Research industries and gather industry statistics from MarketLine
- Easy to use database gives you a wealth of industry information including a composite SWOT analysis for leading companies, Porter's 5 Forces analysis with graphs for industries (global or by country) as well as consumer behavior statistics
- Click MarketLine link
- Enter your company name and click GO
- Click News for up to date industry news
- Click Companies to see company profiles and SWOT analysis
- Click Opinion to see analysts' predictions and trends
- Click Industries to see comprehensive industry reports including Porter's 5 Forces analysis with graphs
Use IBIS World for a strategic analysis of your industry with easy access to upstream and downstream industries (supply chain) that your industry may be dependent upon or support
- Click IBIS World
- Enter keywords to describe your industry
- View reports by clicking on their title
- Move through report contents by using links to the left or clicking the PDF link to get the whole report
- To see related industries follow links in the box on the lower left called See Full Context
- Review more detailed industry surveys and industry-related intelligence at ABI Inform Trade and Industry
- Click ABI Inform Trade and Industry
- Click the Browse tab at the top of the screen
- Select FirstResearch for quarterly industry reports; these reports are more granular that S&P's and oftentimes deal with very specific sub-industries while using examples of particular companies within the industry
- Excellent resource for finding detailed information on a specific function or business within an industry (e.g. automobile dealerships as opposed to simply automotive industry.)
- TIP: There are other links to things like market share, market research reports, and industry trends and forecasts; to get to these materials is a little tricky. You need to do the following:
- Click the link for the thing you want
- ProQuest will bring back all of the documents about that topic in the database; it could be thousands!
- Limit to your industry or company by scrolling to the bottom of the page and adding the connector AND plus your keywords (e.g. AND automotive industry)
- Mergent is another source of compiled industry surveys both United States and global ones
- Select Mergent Intellect
- Click Industry Reports
- Select your industry
- The industries covered are very broad but can be useful for the 'big picture'
Industry Ratios
- Retrieve industry ratios to determine how the industry is doing in terms of solvency as a whole along with highs and lows for companies in that industry
- Select D&B Key Business Ratios
- Select your industry from the pull-down
- Get sample financial statements and up to 5 years of historical industry ratios with charts from BizMiner
- Select BizMiner
- Enter a keyword for your industry or search by SIC Code (Standard Industrial Classification)
- TIP: Use Google to find your company's SIC code by googling the company name and 'sic code'; It's a 2-6 digit code; Best one to use is the 4 digit one...2 digit SIC codes are too general; 6 are too specific.
- Click Search
- Select the industry that most matches yours
- Click Show Industry Reports
- Choose Industry Financial Profiles
- Select your revenue range (or all) and whether you want a 3 or 5 year report
Scholarly Articles
- Business Source Premier also has industry surveys and analysis; Theirs are unique in that they provide country breakdowns as well as archive up to 10 year's worth of historical, archived surveys
- Click Business Source Premier
- Select Publications towards the top of the screen
- Move your eye down to the Browse box
- Select Match Any Words
- Enter your search terms free text (like a google search)
- Click Browse
- Review results
- Click the title
- Click the year to get the most recent stuff (on the right-hand side)
- Results may come back as a set of documents! This means the documents as a whole make up the report. You'll have to email/print each one individually...
