LibGuides: Company Research: Creating Company Lists

Creating Company Lists

Find the "industrial classification" for the company and then use the code to create a list of companies within the same or similar industries. ReferenceUSA is a good place to start and you will be able to target a state, city or zip code.

Industrial Classification Systems

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Adopted in 1997,the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
Adopted during the 1930's, the Standard Industrial Classification System updates ended in 1987. Although many older industries still use the SIC codes, newer industries are better defined using the NAICS.

International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC)
ISIC is maintained by the U.N. Statistics Division, and is used in a number of international databases, such as ILO's LABORSTA.

Find Company Locations Using Classification Codes

ReferenceUSA
1996 - present. Unlimited users.

Updated monthly. Contains basic directory information for more than 210 million U.S. residents and 14 million businesses in all zip code areas of the United States. Information includes name of business, address, telephone number, headquarters, branch and subsidiaries identification, SIC codes, yellow pages headings, ticker symbol, credit rating, number of employees, and estimated sales volume. Also includes some federal, state, and municipal offices.
ReferenceUSA can also be used to create maps and charts of business locations.
Video Tutorial

Use NAICS codes or the SIC keyword search function to locate industries.

NAICS codes can be used to create maps of industry locations. Please see the SimplyAnalytics Tutorial Video for help creating reports.

SimplyAnalytics
Most current edition. 5 users.

Updated regularly. An Internet-based mapping application that enables users to develop interactive thematic maps and reports using thousands of demographic, business, and marketing data variables. Professional mapping applications can take over 20 hours of training to use, but SimplyMap is designed so that most users need less than 10 minutes of training in order to use the product.
Please either create a free account or use the Guest Login to enter the site.
We have a limited number of users for this database. Please select the logout option before you leave your session. When the limit is reached, a username and password prompt will probably be displayed. If this happens, simply wait 15 minutes and then try the link again.

To search for industries or companies locally or internationally:

Add the locations you are interested in. You can use countries or postal codes.
Enter the industry code.
Download the results in Excel or PDF format, or you can view them online.

Uniworld Online
Most current edition. Unlimited users.

Updated regularly. Consists of two directories, American Firms Operating in Foreign Countries and Foreign Firms Operating in the United States.
Over 220,000 listings in 200 countries. Find contact information for headquarters, branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates of the multinational firms. Each listing, in addition to contact information, contains a link to the company website and details whether the company has their own job posting page. Search by country, state, region, keyword, industry sectors [NAICS codes], zip codes, postal codes, company employees and company revenue. Download to Excel available.