The University of St. Thomas

Industry Research

Research an Industry:  Selected Resources

Resources listed below are available at both the Keffer and O'Shaughnessy-Frey Library unless only one library is listed.

SIC/NAICS Codes

Industry information is often organized by SIC and NAICS codes.

Industry overviews and surveys

  • Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys. (UST subscription database); also REF. HG 4961 .St24
    Full-text overviews of major industries; covers trends & forecasts, major players & market share data, key ratios & statistics, comparative analysis & other information; includes 12 months S&P investment reports.  Choose Industry Survey from the publication pull-down menu.  Major competitors can be found in the Standard & Poor's Stock Reports (choose Stock Reports from the pull-down menu; look for the competitors link on the left-hand side.)
  • IBISWorld Industry Intelligence.  (UST subscription database)
    Covers over 700 industries at the 5-digit NAICS code level.
  • Euromonitor Global Market Information Database.  (UST subscription database)
    Industry and economic reports, market profiles, lifestyle reports, and more, for the U.S. and over 200 other countries.
  • Industry Profiles and Market Research Reports in Business Source Premier.  (UST subscription database)
    Thousands of industry profiles, market research, and more.  Providers include Datamonitor, Gartner, and ICON Group. Choose Industry Profiles or Market Research Reports.
  • Value Line.  (UST subscription database)
    Reports on 1700 companies and more than 90 industries; choose Plus Edition, and then choose Look Up Industry, or search by company or industry.  (Also paper copies at Keffer and OSF)
  • Industry Overviews in Business and Company Resource Center.  (UST subscription database)
    Choose the Advanced Search and select Industry Overviews from the pull-down menu.  You can search by keyword, SIC or NAICS code, or the industry description, among other options.
  • Mergent Industry Reports in Factiva. (UST subscription database)
    Detailed reports on larger industries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. To limit your results to the industry reports, use the Source pull-down and search on Mergent.
  • International Trade Administration's Trade Development Industry Summaries.
    Coverage of key industrial and services clusters.
  • EPA Sector Notebooks.
    Environmental and regulatory information on selected major industries.

 Locating articles

  • ABI/Inform Trade & Industry.  (UST subscription database)
    Full-text articles covering the latest industry news, product and competitive information, and marketing trends about specific industries.
  • Business Source Premier. (UST subscription database)
    Full-text articles and abstracts from management, marketing, non-profit and business journals.  (Choose Trade Journals to search for articles in trade journals.)
  • Business & Company Resource Center. (UST subscription database)
    Full-text articles and abstracts covering all aspects of business and management, inlcuding company and industry information.  Research reports on individual companies can also provide information on industries. 
  • News and Media by Industry. (Open Directory)
    Industry news sources arranged by topic (information technology, retail trade, etc.)  From the Open Directory project.
  • PR Newswire Industry News.
    Search this site by keyword or company, or scroll down to find a list of industries to browse.  Also includes trade show information.

Regional news and business sources

  • Proquest Newsstand Complete. (UST subscription database)
    Full-text of 300+ U.S. and international news sources, including the Star Tribune. 
  • Factiva.  (UST subscription database)
    Full-text access to hundreds of newspapers and journals in all topic areas.  Updates and coverage vary.
  • Pioneer Press Archive.  (UST subscription database)
    Searchable full-text archives of the Pioneer Press from 1988 to the present. Search the Pioneer Press website for the current week's articles. 

Association and trade shows

Sources for statistics

  • STAT-USA.  (UST subscription database)
    Provides domestic and international information from over 50 federal agencies, featuring over 300,000 reports and statistical series.  State of the Nation covers the U.S. economy.  Also includes the National Trade Data Bank (Market Research Reports, etc.), Country Commercial Guides, the Economic Bulletin Board (Commerce Business Daily, etc.), and much more.
  • Economic Census.  (U.S. Census Bureau)
    The Economic Census profiles the US economy every 5 years, from the national to the local level. Excellent source for industry-level data. Also includes ZIP Code Statistics.
  • County Business Patterns. (U.S. Census Bureau)
    Economic patterns and business activity at the local, county, metropolitan area, or state level.  Information organized by NAICS codes. Data for U.S., states, counties, and metro areas. Also includes ZIP Code Data.
  • Economic Fact Sheet for an Industry. (American FactFinder)
    Search by industry keyword or NAICS code to number of establishments, sales, payroll, etc. on a national or state level.
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States.  REF. HA 202
    Best all-purpose seource for basic economic, political and social statistics for the United States. 
  • Current Industrial Reports.  (U.S. Census Bureau)
    Monthly, quarterly, and annual measures of industrial activity.  These surveys measure manufacturing activity in important commodity areas such as textiles and apparel, chemicals, primary metals, computer and electronic components, industrial equipment, aerospace equipment, and consumer goods. 
  • Quarterly Services Survey.  (U.S. Census Bureau)
    Includes quarterly revenue and percentage change by class of customer for NAICS service classifications. 
  • Transportation Statistics.  (Bureau of Transportation Statistics)
    "One-stop shopping" for transportation data.

Financial data and industry ratios

See Finding Business Ratios.

Additional industry information

See also:

Research consultations

Professional reference service is available at both the St. Paul and Minneapolis campus libraries. While walk-in service is often available, appointments should be made for lengthy reference consultations or tutorials. If you are interested in a research consultation, contact:

Updated August 2008 mdh