Overviews:

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys

Standard & Poor's covers 52 industries, and if you can't find an industry survey whose title coincides with your industry definition, don't give up. Sometimes your industry will be included as a subcategory in one of the S&P surveys. For instance, the "Retailing: General" survey covers both the big-box discounters such as Wal-Mart and upscale stores such as Nordstrom; the "Retailing: Specialty" survey covers retailers as diverse as Home Depot, Borders, and PetSmart.

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Trade Associations and Websites:

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys has lists of trade associations and industry websites near the end of each of their 52 Industry Surveys, which are updated yearly.  From the first page of any Industry Survey, click on the link that says "Industry References".  These will include a list of trade associations (see example below) and also a list of industry publications.

TRADE ASSOCIATIONS American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) 1601 N. Kent St., 12th Fl., Arlington, VA 22209 (703) 797-9056 Web site: http://www.apparelandfootwear.org Provides apparel and footwear manufacturers with industry statistics and other demographic information. Cotton Incorporated 6399 Weston Pkwy., Cary, NC 27513 (919) 678-2220 Web site: http://www.cottoninc.com A worldwide organization funded by cotton growers and importers that provides research and promotional support to increase demand for and the profitability of cotton; publishes Lifestyle Monitor, a newsletter about consumer attitudes and behavior

Industry Ratios and Averages:

The books listed below are the three most commonly-used sources for Industry Standard ratios. They are shelved together in the Business shelves in Rivera Library Reference on the shelf labeled "Financial Ratios".

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys contains a section titled Key Industry Ratios and Statistics for the 52 industries they cover.

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Market Share:

Market Share Reporter (HF5415.2 .M37 most recent edition on Business Shelves, )

Market Share Reporter has a collection of graphs and charts showing the market share in a variety of industries. Charts and graphs are collected from business magazines and trade journals and organized by industry using SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes.

You can also often find this data as part of charts in trade journal articles. Some of the best sources of trade journal articles are the following databases:

Factiva
Business Source Premier
Academic via Lexis-Nexis

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Statistics:

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys has a section entitled "Key Industry Ratios and Statistics".  The statistics presented vary from industry to industry based on their relative importance.  

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Articles about an Industry:

Factiva
Business Source Premier
Academic via Lexis-Nexis

The three databases listed below are excellent sources for articles from popular business magazines, trade journals, newspapers and academic business journals. 

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