Business Research Guides 

 

Define the Industry
Industry Reports or Industry Overviews
Industry Trade Journals and National Associations
Major Players
Market Growth and Industry Forecasts
Articles about the Industry
Regulations, Law and Policy

Define the Industry
US Census Bureau Contains 2000 NAICS and 1987 SIC industry codes and explanations of why and where these codes are used. When searching for your industry's code it is easier to browse the NAICS list than find a particular industry using a keyword search. Try typing in the best one keyword description of the industry you are looking for and then browse through the results for the best match. When you click on the NAICS number you will get to a page with the corresponding SIC. Sometimes searching for an industry can be tricky so try to think of synonyms. For example: if you are looking for the NAICS/SIC for used car dealers and type "car" into the search box the resulting list will include car manufacturers and car detailers but no car dealers. However, if you type in "automobile" the results list will include automobile dealerships, used.

Industry Reports or Industry Overviews
Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage Click on the Industries tab in the blue bar at the top of the on the main page. Look for your industry in the list in the drop down menus in Industry Surveys or Sub-Industry Reviews. If you are not sure which of the which of S&P's industries best matches the one you are researching and you know the name of a public company industry you are interested in, try searching for that company in the Search by Company section. Example: if you are interested in the Wine Industry entering the company name Robert Mondavi Corp in Industry Surveys will result in a Survey of the Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco Industry. Entering the same name in Sub-Industry Reviews will result in a shorter report on Distillers & Vintners.

Business Insights Includes management reports produced in association with Datamonitor, on various segments of the consumer goods, energy, finance, healthcare, and technology industries. Click on the "Reports" link in the top left corner of the page.

eMarketer  Provides market research and trend analysis on Internet, e-business, online marketing, media and emerging technologies. Aggregates and analyzes information from over 3,000 sources, and brings it together in analyst reports, daily research articles and the eStat Database (a compilation of e-business and online marketing statistics.

ISI Emerging Markets One of the few sources at Yale for finding detailed industry information in emerging markets. To find that information, first choose the country in which your industry is located, and click on the "Industry" tab. You will find Industry Profiles, Industry Analysis, and articles and news reports on industry segments.

OneSource To find Industry information in OneSource it is handy to know your industry’s SIC. (See US Census Bureau above) To find the industry reports in OneSource first logon then click on the “industry” link. Next, choose the industry group that best describes the one you are interested in (It is here that the SIC come in handy, click on the 1987 US SIC button in the right frame then scroll down the list that comes up in the left frame). Click on the industry code to get to the main industry page. The Market Research Reports are available by clicking on the “market research” link on the top right corner of the each industry page.

Plunkett Research Online Provides business intelligence, industry trends, statistics, market research, sales leads & corporate profiles and in depth analysis of top companies. 

Industry Trade Journals and National Associations

Business Source Complete and ABI Inform have the same feature. To find Trade Journals first enter your search terms (i.e. premium wine industry) and click the search button. When the list of results appears, click on the "Trade Journals" tab at the top of the page. The resulting list will be only those articles found in Trade Journals. Scroll through the list for names of trade journals publishing material on your industry.

LexisNexis Tip: Click on Business and Company Dossier.

OneSource To find Industry information in OneSource it is handy to know your industry’s SIC. (See US Census Bureau above) To find the industry reports in OneSource first logon then click on the “industry” link. Next, choose the industry group that best describes the one you are interested in (It is here that the SIC come in handy, click on the 1987 US SIC button in the right frame then scroll down the list that comes up in the left frame). Click on the industry code to get to the main industry page. Use Articles Search to find trade journal articles.

Major Players
Factiva Click on Company/Markets, Company and search by company name to find its peer group by sales.

NetAdvantage Search by company name, “competitors” is one of the menu choices in the left hand margin.

OneSource On the bottom right side of the main industry page, you will see a list of the Industry's Main Participants. OneSource also provides a list of the Main Participants in the sub-industries found within the main industry group.

Market Growth and Industry Forecasts
Mintel Market research reports covering US and International marketplaces. Combines data & analysis of the competitive landscape, market-share analysis, trending data and consumer profiles. Complex demographic issues are broken into easy-to-understand sections, explaining consumer behavior and demonstrating the structure of the market.

Business Source Complete Contains reports on industries from the U.S. government and the private sector. To access them click on the Advanced Search Tab and enter the name of your industry in the Find box. Scroll down to Publication Type and click on Industry Profile.

Thomson One (use IE, does not work with Firefox) A prospectus or proxy filing will generally contain information about market-share, competitors, market size, risk factors, and market growth. If you know of a large public company in the industry segment you are interested in check Thomson Research to see if they have filed a recent proxy.

Articles About the Industry
ABI Inform Full-text articles from business magazines and academic journals, trade journals, and newspapers. It contains both US and International publications and the database Dateline which includes local and regional business publications.

Factiva Contains full-text and abstracts from many local, regional and international newspapers not included in other databases.

Business Source Complete Full-text articles from business magazines and academic journals, trade journals, and newspapers. Select "Regional Business News" as well as "Business Source Complete" on the main page to retrieve US local and regional business publications. text here.

Regulations, Law and Policy
Lexis-Nexis Congressional is an online legislative and regulatory service that provides full text access to the Federal Register (from 1980), the Congressional Record (from 1985) and the National Journal (from 1977) and more! For example, one can use this resource to find references in the Federal Register to retirees.

CQ Weekly and CQ Researcher provide web access to Congressional Quarterly's (CQ) print publications, including access to the full text of all articles published since 1983.

GPO Access provides online access to full text congressional and executive agency documentation, including the Congressional Record, the Federal Register, congressional bills and resolutions, congressional documents and reports, the General Accounting Office "blue books", and the Economic Indicators (Joint Economic Committee). It also provides access to the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications and a connection to the Federal Bulletin Board files.

PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service covers the literature of public affairs including political, economic and social issues. It contains references to articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, research reports, conference reports and publications of international agencies. Publications from more than 60 countries are included. Materials indexed are in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Lexis-Nexis State Capital , our flagship product for state-level information, contains state statutes, full text of state regulations, information about state legislators and their staffs, and news sources for information on state issues for all 50 states. Searching under topics like "state employees and evaluation" works well in this database.

Policy Central (National Journal) includes the National Journal, a leading journal on politics, policy and government; a full text searchable story archive back to 1977, AdSpotlight, an online guide to political and issue ads from across the country, and Technology Daily, a twice daily resource which examines information technology politics and policy at the state, national and international levels. Technology Daily is the major source of information for students interested in an IT career in the public sector.