BUS 400: Strategic Management: Industry Background

Do you know the NAICS code for the industry you are researching?  Are you researching a company and need to know its NAICS code to learn more about the industry?

The federal government assigns these codes to business establishments for data collection and reporting purposes.  Many research resources, such as databases, utilize NAICS codes for searching purposes, to provide a uniform name for industries.

For example: does a particular database call your industry "shoes" or "footwear?" "Apparel" or "clothing?" If you have the NAICS code in hand, you don't have to worry about the words the database uses.

Note: many of the library databases also display "SIC" / Standard Industrial Classification numbers, which have not been updated since 1987 but are still widely used. See "What is the difference between NAICS Codes and SIC Codes?" for more information.

Watch a tutorial video about NAICS (00:02:35): https://libguides.up.edu/tutorials/databases/naics

These databases are presented in order of detail. Sources at the top of the list cover broad industry categories only, while those at the bottom cover narrower categories and sometimes cover specific business sectors within an industry.