NAICS & SIC -- Industry Classification Codes
When researching industry information, it is helpful to find the NAICS code for that industry. NAICS (rhymes with lakes) is the abbreviation for the North American Industry Classification System. It is an organizational structure used by federal agencies for grouping similar companies into industries for the purposes of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. A NAICS code is usually a 5-6 digit number, such as 44411 for Home Improvement Stores in the US.
A NAICS code provides a uniform name for an industry. You can search many of the business databases by a code, and doing so ensures that you're finding consistent industry information, regardless of the term used to describe it.
NAICS codes are assigned to a company based on the company's primary business activity (note that some companies have multiple NAICS codes depending on their products and services). SIC --Standard Industrial Code--is an older system, largely--though not completely--replaced by NAICS.
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