Industry Names, Codes and Classifications
Finding information on a particular industry is complicated by the fact that it may be referred to by different names in different books, articles or other information sources.
For example, although "drywall" is a well known product name, it is also called "gyprock", "sheetrock" and "plasterboard" and books, articles, web sites or other sources of information on the industry may use any of these terms. For another example, the terms "flash drive", "memory stick" and "memory key" are all in current use and refer to the same thing.
Also, there are a variety of classification codes that assign identifying number codes to each industry or business sector. Information sources like trade directories often use these codes as a handy subject index to the companies they cover. The codes are also used by Statistics Canada and other government agencies as a convenient way of grouping industries for data collection and reporting purposes.
Moreover, other published sources may use their own systems to classify industries -- for example, the yellow pages of the phone book.
As a result, when researching an industry, you have to be aware of the several possible alternative names, codes and classifications that information for your industry may be hidden under.
The value of codes and classifications is that they group related industries together. If you can't find data on your chosen industry, you may be able to find data for a related industry and make the case that the same data applies to your chosen industry (for example, maybe you can use sales figures for ski equipment to justify your prediction of sales for snowboards).
You may find that more than one code applies to your industry or the products it produces (for example, different codes may apply to products in their raw and finished states, or to companies focused on different stages or components in a manufacturing process.)
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