BUS 400: Strategic Management: Industry Background

Businesses identify North American Industry Classification codes to their business establishments when they participate in federal data collection and reporting. You'll find them useful if you search data.census.gov, and other federal business data sources. Many research resources, such as databases, utilize NAICS codes for searching purposes, to provide a uniform name for industries.

The system divides the North American economy into sectors that are represented by 2-digit numeric codes. Sub-sectors are represented by larger and larger numbers up to 6-digit codes. Some subscription databases further extend these codes to identify and provide data on even smaller sectors.

Note: some subscription 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.