Get familiar with an industry by reading an overview that includes descriptive information about the history and structure of the industry. Finding relevant industry research is often easier if you know the NAICS or SIC code for the industry. Click here for quick guide on finding industry codes.

• S&P Industry Surveys (Ref HC 106.6 .S74): broad overviews of ~50 major industries. Each overview is updated twice annually and includes industry basics, such as structure, recent developments and participants.
  Access : in print at the Lockwood Library reference desk.
  Tip : check the "Industry References" section near the end of each overview for leads to more resources.
  
  
• Encyclopedia of American Industries (Ref HC 102 .E53), Global Industries (Ref HD 2324 .E53) and Emerging Industries (Ref HD 2328 .E539): introductory level overviews of hundreds of smaller, niche industries.
  Access : in print at Lockwood Library and online via Business & Company Resource Center (UB only).
  Tip : click on the "Industry" icon and search by industry description. Check the “Further Reading” section at the end of each overview for leads to other sources.
  
  
• Business Source Premier (UB only): global market research reports from top business publishers like Datamonitor, Gartner, and others.
  Tip: search in both the "Industry Profiles" and "Market Research Reports" sections.
  
  
• Mergent (UB only): comprehensive industry overviews, global in scope.
  Tip: click on the "Industry Reports" tab and then select the most relevant industry. Check out the "Key References" section at the end of each report for leads to more information sources.

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Investment Research Reports (also called Analyst Reports, Brokerage Reports or Equity Research Reports) are a good source for market share data, financials, industry analyses and projections.

• Investext : Investment Reports from analysts at hundreds of brokerage firms.
  Access : online via Business & Company Resource Center (UB only).
  Tip : click on "Advanced Search," then select "Investment Reports" from the "Content Area" pull down menu. Do a keyword search on industry name.
  
  
• Value Line Investment Surveys (Ref HG 4501 .V26): one page overviews of over 90 industries followed by profiles of the major public companies in the industry.
  Access : in print and on CD-ROM at Lockwood Library.
  Tip : Value Line updates the information on 5 to 10 of the industries on a weekly basis.

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News Articles from newspapers, magazines and trade publications can provide insight into the recent developments in an industry.

• Factiva (UB only): full-text access to many of the best business news sources. Factiva is the most comprehensive source for access to two top business publications, The Wall Street Journal (1979 to present) and Barron's (1987 to present).
  Tip : in the "Select Sources" section, click on "Industry" and search on the name of an industry.
  
  
• LexisNexis (UB only): articles, filings and reports from a variety of news, legal and government sources.
  Tip : click on "Business" in the left hand column and then select "Industry and Market." Search by name of industry in the "Keyword" field and select an appropriate industry from the "Industry" pull-down menu.
  
  
• ABI/Inform Trade & Industry (UB only): full-text access to more than 700 trade publications .
  Tip : click on the Topics tab at the top of the page and type in the name of the industry in the Topic Guide search box.
  
  
• The industry sections of free business websites like Yahoo! Finance, Reuters and BusinessWeek Online also provide reliable and up-to-date industry news and information.

Journal Articles from Academic Journals (also called Scholarly or Refereed Journals) can be great sources for comprehensive, scholarly industry studies that often provide more insight on specific aspects of an industry.

• ABI Inform Global (UB only): search full-text business-focused periodicals, including many top journals like the MIT Sloan Management Review and hundreds of others.
  Tip : try using the "Topic Guide" to find the most relevant articles: click on the "Topics" tab along the top of the page and then enter the name of your industry. Limit your results to journal articles by clicking on the "Scholarly Journals" tab.
  
  
• Business Index ASAP (UB only): searches InfoTrac's collection of hundreds of business publications.
  Tip : click on "Subject Guide" in the left hand column and enter industry name. Limit results to journal articles by clicking the "To Refereed Journals" box.
  
  
• Business Source Premier (UB only): full-text access to thousands of business-related journals, including top business journal, The Harvard Business Review .
  Tip : do a keyword search on the name of the industry and then click on "Academic Journals" under the "Filter Results By" tab.

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Industry Statistics contained in Government Reports can help quantify an industry.

• The Economic Census provides detailed statistical portraits of US industries. Updated every five years, each industry profile includes key economic data such as: number of companies, sales, payroll and number of employees.
  
  
• Industry at a Glance profiles from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics provide statistical profiles (mainly employment statistics) of 12 industry super-sectors.
  
  
• The Statistical Abstract of the United States : brings together a variety of statistics that affect industries.
  Tip : To get the most current data, click on "2001-2005" and then select the most relevant industry from sections 16 - 27.

Three primary sources for industry ratios are available in print at the Lockwood Library reference desk:

• Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios (Ref HF 5681 R25 A46)
• D&B Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios (Ref HF 5681 R25 I525)
• RMA Annual Statement Studies (Ref HF 5681 B2 R6)

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Identifying who the major players are is an integral part of industry research. Several UB Library databases can be queried to identify companies in a specific industry

• Factiva (UB Only). Tip : click on the "Companies/Markets" tab along the top of the page, then on "Company Screening," then select (by clicking) the most relevant industry(s) from the list and click "Submit.".
  
  
• ReferenceUSA (UB only): an online directory of over 13 million US public and private companies.
  Tip: try searching by Yellow Pages Heading. Click on the "Custom Search" tab, then select "YP Heading or SIC," then click "Create Search Form." Enter industry name in the "Yellow Page Heading" search box and the search automatically suggests industry categories with related words.
  
  
• TableBase (UB only): statistical tables from hundreds of business periodicals that contain rankings of companies in various industries, market share data and more.

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Industry and trade association websites can give you an insider's view of an industry - they often provide access to statistics and links to key resources about the industries they represent. The following resources can help identify the associations in a particular industry.

• Associations Unlimited (UB only) and Business & Company Resource Center (UB only) are premium directories of associations.
  Tip : Click "Advanced Search," select "Associations" from the "Content Area" pull down menu and search on industry name.
  
  
• Google Associations and the Internet Public Library's Associations on the Net are good free directories of associations.

Web Guides can help you navigate the mountains of business data out there on the web by serving as portals to high quality, reliable resources for business information. Here are a few of the best bets for industry research:

• New York Times Business Navigator
• The Internet Intelligence Index
• The Wall Street Executive Library
• Librarians' Internet Index

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