Business & Accounting Libraries
This guide is part of a series that aims to provide resources for business-related topics and courses at Marshall and USC.
For additional research help, please contact us:
Industry Research
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IBISWorld This link opens in a new windowIndustry Market Research reports and Industry Risk Ratings. Focuses on United States, but has some data on global markets. Includes state and county-level industry data and trends for NAICS reports, as well as state economic profiles.
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Mintel This link opens in a new windowMintel Reports and Mintel Trends provide comprehensive, in-depth consumer and market analysis and trends. Mintel Global New Product Database includes detailed product data on new products in the food, drink, beauty and personal care, health and hygiene, home care and pet markets..
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Statista This link opens in a new windowProvides access to over 1 million statistics and studies gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources on over 600 industries.
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EMIS This link opens in a new windowProvides data and analysis for 168 emerging markets from trusted global and local sources. Includes coverage of countries, industries and companies in the emerging economies of Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe and Central Asia.
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Passport This link opens in a new windowThe Passport (formerly GMID or Global Market Information Database) provides a wide range of consumer market and industry information in more than 80 countries around the world. It includes company profiles, some with SWOT analysis, country briefings, sector briefings, market research, industry watch articles and detailed Consumer Lifestyle reports. Provided by Euromonitor International.
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Standard and Poor's NetAdvantage This link opens in a new windowDetailed data on specific companies and industries, including profiles, financial data, stock information, competitors and competition, and forecasts for future business.
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GlobalEdge Industry Profiles This link opens in a new windowSource for international business-related resources, statistics, risk assessments, and events for 20 distinct industry sectors.
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MarketResearch.com Academic This link opens in a new windowA leading provider of industry intelligence for businesses, consultants, etc. "Search Reports" for products or services and use the table of contents and descriptions locate important statistics (CAGR, TAM, market segments).
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SBRnet (Sports Business Research Network) This link opens in a new windowProvides market research and industry news for the sports industry including analytics. The site combines market research from the largest single research supplier to the industry, the National Sporting Goods Association; the U.S. Department of Commerce; various sports governing bodies; and full-text articles from 14 magazines and newsletters published by VNU, the world's largest sporting goods trade publisher, and newsletters provided by leading independent industry experts.
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Frost & Sullivan This link opens in a new windowIndustry and technology research from this global consulting firm covering US and international markets in areas such as Information & Communication Technology, Aerospace & Defense, Healthcare, Chemicals, Materials & Food, Industrial Automation & Process Control, Measurement & Instrumentation, Electronics & Security, Energy & Power Systems, Automotive & Transportation and Environmental & Building Technologies. Single-click downloading of entire reports is not enabled for students.
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Gartner This link opens in a new windowInformation technology market research, analysis and news, including forecasts, trends, case studies, and best practices. Our subscription is limited but does include Magic Quadrants and Hype Cycles.
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BCC Research This link opens in a new windowBCC Research provides detailed market research reports for industries such as biotechnology, chemicals, consumer, energy, engineering, environment, finance, food/beverage, fuel cell/battery technology, healthcare, IT, instrumentation, manufacturing, medical devices, nanotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Instructions: Go to 'Member Login' at upper right and click 'IP Authenticate' to search.
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eMarketer (formerly known as Insider Intelligence) This link opens in a new windowProvides analysis, market data, and statistics on the Internet, e-commerce, online marketing, social media, and emerging digital technologies around the world.
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EBSCO Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowIncludes Barnes and MarketLine industry profiles and reports. Search for "___ industry". Includes "Country Monitor" reports from S&P Global.
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Gale Business Insights This link opens in a new windowA source for international business intelligence. Search for a company or product and examine Market Share/Rankings, Trade Journal Articles, and more.
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Data Axle Reference Solutions (formerly ReferenceUSA) This link opens in a new windowUS business and white pages (people) database. The US business database contains 119 million businesses that can be searched by company name, executives, business type, sales volume, employee size and region or state location. The US white pages database contains over 160 million US residents that can be searched by name, address, and median home income or value.
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Orbis This link opens in a new windowUS and international company information from Bureau van Dijk including Datamonitor market research and company reports. Use the side-navigation to locate MarketLine reports.
To understand a company and its competitors, you need to understand the industry of which it is a part, even if you are looking for information about a niche industry.
Finding information about an industry includes the following steps:
- Find an overview of the industry (market research, industry summaries)
- Look for articles on trends and see if you can find forecasts
- Gather statistics from government agencies and trade associations
- Contact trade associations for additional information about an industry
Potential problems:
- Each information tool uses its own industry groupings and covers different industries. Data from one source may not match another resource, both in terms of data and definition of an industry.
- Small industries are often reported as part of larger industries in government data and other information sources. Look for targeted market research to address these markets.
- Quality, availability, and cost of association information or 'trade data' varies widely. Some information is only available to members, and some can be accessed for free or located in a larger report somewhere.
- Emerging industries can be difficult to research. Data may not be available and trends may not have been established yet.
Professional associations can be very helpful in learning more about an industry or profession. Although full access is often reserved for paid members, associations provide information to the public in the form of summary reports and press releases.
Examples of professional associations include: Advertising Professionals of Los Angeles, the American Society of Cinematographers, the American Medical Association and the California Solar Energy Industries Association to name just a few.
Follow the steps below to locate a professional association.
1. Go to the Business Insights Global / Gale Business Insights database.
2. Keyword search the industry name you would like to locate.
3. When results appear, there should be an "Associations" link at the top of the results list.
4. Try searching for a word that is found in the industry description or in the name of the association. Try different combinations of search terms and keywords to find the association you need (e.g. beverage, drink, coffee, wine). Results may include locations outside of the U.S.
To locate professional associations and other types of organizations, you can also search the Gale Directory Library available through the USC Libraries E-Resources. This database contains the Encyclopedia of Associations (under "Organizations") as well as other reference works.
For a helpful list of trade publications, try searching webwire for your industry or browsing categories on isubscribe
The following databases are key resources for locating financial ratios for industries and companies:
Note: Industry financial ratios are comparative measures used to assess the financial health of an industry. Each ratio is defined as a mathematical statement between, for example net debt to EBITDA. Other ratios include:
- EBIT/Revenue
- EBITDA/Revenue
- Sales/Total assets
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IBISWorld This link opens in a new windowIncludes reports for major industries with ratio comparisons for small, medium and large companies. See the industry as a whole, in the 'Industry Financial Ratios' section at the end.
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Business Market Research Collection This link opens in a new windowThese quarterly reports cover many U.S. industries and include ratios for small, medium and large companies, as well as industry averages. Search "First Research."
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Factiva This link opens in a new windowSearch 'Companies/Markets' for a Company profile which will contain a "Ratio Comparison" report.
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OSIRIS This link opens in a new windowFind Betas for most indices. Search for the company you are researching, at the company page, use the options on the right, select 'Stock Data' page down to reveal the available Betas.
Find key government data, including reports and statistics using the following resources:
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U.S. Census - Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) This link opens in a new windowAnnual data by industry and enterprise size.
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North American Classification System (NAICS) - U.S. Census This link opens in a new windowThis site provides a detailed descriptions of the direct relationships between classification systems. e.g. NAICS to SIC's, NAICS 2007 to 2012, NAICs to ISIC (International Standard Industry Classification).
These public sites can help you find professional conferences and conventions for a wide range of industries:
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Conference Alerts This link opens in a new windowScroll down to Business & Economics.
These websites have career and case prep content for the Management & Consulting Industry:
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Top-Consultant.com This link opens in a new windowA specialist career website with global connections.
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Is Consulting the Right Career for You? This link opens in a new windowA July 2020 Harvard Business Review article by Tijs Besieux.
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The Origins of Modern Management Consulting This link opens in a new windowA 1995 Business & Economic History article by Christopher McKenna.
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Case Questions.com This link opens in a new windowMarc Cosentino's website which correlates to his book, Case In Point (Business Circ. Desk HD69 .C6C645).
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Case Interview Core Frameworks This link opens in a new windowFour business frameworks compiled by Victor Cheng from McKinsey.
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Management Consulted This link opens in a new windowPremier online source of free case presentations.
Books and Reference Sources
Some resources use the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) codes that were developed to track data on American industries, but many use the newer system (released in 1997) called NAICS: North American Industry Classification System, which includes the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
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Business Statistics of the United States byCall Number: Business Reference HC101.A13122
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Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1987 byCall Number: Business Circ Desk HF1042.A55 1987
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North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) byCall Number: Business Circ Desk HF1042.N678 2012Business Library - Reference, Circulation Desk
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Market Share Reporter byCall Number: Business Reference HF5410.M376Multiple volumes from 2013 - 2020. Also searchable online in Business Insights Global database.
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RMA Annual Statement Studies byCall Number: Business HF5681.B2R6Current editions available at the Business Circ Desk. Electronic access via RMA Statement Studies database
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Industry Norms & Key Business Ratios byCall Number: Business HF5681.R25I525Current editions available at Business Circ Desk.
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Almanac of Business & Industrial Financial Ratios byCall Number: Business HF5681.R25T68Current editions available at Business Circ Desk.
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Business Rankings AnnualCall Number: Business Reference HG4050.B882013 - 2019. The entire series is available online through the Business Insights Global database.