Conducting Industry Research Determine the SIC/NAICS Codes which describe the industry Use these codes to find a list of companies in either databases or directories Determine the Market Leaders ($ or market share) Determine the Size of the Industry ($)

Where to get Industry Information? – Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (Reference Desk) – Standard & Poor’s Industry Survey (Reference) – Business and Company Resource Center (Overviews) – Business Source Premier (Search by NAICS) and choose Source Type: Industry Profile – Industry Associations – Other Databases (Lexis/Nexis, ABI/Inform) – Government Sources – Marketing/Analyst Reports (may be hard to get $$$)

Questions to Ask News, Trends, Forecasts/Predictions Economic Indicators that Influence (Cyclical/Non-cyclical) Domestic – vs – International (Where are the $) Market Share Financial/Ratio Questions (only works for publicly traded) Innovations/new products (slow or fast, constantly changing, set times for introduction such as automobiles) Legal/Regulatory Issues Technology (driven by technology or not?) Information Dissemination

Domestic – vs – International ( $) Is the industry mostly domestic or is it global? Where is manufacturing? Sales? Can people in other countries afford or want it? (income per capita, cultural/religious barriers) Demographics to support it?

News, Trends, Forecasts/Predictions Where is the industry now? Where might it be in 3-6 months or longer? Where has it been? Historical background Is it in growth or decline or a holding pattern? What factors might influence it the most?

Economic Indicators that Influence /Drive Cyclical vs noncyclical industry Raw material prices (agricultural prices such as corn, wheat, steel prices, cost of computer chips, etc.) Transportation costs (fuel, etc.) Cost of Living Others?

Market Share Who are the dominant players? % of market share Is the market share widely fragmented? Is it fairly stable or ever changing? How hard is it to determine?

Financial/Ratio Questions What are the key ratios in analyzing the particular industry? – S&P Industry Survey – StockVal

Innovations/new products How often? Product cycles Is there a certain time of year that new products are introduced? Such as Consumer Electronics Show, etc.

Legal/Regulatory Issues Is the industry heavily regulated or not? How do we keep up with the regulations? Where do we go? What are the impacts? Legal cases Patents/Trademarks Bills/Laws pending in Congress How do these effect the product and price?

Technology (driven by or not?) Does the industry use technology heavily? How is it used? Does the industry use cutting edge technology or not?

Information Dissemination How do we find the most current industry news? What are the major trade publications? Are they readily available? Do you need to be a member? Are they on various databases? Can you get articles on interlibrary loan or from regional libraries? Industry Associations –do they publish, release statistics or have a research center? Trade shows & Industry Experts or spokespersons Twitter, Blogs, etc.