Business and Government Research

Study smarter. Research effectively. Your guide to library tools and research skills for finding business and government research.

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Getting started with industry research

The following are helpful to keep in mind when doing industry research:

  • Define the industry - what terms are used to describe the industry? Are you thinking about an industry, or a sector of the industry (e.g. clothing vs children's active wear). If you are looking for a region and cannot find anything, try looking for individual countries
  • Ask yourself 'who cares about this information?' - think about different groups or organisations which may have some interest in the industry. For example, environmental groups will likely be interested in the fossil fuels industry, and may have produced original research (or link to secondary research) on their website
  • Consider various sources, such as
    • academic literature - what have researchers said about the industry or sector. Even if you are unable to locate research directly referring to New Zealand, there may be overseas examples from which you can make a comparison
    • Library databases - the Library has access to several databases which you can use to locate industry information
    • websites - company, organisation, and government websites can all contain useful information, though may be difficult to locate.

Industry classification codes

Industry codes are applied to all industries and sectors and can be used to search particular databases and websites. Codes can vary by country or region. 

New Zealand and Australia use the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)

Globally the most prominent industry classifications are:

Academic literature

Academic books and articles can provide information which is either original or collected from multiple sources.

A basic search in the Library catalogue Te Waharoa can begin with [industry keywords] + [location]. For example:

heritage tourism new zealand

dairy farming waikato

manufacturing china

tobacco industry south east asia

Set the filter "Resource Type" to "Book" / "Book Chapters" / "Articles" to refine to academic literature only.

Library databases

Business databases present industry information via industry reports, profiles, or statistics.

 

The news is also a great source of industry information and statistics. The Library has access to several New Zealand and International news databases - see News sources 

Websites

Websites can all provide reports and statistics which contain useful industry information. For tips on how to search see "Google Advanced Search" on the Finding Grey Literature guide.

Some New Zealand examples include:

 

Some international examples include: