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Business Research

Finding the Major Companies in an Industry

You can find information about the major/leading/top/key companies in an industry in the following databases:

When searching for the major companies in an industry, keep in mind that different databases may refer to industries differently, so you may need to try several different names when searching for information about a given industry. For instance, you may be able to find information about the washing machine industry by researching the home appliance industry, household appliance industry, consumer appliance industry, domestic appliance industry, major appliance industry, hard goods industry, durable goods industry, etc.

ABI/INFORM Collection

Login to ABI/INFORM Collection.

First, click on the icon of three horizontal lines toward the top left-hand side of the page.

Next, click on the Browse link from the resulting sub-menu.

On the resulting page, click on the link for Business Monitor International (BMI) Industry Reports and/or the link for First Research from the "Industry and Market Research" section at the top of the page..

You can browse Business Monitor International industry reports by industry or topic as well as by country; you can browse First Research industry reports by industry.

Reports include information about the major companies in the selected industry.

Note that your search results will be sorted alphabetically by title by default, so you might want to re-sort them so that the most recent results are listed first.

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You can also use the search box on the database's home page to search for your industry by name or NAICS code. You can then scroll down the page to select Industry Report from the "Document type:" menu. Industry reports retrieved by your search may include a list and/or discussion of major companies in the industry.

Business Source Ultimate

Login to Business Source Ultimate.

Enter an industry's name into a search box. Alternately, you can enter the industry's NAICS code into a search box and then use the drop-down menu next to the search box to change the selection from the default entry of "Select a Field (optional)" to "IC NAICS Code or Description."

Next, scroll down the page to the Search Options section. In the "Document Type" area, select Industry Overview.

Note that your search results will be sorted by relevance by default, so you might want to click on the "Relevance" link above your search results to change the sort order to "Date Newest" instead, so that you'll find the most recent overviews of your industry.

Industry overview reports contain a section that discusses major companies in the industry.

Gale Business: Insights

Login to Gale Business: Insights.

Scroll down the page, click on the Browse All Industries button, enter an industry’s name or its six-digit NAICS code in the search box, and then click on the industry's name on the search results page..

The industry overview page provides a list of the top companies in the industry by revenue. Note that you can use the drop-down menu in order to generate a list of the top companies in an industry in a particular country/region.

Hoovers

Login to Hoovers.

Use the search box at the top of the database's home page to enter an industry's name or NAICS code and use the drop-down menu next to the search box to select Industries.

Click on the link for a relevant industry from your search results page.

The industry overview page includes a Top Industry Participants section. It also contains a Geographic Segmentation section that lists top countries in the industry, with a link for each country that provides a list of companies in that country for the industry.

IBISWorld

Login to IBISWorld.

Enter an industry's name or NAICS code in the search box. (Note that IBISWorld uses 5-digit NAICS codes.)

Click on the Companies link from the menu on the left-hand side of the page to see the major companies in the industry, along with their share of total industry revenue, etc.

Statista

Login to Statista.

Enter the name of an industry or product description in the search box on the database's home page, putting quotation marks around a name or description consisting of two or more words (for example, "ice cream").

The search results page will contain all available information relevant to the industry. The Statista Dossier for the industry may include information about main companies in the industry. Statistics may show how how the leading companies in the industry compare against each other. Forecasts and surveys may show predictions for the performance of leading companies in the industry.