LibGuides: Industry Research: Industry Competition & Locations

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.

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

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.