Business

Often industry data is organized by classification system codes established by the U.S. government: NAICS or SIC codes.  Knowing the code(s) for your industry can be extremely useful in your research.

"The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico and the United States. Created against the background of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is designed to provide common definitions of the industrial structure of the three countries and a common statistical framework to facilitate the analysis of the three economies. NAICS is based on supply-side or production-oriented principles, to ensure that industrial data, classified to NAICS, are suitable for the analysis of production-related issues such as industrial performance." - Statistics Canada

The Standard Industrial Classification was replaced by NAICS, however it is still used in many resources.

Global management consulting firms provide an analysis of current and future operating conditions across different industries by country (e.g. Canada, USA) and internationally.