Research Guides: Company & Industry Research: 4: Industry Profiles

Best Sources for Industry Profiles

You can learn more about industries and the competitive landscape by consulting one or more of the following sources of industry profiles and/or statistical data.

Websites:

Industry Sector Intelligence (Government of Canada)
Statistics, market intelligence and business resources for each industry sector.
Global Insights by Industry (Global Edge, Michigan State University)
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The 20 sectors include: aerospace and defense, agriculture, apparel and textiles, business services, chemicals, construction, consumer products, energy, financial services, food and beverage, healthcare, hospitality and travel, industrial manufacturing, media and communications, mining, minerals, metals, pharmaceuticals, public services, retail, technology, and transport manufacturing.

Library Databases with Canadian, US, or Global content:

IBISWorld Industry Research Database This link opens in a new window Produces and publishes over 425 Canadian and 1,300 US Industry Reports at the 5-digit level of the NAICS code.Contains trends, statistics & analysis on market size, market share of major companies and industry growth rates.Permitted Uses
- The Library subscribes to the following modules in IBISWorld: Canada Industry Reports (NAICS), United States Industry Reports (NAICS), Canada Industry iExpert Summaries, United States Industry iExpert Summaries, United States Specialized Industry Reports, United States Specialized Industry iExpert Summaries, China Industry Reports (200 industries), Canada Industry Provincial Reports (50+ Ontario industries), and Canada Collection of Macroeconomic Business Environment Profiles.

First Research Industry Profiles (via Mergent Intellect)
"First Research provides industry profiles covering over 1000 industry segments. Updated on a monthly basis First Research industry profiles contain critical analysis, statistics and forecasts to help your engage key prospects, coach key clients, and deepen customer relationships."

Conference Board of Canada This link opens in a new window The e-Library service provides industrial outlooks for a variety of Canadian industry sectors including telecommunications, paper products, machinery, electrical equipment, fabricated metal products, oil and gas support activities, professional services, textiles & apparel, accommodations, air transportation, food services, and more.
Mergent Market Atlas This link opens in a new window Contains global business and financial data including company and industry profiles and annual reports.Coverage: Current plus up to 15 years of historical data.Until June 2025 this content is also available on the legacy Mergent Online platform.Permitted Uses
Mintel Academic This link opens in a new window Canada and US market research, market analysis, product intelligence, and competitive intelligence reports.Coverage: Canadian Reports 2014-current ; US Reports 2008-current ; most reports updated annually; covers a wide variety of sectors, themes, and demographics.Permitted Uses
Passport This link opens in a new window Passport GMID from Euromonitor International contains fulltext industry profiles on a wide variety of consumer product & service industries from alcoholic drinks to travel and tourism including country-specific industry reports (e.g. Wine in Canada) for 80 countries. New: Industrial country reports analyze 177 sectors spanning Agriculture, Community & Social Services, Construction, Education, Manufacturing, Mining, Transportation, Utilities, and more. Other consumer industries covered include: apparel, beauty & personal care, consumer appliances, consumer electronics, consumer finance, consumer foodservice, consumer health, DIY & gardening, eyewear, fresh food, health & wellness, home care, hot drinks, housewares, luxury goods, packaged food, personal goods, pet care, retailing, soft drinks, tissue & hygiene, tobacco, toys & games, travel & tourism. The Industrial reports provide a strategic assessment of each industry and explain the complex relationships between them. Data include production data, imports, exports, industry buyers, suppliers, cost structure, bargaining power and profitability
- Includes Economies & Consumers, as well as Industrial-Canada reports for industries across the entire Canadian economy
ProQuest One Business This link opens in a new window Find scholarly journals, books, trade publications, dissertations, working papers, company, industry and market research reports, newspapers, business cases, ebooks, streaming video, and other sources relevant to research in business and economics.Permitted Uses
- Includes the ABI/Inform Collection, J. P. Morgan Research, the Entrepreneurship Database, the Business Video Database, the Accounting, Tax & Banking Collection, the Asian & European Business Collection, and the Business Market Research Collection. More Information.
S&P Capital IQ This link opens in a new window CFRA Research's Industry Surveys cover 50 broad industries from Aerospace to Textiles. Geographic coverage is primarily US. Regional report examples include Automobiles: Europe and Airlines:Asia. Each report includes an industry snapshot, financial metrics, industry trends & Porter's Five Forces, how the Industry operates, and how to analyze a company in this industry.
Statista This link opens in a new window Contains more than 1 million statistics on over 80,000 topics.Contains Statista dossiers and industry reports for 170 industries and 150 countries.Includes market forecasts, as well as market, industry and country outlooks and insights.

How to Find Industry Profiles in Library Databases

Find Industry Profiles & Reports in Business Source Complete (Ebsco)

Use Advanced Search. Enter your search terms (Travel OR Tourism) and limit the results by Publication Type to Industry Profile.
- This will capture content from: BMI Research, Barnes Reports, MarketLine, and other sources.
Use Advanced Search . Enter your search terms (e.g., Wine) and limit the results by Publication Type to Market Research Report.
- This will capture content from: Aroq - Just.Drinks.com, Aroq - Just.Food.com, Richard K. Miller's Market Research Handbooks, Marketwatch, and other sources.

Find Industry Reports in ProQuest One Business (ProQuest)

Option 1: Use Advanced Search, and use the Industry Report search page. Enter your search terms / keywords (e.g., Wine AND sparkling) into the search boxes. This will retrieve reports from a variety of providers including Acquisidata's Global Industry Snapshots, Fitch Solutions Country Industry Reports, Mergent's First Research Industry Profiles, Oxford Economics Global Industry Forecasts, Worldwide Industry & Market Reports (Barnes Reports), Plunkett Analytics Reports, and World Commodity Forecasts (Economist Intelligence Unit).
Option 2: Use the Browse -> Industries menu to browse industry overviews or industry reports..
- Industry overviews cover industry sectors and subsectors based on NAICS. Each industry overview includes profiles of top companies in the industry, headlines from recent news articles, scholarly journal articles, magazine and trade journal articles, and links to industry reports containing industry financials, industry risk ratings, etc.
- Industry reports are listed alphabetically by industry name. Search the industry list by keyword, or filter industries by country or by featured report provider.
For more tips, please refer to "How to find industry reports" on the ProQuest One Business Research Guide.

Find Research Reports in Mergent Online

Analyst research reports are available from Investext tab from a wide variety of contributors including: Marketline, Oxford Business Group. Company-focused broker research reports may also be accessed via the Report viewer tab.
ICB Industry Reports covering 11 broad industries (Basic Materials, Consumer Discretionary, etc.) and 20 supersectors (Automobiles and Parts, Banks, Basic Resources, etc.) are available in the Industry Analysis tab.

Find Research Reports in Other Databases

Conference Board of Canada eLibrary - Click on Browse By Topic, choose Industry Sector Economics, then browse the list of reports.
IBISWorld Industry Reports - search by keyword or NAICS, or browse the list of reports.
Mintel Academic - search by keyword, or browse the list of categories.
Passport - offers a variety of discovery tools including searching categories and topics; browsing categories or topics, searching statistics, finding analysis, or exploring dashboards.
Statista - search by keyword or browse by industry or topic. The Global Consumer Survey has data on consumers, industries, and brands spanning 46 countries. Expert tools include the Consumer, Digital, and Mobility market outlooks.
S&P Capital IQ platform - Our subscription includes access to CFRA Equity Research Industry Surveys. Click on Research, and use the Quick Search tool to search by keyword (e.g. travel) and limit by report type to Industry Overview.

Industry Analysis from Consulting Firms

Well known management consulting firms such as Deloitte and PWC provide analysis of current and future conditions in a variety of industries by country (e.g. Canada, United States) and well as globally.
Start with these links but remember you may have to navigate to the Global sites of some firms for analysis of other countries or of global industries.

Industry Encyclopedias

Encylopedia of American Industries, 7th ed.(2018) This book provides detailed, comprehensive information on a wide range of industries in every realm of American business. It covers manufacturing, agriculture, mining, utilities, construction, wholesale, retail, transportation, information, finance, insurance, real estate, public administration, and service industries. Classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), this edition includes an essay for every one of the 1,057 2017 NAICS codes."
Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries , 7th ed. (2017) "Provides information about the inception, emergence and current status of new and established industries and business segments that are pioneering new technologies, introducing break-through marketing strategies or implementing innovative means of serving new markets. Consists of detailed profiles newer industries, such as biometrics, risk management services, satellites, specialty tourism, and others".
Encyclopedia of Global Industries, 6th ed. (2017)

Local, Regional, or Ontario Industry Profiles

Most municipal, regional or provincial economic development agency websites contain industry profiles focusing on sectors of key importance.
Use a search engine to look for your city or region's investment or economic development office (e.g., Hamilton Economic Development or "Invest in Hamilton) and include search terms such as "key industries" or "key sectors" or "industry profiles".
Here are links to a few examples of such websites:

First Research Industry Profiles (via Mergent Intellect) Includes Province Profiles for all Canadian provinces (updated quarterly). Each provincial profile includes province-specific industry updates.

IBISWorld Industry Research Database This link opens in a new window Includes Canada Industry Provincial Reports for Ontario by NAICS code covering 50 key industries.
- The Library subscribes to the following modules in IBISWorld: Canada Industry Reports (NAICS), United States Industry Reports (NAICS), Canada Industry iExpert Summaries, United States Industry iExpert Summaries, United States Specialized Industry Reports, United States Specialized Industry iExpert Summaries, China Industry Reports (200 industries), Canada Industry Provincial Reports (50+ Ontario industries), and Canada Collection of Macroeconomic Business Environment Profiles.