WGB 612 LUX: A Guide to Finding Online Business Resources: Company & Industry Information: Using Mergent

Mergent Online provides access to industry reports and company information from publicly traded companies around the world.

You can also include some private companies in your searches by selecting the D & B Private Company Database option on the main search page. Keep in mind that the available information for private companies is more limited. 

You can search by company or classification. To search by company, type the company name or symbol (the ticker symbol is used to identify a stock).

Searching by Classification or Industry Codes allows you to browse by industry.

• By SIC and NAICS codes: Standard Industrial Classification System (SIC) is a classification system used to group companies by industry and sub-industry groups in order to make industry and governmental statistics comparable to each other. SIC is in the process of being replaced by the newer system, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). For more information on these code systems, see the website maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau.

• By Mergent Industry Classification (MIC) codes: MIC are numerical codes developed by Mergent to organize all the companies in their databases into industries.

You do not have to know the any of these Industry Codes. When you choose SIC, NAICS or MIC, you are able to click the use code lookup link to browse and select industries.

To search for specific industry reports, choose the Report Search tab on the Mergent homepage. You can search by company, date range, industry or region. You can also combine search criteria. You can view reports or download them as PDFs.

Example (Industry Reports):

Mergent Online. (2007). Food & Beverage Industry Report (2006, September).Retrieved September 28, 2007, from Mergent Online database.