Porter's Five Forces
Sources to Get You Started
Define the industry in which a company operates. You may do this a few different ways. If the company is publicly traded, look at the Form 10-k report (Item 1-Business). You can either go to the company's website and then go to Investor Relations and search for the latest 10-k or go to the SEC site and search there under the company's name.
- Standard Industrial Classification Codes (S.I.C.)2-4 digit codes searchable by number or keyword(s).
- North American Industrial Classification System (N.A.I.C.S) Codes6 digit codes searchable by number or keyword(s).
- NetAdvantage (S&P)There is analysis of 40 domestic industries (2x-yearly) and 12 international industries (1 x-yearly) with each industry given a Porter's Five Forces Analysis. Go to Research, Report Type>Industry Overview, Date Range>Last 12 months, Click on the Industry you want, choose Industry Overview (.pdf image) on the right to open. You can then print or download. This database also contains information on publicly traded companies including financial, analysis and S.E.C. documents.
- NetAdvantage (YouTube)How to get to the 40 domestic and 12 international industries covered.
- Business Insights (Gale) (Formerly known as Business Insights: Essentials)Go to Industries, then look at Market Share Reports, Industry Essays and Plunkett Reports to get an idea of what the industry is about. Also do a search for articles about the industry.
- Business Source Premier (EBSCO)Search for articles on the industry as a subject, in the abstract or using the IC NAICS code/description fields in the drop-down boxes.
- ABI/INFORM Collection (ProQuest)Search for articles on the company/industry using the advanced search and drop down boxes. You can limit to industry reports using the document type limiter on the left of the screen.
- Seeking AlphaSearch by company name/ticker. Includes transcripts/slides of earnings calls and company presentations which are very useful.
