In the field of business, it can be important to investigate specific companies as well as entire industries to better understand how they work as well as the challenges they face.

Use these databases and links to locate reports and articles.

Piecing together an overview of an industry will require using several sources to piece together a larger picture. Below you'll find some potential steps you can use in order to create this overview.

Industry Profiles

Using Business Source Complete,  we can search specifically for industry profiles.

1. Begin your search by entering the name of the industry you'd like to explore. Feel free to click on any of the suggested keywords the database presents to you in order to help expand your search
   
2. Don't click "search" yet. Scroll down to view more filter options until you see "Publication Type." Set this option to say "Industry Profile."
   
3. Now click "Search."
4. Depending on your Industry, you may have a lot of results. We need to filter these a little more to make sure they're relevant. Be sure to click on the options for:
   • Full Text: This ensures that all the results you see are available to read here and now online.
   • All Time: Change this dropdown to say "Past 12 Months" to ensure that we're looking at profiles from the last year.
     
5. All your results should be from the past year now. However, we can also filter your results so that the most recent reports are at the top. Above your list of results change the sort option from "Relevance" to "Date Newest"
   
6. Now that your list is sorted, check the titles to ensure you're looking at the industry most relevant to your research. If you aren't seeing what you're looking for, we can always return to step 1 and add more keywords to a new line or contact a librarian for more support.
7. Inside the industry report, you'll find definitions of this industry segment as well as narrative descriptions about the "drivers" moving this industry as well as the "restraints" holding them back. However, the largest portions of these reports include charts and graphs detailing statistics ranging from sales and employment trends along side statistics for the number of establishments in different states or metropolitan areas.

Assess Industry Climate with SWOT Analyses

Another strategy we can use to assess the climate of a specific industry is to look to SWOT analyses from businesses within that industry.

1. Using Business Source Complete, enter the name of a company within your chosen industry.
2. Don't click "search" yet. Scroll down to view more filter options until you see "Publication Type." Set this option to say "SWOT Analysis."
   
3. Now click "Search."
4. Depending on your Industry, you may have a lot of results. We need to filter these a little more to make sure they're relevant. Be sure to click on the options for:
   • Full Text: This ensures that all the results you see are available to read here and now online.
   • All Time: Change this dropdown to say "Past 12 Months" to ensure that we're looking at results from the last year.
     
5. Now scroll through your list of results. Try to find the most recent date for your company and then click "Access Now" to open the report.
   
6. Inside these reports, pay close attention to the sections on "Opportunities" and "Threats" because these may outline factors impacting the larger industry that this company is a part of.

Assess Industry Climate with (10-K) Annual Reports

Another strategy for determining the issues facing an industry is to look through the Annual Reports for companies in that industry. These reports are legal disclosures delivered to both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as investors. As a result, these forms are often very long and detailed. However, there's a few sections that are likely to be most useful for our topic.

1. Start by visiting EDGAR (a database of financial reports through the SEC).
2. Search for the name of a company in your industry.
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3. Filter your result for the "10-K" forms.
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4. Open the most recent report.
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5. "Item 1A: Risk Factors" is the section most likely to outline threats this company is facing and is usually divided into a summary of those risks along with detailed sections describing each one.
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6. Compare the risk factors for different companies within an industry to identify common trends or themes.

Cross-Reference Census Data Related to an Industry

A useful piece of information related to an industry is to compare it geographically against the populations they serve. Fortunately, the Census Business Builder uses census and economic data to do just that. However, be aware that the data found here tends to lag behind by about 5 years.

1. The first thing we need to do is set which industry we want to view data for. Click "Custom Industries" in the top left of the map and choose the button to "Edit Industries"
   
2. Next, choose an industry category you'd like to explore along with a specific industry from within that category. You can choose more than one industry.
   
3. Click anywhere on the map in the background to close this window.
4. Use the search box in the top left corner to adjust your data/map to focus on a specific state, county, or metropolitan area. Then, click on the name in the results to update the map.
    
5. In the bottom left corner, you will see a "Detailed View" window summarizing some basic facts about the population in this area alongside the number of establishments in this area. For a more comprehensive overview, click "Create Report."
   
6. The generated report outlines further details about businesses within this industry/area alongside general population statistics for the same region.