?tab=home
Available via subscription only.
Thomson One Banker Analytics http://banker.analytics.thomsonib.com/
* (formerly Thomson Analytics)
Available via subscription only.
Thomas Register : Directory of American
Manufacturers http://www.thomasregister.com/
Financial information on companies, industries, and national economies. Sources covered include
S&P Stock Reports, S&P Industry Surveys, SEC
Filings from EDGAR, Compustat Reports, the
U.S. Industrial Trade Outlook, DRI Country
Overviews, the CIA World Factbook.
Coverage of the SEC database, Worldscope,
Extel, IDC Pricing, current news & stock quotes.
Offers financial information on U.S. and international companies, with access to over 5 million online documents, historical filings, annual reports, research reports, online articles.
Searchable by type of product/service, company name, or brand name. Provides company address, phone, business description, and link to company home page.

2002 Economic Census (U.S. Bureau of the
Census) http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/
Business and Industry (OCLC First Search) http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/data bases/
Available via subscription only.
Forbes’ Report on American Industry http://www.forbes.com/companies/
Tech Savvy http://www.techsavvy.com/
Market Insight (Standard & Poor’s) http://umi.compustat.com/cgi-miauth/mihome.cgi?app=mi
Available via subscription only.
Standard and Poor’s Industry Surveys http://www.standardandpoors.com/
Available via subscription only.
STAT-USA (U.S. Department of Commerce) www.stat-usa.gov
.
The Economic Census profiles the U.S. economy every 5 years, from 1992 onward.
National to local level industry statistics from the
U.S. Census, giving geographic area series, industry series, and subject reports.
Lists facts and key events on public and private companies, industries, products and markets for all manufacturing and service industries at an international level. It covers approximately 700 trade magazines, newsletters, and general business and international business dailies.
From Forbes magazine, US, and international company information.
Company lists of private and public corporations, sortable by industry, revenue, ranking, number of employees, from Aerospace to Travel &
Transport
Products and company information, industry specifications, trade shows, and industry news.
Commercial and Industry Standards for engineering documents, US Military documents, company directory, and a parts directory for manufactured goods.
Financial information on companies, industries, and national economies. Sources covered include
S&P Stock Reports, S&P Industry Surveys, SEC
Filings from EDGAR, Compustat Reports, the
U.S. Industrial Trade Outlook, DRI Country
Overviews, the CIA World Factbook, and S&P
Trends and Projections
Standard and Poor’s Industry Surveys (via
Market Insight or directly from S&P) The industry surveys detail all industries with market share, leading companies, financial figures.
Government data of economic, business, and international trade information produced by

Available via subscription only.
TableBase (RDS) http://search.rdsinc.com/texis/rds/sessions
Available via subscription only.
Statistical Abstract of the United States: The
National Data Book (U.S. Bureau of the
Census)(print and online) http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ hundreds government agencies. The GLOBUS and Market and Country Research sections provide industry analyses for other countries, including Industry Sector Reports, Market
Research Reports, and Best Market Reports.
Tables of national data, such as population, income, education, business enterprise, industrial outlook, advertising. Statistics on social and economic conditions in the U.S. and selected international data. Guide to the Census Bureau, other Federal agencies, and private organizations. Coverage from 1995.
International tabular data searchable by market share, market size, capacity, production, imports, exports, sales, product rankings, forecasts, healthcare statistics and demographics. Tables indexed are from business and trade journals, statistical annuals, brokerage reports, trade association reports, and governmental reports.

i
ABI Inform Complete (Proquest)
Business Dateline
Business Source Premier (EBSCOhost)
EconLit (American Economic Association)
Findex (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts)
General Business File ASAP
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe
Predicasts PROMT (Gale Publishers)
Provides full text articles for over
1,400 U.S. and international journals covering all aspects of business and management. Offers abstracts for 700 journals.
Includes information about library resources that describe regional business activities and trends and major stories on local firms, their products, and executives.
Provides full text articles for over
2,000 journals covering all aspect of business. In addition to the full text articles, the database offers indexing and abstracts for nearly 2,500 journals.
Provides abstracts and indexes of peer reviewed economic literature.
Provides abstracts of and indexes to scientific and technical research literature. It also provides company profiles for 400 top corporations. The database covers most industries.
This database allows users to research all business and management topics. It includes directory listings for over
150,000 companies as well as investment analysts’ reports on major companies and industries.
This database contains approximately
5,000 publications, almost all of which include full text articles. Publications include English and other western language newspapers, general interest magazines, medical journals, trade publications, company financial information, etc.
Covers approximately 1,000 business and trade journals, newspapers, newsletters, studies, and reports and includes abstracts and full text articles.

Provides abstracts to articles in 350
English-language business magazines.
Topics covered include accounting, advertising, communications, computers, economics, finance, government regulation, mergers & i
Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios
All databases are available via subscription only. Check with your academic library or local public library regarding access.
SIC code. Data reported are based on aggregate numbers from IRS records.

Annual Statement Studies
Associates, annual)
Research, Inc., annual)
(Philadelphia: Robert Morris
Encyclopedia of American Industries, 2 volumes (Detroit,
MI: Gale 2001)
Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries
Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios. (Murray Hill, NJ:
Dun & Bradstreet, annual)
Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys
Standard & Poor’s Corporation, quarterly)
US Industry and Trade Outlook
(Detroit, MI: Gale
(New York:
(Washington, DC: U.S.
Dept. of Commerce and International Trade
This text contains composite financial data on manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, service, and contracting lines of business.
Includes industry snapshots which give a statistical overview of the industry; organization and structure which includes configuration and government regulation of the industry; background and development details on the origin and history of the industry; current conditions updating the status of the industry; and industry leaders that spotlight major companies for that industry.
Comprehensive listing of businesses and business sectors that show evidence of significant growth or potential for impressive growth. The focus is on offshoots of relatively new industries such as artificial intelligence, semiconductor applications, telecommunications, and more.
This text covers over 800 lines of business, arranged by SIC code.
It presents summary balance sheets and income statements for the industry and
14 key ratios for the median, upper, and lower quartiles.
Gives overviews of 52 major U.S. industries. These reports cover industry trends, developments and forecasts, major players and market share data, key ratios and statistics, comparative company analysis, general industry operations and other information.
This publication focuses on U.S. industries and their trade with other

Administration, 2000)
U.S. Market Trends & Forecasts
Group, 1999)
(Detroit, MI: Gale
ValueLine Investment Survey (New York: ValueLine,
Inc., serial)
WEFA Industrial Monitor (New York: Wiley, 2001) countries. It includes charts and graphs, global and domestic trends, growth projections, and market prospects.
Presents an overview and projections for 400 significant industries and their component products or services. For each, it gives its indication of the value, the compound U.S. market growth rate, and a graph of market value. It also provides an analysis of market sectors, describing segments,
U.S. market share, and market forecasts.
Available in both print and online editions, this resource provides information on over 5,000 active stocks. For each stock, it offers performance indicators such as safety, financial strength, earnings predictability, and industry timeliness.
ValueLine Investment Survey—
Expanded Edition covers 1,800 smaller stocks not included in the standard Investment Survey.
Reviews and forecasts covering sales, output, imports, exports, and other key indicators of the major industries in the U.S. economy.

INDUSTRY
College sports
Computer
Electronics
Energy
Alcohol/beverage
Airline/aviation
RESOURCE 1
Adams Liquor
Handbook
The Aviation &
Aerospace
Almanac
Sports
Economics by
Rodney D Fort
2000
Electronic
Market Data
Book
RESOURCE 2
Beer Institute Online http://www.beerinstitute
.org/resreports.htm
Beverage World State of the Industry Report http://www.beveragewor
ld.com/beverageworld/r eports_analysis/liquid_st ats.jsp
Plunkett's Airline,
Hotel and Travel
Industry Almanac:
The Only Complete
Reference to the
Global Travel
Industry
Sports in the City: the role of sport in economic and social regeneration by
Chris Gratton
Eighth (The) Annual
Computer Industry
Almanac;
Plunkett's Infotech
Industry Almanac
2000
Electronic
Market Data
Book
America's Oil
& Gas
Producers: Oil
& Gas
Producing
Industry in your State bp.com: Energy
Review http://www.bp.com
/centres/energy/ind ex.asp
Electric Power
Industry Outlook
RESOURCE 3
Statistical
Information for the U.S. Liquor
Industry
Hoover's Guide to
Computer
Companies
Plunkett's energy industry almanac

Entertainment
Financial
Food
Health/medical
Internet
Media
Retail
Restaurants
Telecommunications
Plunkett's
Entertainment and Media
Industry
Almanac
Plunkett's
Financial
Services
Industry
Almanac
Who's Buying
Food & Drink:
Who Spends
How Much on
Food and
Alcohol, at and
Away from
Home
Plunkett's
Health Care
Industry
Almanac
Internet
Industry
Almanac
Plunkett's
Entertainment and Media
Industry
Almanac and Atlas
Plunkett's
Entertainment &
Media Industry
Trends and Leading
Companies
(Summary)
Plunkett's On-Line
Trading, Finance &
Investment Web Site
Almanac
Plunkett's
Entertainment &
Media Industry
Trends and Leading
Companies
(Summary)
Restaurant Industry
Operations Report
2000
Restaurant
Industry 2010:
The Road
Ahead
Plunkett's
Retail Industry
Almanac
2000
Electronic
Market Data
Plunkett's
Food
Industry
Almanac
Plunkett's Biotech &
Genetics Industry
Almanac
Plunkett's
Telecommunications
Industry Almanac
Faulkner’s
Information
Service

Book
Source: Roger Magnus, Georgia State University Library, Business Librarian http://www.library.gsu.edu/liaisons/rmagnus/Handouts/industryinfo.htm