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SEC Capstone Resources: Industry and Market Research

Conducting Market Research

Searching for Articles

It's best to start your industry research with industry profiles and market research reports, but articles will provide additional information that will be helpful. In addition, articles are especially crucial if there aren't any industry profiles or market research reports for your industry. Go to the Tab Rounding Out Your Research for recommended resources to use.

Finding Ratios

Company ratios and industry ratios are available through our library databases. Step-by-step instructions for accessing these ratios are available in the links below.

Obtaining Market Share Data & Calculating Market Share When Data is Unavailable

Market share is often difficult to locate and it is usually easier to find market share data for consumer products (e.g., soft drinks). You might be able to locate market share in the following resources, but market share won't be available for many companies/products.

If the above sources do not contain market share, you will have to do your own calculations. Calculating market share is a three-step process.

  1. First obtain the global sales for either the entire industry or the segment that you are focusing on (see Industry Profiles section above). 
  2. Next, locate the either your company’s total sales or their sales of a specific product/segment (see Company Financials on Company Research tab).
  3. Finally, divide your company's segment/product sales by the total global sales for the industry to calculate market share. Check your company’s 10-K or 20-F for product sales information.

Please note: The above strategy will not work for every product/company/industry. You may not be able to locate reliable market share data for your topic and instead you may need to list some of the key companies in the industry rather than providing detailed market share data.

Locating Industry Profiles

 Click on the image below to enlarge the image and read tips for locating industry profiles.