Don't cram before an interview!
Instead of reading up on an industry the night before the interview, start as soon as you realize which industries interest you.
You can keep up-to-date with the industries via trade journals and blogs. It's easy to do with RSS (e.g. NewsBlur or CommaFeed), email alerts, and/or weekly or daily email newsletters.
Industry Information
Find industry trends, concerns, and major players via industry and association resources. See the management library's website for additional industry information sources.
- Associations UnlimitedAssociations often provide free industry data and white papers that cover important regulatory and market trends. Use this for finding the associations that you should be looking at.
- Business Monitor InternationalMore than 900 industry and country reports by BMI are available via ProQuest. Search the Advanced Search screen with pb("business monitor international") to limit results.
- First Research Industry ReportsFirst Research industry profiles include industry trends, benchmark data, and call prep questions. Access via ProQuest, ThomsonOne (use IE), and CareerBeam (Johnson School students and alumni only).
- Frost & SullivanIn-depth market research and strategy reports with European and global coverage of the following areas: Aerospace & Defense; Automotive & Transportation; Chemicals, Materials and Food; Electronics & Security; Energy & Power Supplies; Environment & Building Technologies; Healthcare; Industrial Automation & Process Control; Information & Communication Technologies; Measurement & Instrumentation. Covers 1998 to present, updated as new reports are produced.
- IBISWorldIBISWorld provides industry research reports and profiles for over 700 United States industries as well as a wide range of industries in China. Business reports for five categories: industry market research, industry risk ratings, company research, global industry research, and economic and demographic data. Each report provides key statistics, market characteristics and segmentation, industry conditions, leading competitors, industry performance analysis and future outlook.
- NetAdvantageComprehensive source of business and investment information from Standard & Poor's research products. Standard & Poor's in-depth Industry Surveys provide industry trends, operations, and ratios, as well as additional S&P data and analysis on companies, mutual funds, and ETFs.
- U.S. Economic CensusSurvey of all US businesses conducted every 5 years. (2002, 2007, 2012, etc.).
Finding an Industry Report
There are several library resources for industry reports. S&P's NetAdvantage contains detailed industry reports from Standard & Poor's and is fantastic for larger industries. For smaller industries or for international reports, try Business Source Complete or IBISWorld. See the examples below:
To get a water utilities report in NetAdvantage:
- Click here to directly access S&P's NetAdvantage.
- Click the Industries tab from the top menubar.
- Select Advertising from the drop down menu. Click the arrow button to go to the report.
To get a report on the advertising industry in China from Business Source Complete:
- Access Business Source Complete via the Management Library website.
- Click the link for Thesaurus from the top menubar.
- Type Advertising in the search box and click the Browse button.
- Check the box next to Advertising and click the Add button. Then click the Search button.
- Under Publication Type, check the box next to Industry Profiles.
- Click the link for PDF Full Text of Advertising Industry Profile: China to access the Datamonitor report.
Don't forget to check IBISWorld. This database is great for niche and emerging industry spaces:
IBISWorld provides industry research reports and profiles for over 700 United States industries as well as a wide range of industries in China.
Finding Industry Codes
What is an industry code?
SIC and NAICS are classification systems for industries. They allow you to group together companies in a specific industry in a standardized way.
Where can I find industry codes?
SIC and NAICS codes and code definitions are available from the Census website.
Trade Publications
Find trade publications and associations from the reference section at the end of the S&P Industry Surveys available via S&P's NetAdvantage. Also check with a Career Advisor in the CMC for advice on specific industry journals to read. Some examples are listed below.
- AdvaMed SmartBriefDaily summaries of the medical technology industry's top news stories.
- AdvertisingAgeNews about branding, advertising, media, and people in marketing.
- FierceFinanceDaily news on the banking industry, asset management, capital markets and SEC regulations. Fierce also has similar sites for biotech, IT, telecom, et cetera.