Research Guides: A Guide To Entrepreneurship: Industry Reports

Michael Schwartz Library

Industry research

The Michael Schwartz Library has access to a wide variety of industry reports from various sources. The reports cover many different sectors and industries. They are provided by different firms who collect data and compile the reports.

NAICS Code
Identifying your industry's NAICS code is an important key to locating research about it. Business Source Complete and many other information sources allow searching by NAICS code for precise searches.

Industry and Market Databases

IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
Provides business reports in industry market research, industry risk ratings, company research, global industry research, and economic and demographic data. Excessive downloads from IBISWorld will trigger an access block. Please be judicious.

Competitor Reports

Net Advantage from Standard & Poor (1999-) This link opens in a new window
Broad spectrum of industry, company and investment analysis including Industry Surveys, and Equity Research (formerly Stock Reports). Industry data sets include key ratios, benchmarks, constituents, financial metrics, etc. by sub-industry or geography (see Markets tab). Archived Industry Surveys included as far back as 1999 depending upon title continuity. Company data covers a global universe of over 3 million private and public companies.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Create a company list to research local competitors. You can also view industry reports.
ReferenceUSA This link opens in a new window
Create a list of area competitors with sales volume data

Government Information

Census Business Builder
The CBB uses census data to bring you data about local markets and local competition.
Small Business Statistics
Guide to government data from the Small Business Administration

Census Data
Access various liens of business information about states, counties, zip codes, and whole industries
Economic Census
The Economic Census provides a good introduction to the kind of business data accessible through data.census.gov

Databases at other libraries

Two area libraries, Cleveland Public Library and Cuyahoga County Public Library, both have access to additional resources that may be useful. To use these resources you will need a library card to each library. A library card is free :)

Business Insights: Essentials - Cleveland Public Library
Business Insights contains among other industry and company information access to Market Share Reporter
SRDS by Kantar - Cleveland Public Library
SRDS contains local market information for newspapers, television stations, and websites.
Mergent Intellect - Cuyahoga County Public Library
Industry overviews, local businesses, and local consumer demographics

MarketLine Industry Profile

MarketLine Industry Profiles in Business Source Complete contain:

Market overview and analysis
Market value and volume
Segmentation (category, geographic, market share, distribution)
Market outlook
Five forces analysis
Leading companies
Macroeconomic indicators

MarketLine industry profiles are published by country or region.

To access: search industry keyword or NAICS code and (profile)

Barnes Reports

Barnes Reports, available through Business Source Complete provide statistics on many industries. These reports primarily focus on the United States although some are international in scope. Read further to learn about the different reports, what each report contains, and how to find them.

Industry Reports - Barnes Industry Reports contains:

Industry Establishments, Sales & Employment Trends, Ratios, Firms & Payroll
Sub-industry Sales, Establishments, Employees
Five Year Trends
State Establishments, Sales, Employees
Metro-area Establishments, Sales, Employees

To access: search an industry keyword or NAICS code and specify "Industry Report" under source type.

United States Industry Capital & Expenses Reports - Barnes Industry Report contains:

Ratios, Establishments, Firms, & Payroll, Cost of Materials, Inventories, Rentals, Capital Expenditures, Other Expenses
State Estimated Cost of Materials, Capital Expenditures, Other Expenses
Metro-area Estimated Cost of Materials, Capital Expenditures, Other Expenses

To access: search industry keyword or NAICS code and search (Capital & Expenses)

United States Product & Retail Outlook - Barnes Report contains:

Industry sales, employment, establishments, ratios
Product line sales in given industry by state and metro area

To access: search industry keyword or product keyword AND search (product & retail outlook)

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