## 4.4 Industry and market information

Although the terms industry information and market information are often used interchangeably, industry and market reports do have different focuses.
Industry reports focus on:

- who creates the product or service
- the companies that make up the supply chain and the things that could impact it

Market reports focus on:

- who ultimately buys or uses the product or service being created
- what will impact customer demand and preferences

Some databases include both industry and market reports (e.g. EMIS and MarketLine). These reports complement each other by providing different points of view on the same topic. Some reports may also contain both industry and market information.

To search strategically for industry and market information we suggest the following approach:

Start with industry reports

Industry reports provide written overviews, statistics, and give you a sense of where the analyst thinks the industry is headed. New, niche, and disruptive industries are often harder to find represented in existing reports.

- EMIS
- MarketLine

You can supplement your industry report(s) with MarketLine’s value & supply chain reports and/or industry case studies and other EMIS data and reports.

For more information on MarketLine’s value & supply chain analysis reports, see under 4.4.1.

Next search for market reports

Market reports focus on consumer aspects, such as consumer behaviour, often focusing on these aspects in the broader sense, such as the consumer aspects in a particular country, region or age group (e.g. Euromonitor), sometimes focusing on the consumer aspects of a particular industry (e.g. MarketLine and EMIS).

- Euromonitor

Lastly look for supplementary and/or alternative sources

If you have not been able to find reports for your industry or market, or if you want to supplement the information you have found with additional data, news etc., you can explore the supplementary sources and/or the alternative sources under 4.4.2 and 4.4.3

For more information about supporting tools for industry & statistical research, see 4.4.4

Tips!

- Search for information about industries by selecting: Information Sources per Study Programme in the drop-down menu, and then select your study programme – IB, for example – and then selecting Industry information underneath the tab Weblinks. These information sources contain industry and market reports.
- Clearly identify the industry you are researching.
  Think about alternative names for describing the industry. E.g.: 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 cannot 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.

- Use industry classifications and/or official statistical classifications (if available) in addition to your free text search
  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.