Industry classification or industry taxonomy is a type of economic taxonomy that classifies companies, organizations and traders into industrial groupings based on similar production processes, similar products, or similar behavior in financial markets.
National and international statistical agencies use various industry-classification schemes to summarize economic conditions. Securities analysts use such groupings to track common forces acting on groups of companies, to compare companies' performance to that of their peers, and to construct either specialized or diversified portfolios. [1]
Economic activities can be classified in a variety of ways. At the top level, they are often classified according to the three-sector theory into sectors: primary (extraction and agriculture), secondary (manufacturing), and tertiary (services). Some authors add quaternary (knowledge) or even quinary (culture and research) sectors. Over time, the fraction of a society's activities within each sector changes.
Below the economic sectors are more detailed classifications. They commonly divide economic activities into industries according to similar functions and markets and identify businesses producing related products.
Industries can also be identified by product, such as: construction industry, chemical industry, petroleum industry, automotive industry, electronic industry, power engineering and power manufacturing (such as gas or wind turbines), meatpacking industry, hospitality industry, food industry, fish industry, software industry, paper industry, entertainment industry, semiconductor industry, cultural industry, and poverty industry.
Market-based classification systems such as the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) and The Refinitiv Business Classification (TRBC) are used in finance and market research.
A wide variety of taxonomies is in use, sponsored by different organizations and based on different criteria.
Abbreviation | Full name | Sponsor | Criterion/ unit | Node count by level | Issued |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ANZSIC | Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification | Governments of Australia and New Zealand | 1993, 2006 | ||
BICS | Bloomberg Industry Classification Standard [2] | Bloomberg L.P. | 10/.../2294 | ||
GICS | Global Industry Classification Standard | Standard & Poor's, MSCI | market/ company | 2-8 digits 11/24/69/158 | 1999–present (2018) |
HSICS | Hang Seng Industry Classification System [3] | Hang Seng Indexes Company | Revenue source | 11/31/89 | |
IBBICS | Industry Building Blocks [4] | Industry Building Blocks | Market line of business | 19/130/550/3000/20200 | 2002 |
ICB | Industry Classification Benchmark | FTSE | market/ company | 11/20/45/173 | 2005–present (2019) |
ISIC | International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities | United Nations Statistics Division | production/ establishment | 4 digits 21/88/238/419 | 1948–present (Rev. 4, 2008) |
MGECS | Morningstar Global Equity Classification System [5] | Morningstar, Inc. | Securities behavior | 3/14/69/148 | |
NACE | Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community | European Union | production/ establishment | 6 digits | 1970, 1990, 2006 |
NAICS | North American Industry Classification System | Governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico | production/ establishment | 6 digits 17/99/313/724/1175 (/19745)1 | 1997, 2002, 2012, 2017, 2022 |
RBICS | FactSet Revere Business Industry Classification System | FactSet, acquired in 2013 [6] | line of business | 11000 | |
SIC | Standard Industrial Classification | Government of the United States | production/ establishment | 4 digits 1004 categories | 1937–1987 (superseded by NAICS, but still used in some applications) |
SNI | Swedish Standard Industrial Classification | Government of Sweden | |||
TRBC | The Refinitiv Business Classification | Refinitiv | market/ company | 10 digits 13/33/62/154/898 [7] | 2004, 2008, 2012, 2020 [8] |
UKSIC | United Kingdom Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities | Government of the United Kingdom | 1948–present (2007) | ||
UNSPSC | United Nations Standard Products and Services Code | United Nations | Product | 8 digits (optional 9th) (four levels) | 1998–present |
1The NAICS Index File [9] lists 19745 rubrics beyond the 6 digits which are not assigned codes.
In macroeconomics, an industry is a branch of an economy that produces a closely related set of raw materials, goods, or services. For example, one might refer to the wood industry or to the insurance industry.
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model. The others are the primary sector and the secondary sector (manufacturing).
The North American Industry Classification System or NAICS is a classification of business establishments by type of economic activity. It is used by governments and business in Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America. It has largely replaced the older Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, except in some government agencies, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) was a system for classifying industries by a four-digit code as a method of standardizing industry classification for statistical purposes across agencies. Established in the United States in 1937, it is used by government agencies to classify industry areas. Similar SIC systems are also used by agencies in other countries, e.g., by the United Kingdom's Companies House.
The knowledge economy, or knowledge-based economy, is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific innovation. The key element of value is the greater dependence on human capital and intellectual property as the source of innovative ideas, information and practices. Organisations are required to capitalise on this "knowledge" in their production to stimulate and deepen the business development process. There is less reliance on physical input and natural resources. A knowledge-based economy relies on the crucial role of intangible assets within the organisations' settings in facilitating modern economic growth.
Hang Seng Bank Limited is a Hong Kong-based banking and financial services company with headquarters in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of Hong Kong's leading public companies in terms of market capitalisation and is part of the HSBC Group, which holds a majority equity interest in the bank.
Financial services are economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of service sector activities, especially as concerns financial management and consumer finance.
The term market sector is used in economics and finance to describe a part of the economy. It is usually a broader term than industry, which is a set of businesses that are buying and selling such similar goods and services that they are in direct competition with each other.
The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) is an industry taxonomy developed in 1999 by MSCI and Standard & Poor's (S&P) for use by the global financial community. The GICS structure consists of 11 sectors, 25 industry groups, 74 industries and 163 sub-industries into which S&P has categorized all major public companies. The system is similar to ICB, a classification structure maintained by FTSE Group.
The energy industry is the totality of all of the industries involved in the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, refining and distribution. Modern society consumes large amounts of fuel, and the energy industry is a crucial part of the infrastructure and maintenance of society in almost all countries.
The transport/transportation and logistics industry is a category of companies that provide services to transport people or goods. The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) lists transport below the industrials sector. The sector consists of several industries including logistics and air freight or airlines, marine, road and rail, and their respective infrastructures. Entire stock market indexes focus on the sector, like the Dow Jones Transportation Index (DJTA).
The digital economy is a portmanteau of digital computing and economy, and is an umbrella term that describes how traditional brick-and-mortar economic activities are being transformed by the Internet and World Wide Web technologies.
The Hang Seng Index (HSI) is a freefloat-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted stock-market index in Hong Kong. It is used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market and is the main indicator of the overall market performance in Hong Kong. These 82 constituent companies represent about 58% of the capitalisation of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The Refinitiv Business Classification (TRBC) is an industry classification of global companies. It was developed by the Reuters Group under the name Reuters Business Sector Scheme (RBSS), was rebranded to Thomson Reuters Business Classification (TRBC) when the Thomson Corporation acquired the Reuters Group in 2008, forming Thomson Reuters, and was rebranded again, to The Refinitiv Business Classification (TRBC), in 2020. Since the creation of Refinitiv in October 2018, TRBC has been owned and operated by Refinitiv and is the basis for Refinitiv Indices.
Refinitiv Indices is a line of indices and index services from Refinitiv:
An economic taxonomy is a system of classification of economic activity, including products, companies and industries. Some economists believe that the study of economic policy demands the use of a taxonomic/classificatory approach.
Refinitiv is an American-British global provider of financial market data and infrastructure.
{{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)basic industries basic-industries-jobs-career-paths-and-growth.html