Industry and Company Research

NAICS Codes

The NAICS classifies business establishments according to the industry with which they are aligned.

Example: 236115 New Single-Family Housing Construction (except Operative Builders)

23= construction (sector)

236= construction of buildings (subsector)

2361= residential building construction (internation stry)

Why is this important?

Many databases support the NAICS code as a searchable field. This search option can often remove the ambiguity of using natural language search terms.

In order to create your advertising plan, you will need to develop an understanding of both the company you selected and the broader industry. Below are databases where you can find company and industry information.

Industry Research

IBISWorld: Industry market research reports include information such as major industry changes and growth trends. Also available are company profiles at include SWOT analyses and market share concentration.

Statista: Provides curated reports that include extensive statistical data on over 600 industries. The statistics and studies are gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources, and data is shared in a variety of easy-to-understand formats such as charts and infographics.

Business Insights Global: Provides in-depth information on U.S. and international businesses, industries, and products. Resources include competitive intelligence, market share information and product trends, market-industry information and analysis, and country-based industry reports.

Company Research

D&B Hoovers: Extensive access to public and private company profiles and regularly updated industry profiles. You can also find information about a particular company's main competitors, and SEC filings for public companies.

Mergent Online: Provides access to current and historical financial information on 15,000 U.S. and 20,000 foreign companies, both active and inactive. Included are firm descriptions, statistics, financial information, and annual reports. Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, long-term debt, bond ratings, capital stock, insider trading, etc. are provided in the company records. Historical data is available for the past 15 years. Company reports and financials can be exported to Excel.

Business Source Complete: Contains over 2,000 active, business-related periodicals covering topics such as management, economics, finance, accounting, marketing, banking, and international business, including MarketLine industry reports.

NOTE: To find the MarketLine industry reports, enter your industry of interest in the search bar. Then, under "limit your results," check "industry profile" under publication type.