Product Code Searching

Bev's request for statistics will help us determine the size of the anti-depressants market.

As I mentioned earlier in this lesson, Business & Industry has a good indexing system. We can take advantage of their coding for this search. However, before we begin the search, we should understand what codes are available and how they work.

Working with Codes

Codes allow us to locate market information on Dialog quickly, precisely, and comprehensively without entering a lengthy strategy or worrying about terminology. Industry and product codes are standardized numbers used to identify a product or service.

Many of the databases on Dialog use the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system developed by the U.S. Government.

Tip 5-3

However, a new coding system—the NAICS codes (North American Industry Classification System)—is also available in some databases.

Tip 5-4

You can find the complete listing of NAICS codes at the government Web site http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html.

Go to the next page.

5-5

Search Tip 5-3:

We can search an SIC code using the prefix SC=. Check the Bluesheets for availability and search options.

Example:

select sc=5942

Note that in the United Kingdom, there is also a government-produced Standard Industrial Classification system that is used in some of the British databases on Dialog.

Germany and Japan also have SIC systems.

Search Tip 5-4:

NAICS codes are available on Dialog in the Gale Group files, such as Gale Group PROMT® (File 16), Trade and Industry Database (File 148), New Product Announcements/Plus (File 621), and Company Intelligence (File 479).

NAICS codes can be searched using NC=.

Example:

select nc=513322

This is the NAICS code for Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications (513322). Note that the text description will be searchable using the suffix /DE.

Example:

select wireless telecom?/de

Learn More #1:

The NAICS codes reflect the production activities performed by companies and organizations and include many new categories of business, for example:

You can find the complete listing of NAICS codes at the U.S. Census Web site: http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html

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