Research Guides: Industry Research: Leading Competitors

Identifying competitors

For identifying major players in an industry, review an industry report.

IBIS World This link opens in a new window
In-depth reports on over 700 industries. Each 30-40pp report includes key statistics and analysis on market characteristics, operating conditions, current and forecast performance, market size, market share of competitors, and industry growth rates.

First Research Industry Profiles
Available via ABI/INFORM, these quarterly reports cover many U.S. industries and include ratios for small, medium and large companies, as well as industry averages.

Mergent Online This link opens in a new window
Hard-to-get, timely annual reports and financial data on all companies in our International Company Data database. Also includes Country Profile Reports and an EDGAR search option.

Inc. 5000
The Inc. 5,000 is an expansion of the Inc. 500, which was introduced in 1982. The Inc. 5,000 offers a comprehensive look at the 5000 fastest growing private companies in America.
Forbes- America's Largest Private Companies
The companies on this list all have at least $2 billion in annual revenues and either too few shareholders to be required to file financial statements with the Securities & Exchange Commission or shares whose ownership is restricted to some group, like family members or employees. The list can be searched or ordered by rank, name, state, industry, revenue, or number of employees.
Fortune
Fortune annually publishes ranked lists of companies in various categories such as Most Admired, Fastest Growing, Best for Diversity, Best for ethnic groups, etc. Fortune 500 lists the largest, by revenue, American public companies and private companies that file financial documents with a government agency.