## 3.7 Tips for researching the business environment

Researching the business environment requires a research strategy, critical thinking, creativity and an open mind.

Next to the tips in the previous chapters, we have a few additional tips for you:

- Clearly identify the industry you are researching.
  Think about alternative names for describing the industry. For example, you may find information about the
  shipping industry under: shipping, marine freight, transport & logistics, dry bulk, wet bulk, tankers etc.

- Be aware that industry reports are not always available for niche industries
  If you can’t find an industry report for your niche industry, consider researching the broader industry. E.g.: if you are researching white asparagus, you may also want to research the broader fruit & vegetables industry.

- Search for information about industries in the information sources under Information sources per study programme – IB (for example) – Weblinks – Industry information. These information sources contain industry and market reports.

- Search for information about the business environment in the information sources under Information sources per study programme – IB (for example) – Weblinks - Competitive landscape and trends. These information sources contain news and trade publications and trend reports.

- Industry Associations: Industry associations clearly benefit from collecting data about their industry. Many industry associations collect industry statistics, maintain directories, publish white papers and research reports, organize conferences, and trade shows. Industry experts may be identified through these organisations.

- Governmental Materials: Governments provide a wealth of industry information. Look for the regulatory agencies for your industry, as they may provide detailed statistics and figures on their websites.

- Use industry classifications and/or official statistical classifications where available
  The use of classifications is most common in industry databases and statistical databases.
  An Industry classification organises companies into industrial groupings based on similar production processes, similar products, or similar behaviour in financial markets.

Examples of industry classifications

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)

Standard Industrial Classification Manual (SIC).

Statistical classifications are a key requirement to produce reliable, comparable and methodologically sound statistics.

Examples of official statistical classifications

Classifications maintained by UNSD;

national classifications, and;

for trade statistics, the HS code (Harmonized commodity and coding System).

Note: Some databases (also) use database-specific classifications. EMIS uses both the NAICS classification and their own classification of industries.

An example of a national statistical classification is the Dutch SBI-code. This code is used by e.g. the Central Bureau of Statistics (database Statline), the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and the database CompanyInfo.