The objective of a market and industry analysis is to determine if a concept or technology has a superior capability over current solutions to meet a market need.

In this part of the assessment, a potential market for the technology is identified, the market and segment size is estimated and the preliminary price of the product or technology is determined. Competitors are identified and nature and structure of the industry or sector is assessed.

Outcomes

• Window of Opportunity. How timely is this product or technology?
• Potential Market(s). What segment of the overall market are you pursuing? Why is this market attractive? What market research data can be gathered to describe this market need? If this is a new market, what is the best analogous market data that illustrates the opportunity?
• Market Share and Anticipate Market Share to be acquired. Project the potential market size and growth for your opportunity.
• Industry or Sector. What industry are you addressing? Describe the competitive landscape. What are the total industry or category sales over the past three years? What is the anticipated growth for this industry? What are the typical profit margins in this industry?
• Competition. Who else serves this customer need? Who might attempt to serve this market in the future? What advantages and weaknesses do these competitors and would-be competitors have? What share of the market do specific competitors serve? Are the major competitors’ sales growing, declining, or steady?
• Distribution Channels. What options for distributing the product or technology exist?
• Barriers to Entry. What are the barriers to market entry for this product or technology? What are the barriers to entry for additional competitors?
• Keys to Market Entry. What are the keys to market entry?
• Price Estimation. In what price range would you expect to sell this product or technology? What is the customer willing to pay for your solution and why?
• Sustainable Competitive Advantage. What is the sustainable competitive advantage over competing technologies?

Market & Industry Information Sources

In the Technical Readiness Analysis you did a preliminary identification of competing technologies and competitors.

The lists you developed of "key" words and phrases to describe your technology and the competing technologies, as well as the names of companies and people in the industry provide a starting point for the deeper market & industry analysis.

Identify your market and industry sector:

The searches in business databases hopefully identified an "industry sector" where your technology fits. Or you may be dealing with a new technology and need to find a similar or analogous sector to analyze. You may have a consumer product but more likely a technological innovation useful to established companies. Your "market" or customers could be the general public or industries at any stage in the value chain.

If you’ve identified your niche market or markets – great! If not, go back to the technology keywords and company names from your lists and search again in ABI/Inform and Factiva. Scan the articles looking for phrases that describe a process, type of product, market or industry sector.

Descriptions of major North American industries are in Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage Industry Surveys; global markets in the EIU Industry Briefing, and Gartner Research for the IT sector.

Companies and industries are often classified by SIC or NAICS Codes. Looking at this production oriented industry classification system can help you fit your technology into the appropriate sector. See also the company and industrial directories listed below.

Trade and industry associations are a good source of information. Their sites include companies in the sector, news, regulations, links to international organizations and statistics.

Search the web or see:

• Associations Canada (2005) HS17 .A78t,
• Encyclopedia of associations (2005) HS17 .G15

(both at Stauffer’s Information Desk)

to identify trade and industry associations.

Learn more about your market:

In business research no single article or source will provide all the answers. The bits of information will however start to add up to a coherent picture.

Articles and web sites about a product, process or technology will mention companies. Further research on these companies will reveal who are the players in the market and how the industry is structured. More searches using company names and keywords learned at this stage will answer questions such as:

• Are the players/competitors large or small?
• Are there a lot of companies in this industry or just a few large ones?
• Are there public companies in this sector?
• Is this an established sector or could this technology open new markets?
• Who might want or need this technology?
• Are my potential customers other companies? Consumers?
• How are similar products/technologies sold and distributed? Are they licensed?
• Is there room in the market for my technology? Or is it too crowded?
• Have any companies entered this market recently? Are they successful?
• Is this industry in a growth phase? Or in difficulty?
• Have there been any recent mergers and acquisitions and why?

Search in ABI/Inform Industry & Trade using your keywords and add terms such as:

• market share
• growth
• statistical
• shipments
• sales
• supply
• trends
• forecast
• acquisitions & mergers
• innovations

Keep an eye on the "Suggested Topics" at the top of the page for other search terms.

Canadian vs U.S. and international data and information?

Canada’s economy is 1/10 th of the U.S and for many sectors the market is North America and beyond. We have to use U.S. companies as comparables because there may be only a few larger Canadian companies. But don’t ignore the Canadian business press (use CBCA and Canadian Newsstand). There you’ll find more detailed information on company successes and failures, supplier relationships, regional markets and small business. Also, some industries operate in distinctly Canadian regulatory environments (i.e. energy, banking).

Other Databases

• ABI/Inform - Global industry and company news and some trade publications.
• Business Source Complete - Company, market, industry news and articles.
• CBCA and Canadian Newsstand - Canadian business news.
• EIU Industry Briefing - Key global industries with detail by country.
• Factiva - North American and international business and industry news, company profiles.
• FP Advisor - Canadian company profiles and industry reports.
• Gartner Research - IT communications and technology market research, see their technology "hype cycles."
• Hoover's Company Records - Company and industry profiles, competitors.
• Standard & Poor’s NetAdvantage - See 'Industry Surveys' under the "Quick Links."

Web searches can identify government agencies and departments of industry/commerce/innovation with information about your market sector.

Use the links from the Government Documents library to search Canadian and U.S. government sites. There may be standards and regulations operating in your industry – do follow-up searches if any articles and websites mention a regulatory framework.

In particular: Strategis (Industry Canada) (includes company directories and industry sectors)

Also see university sites with news of patent and research breakthroughs, innovative technology applications and research institute reports.

In Google add site:.edu to your search keywords for U.S. universities. For Canadian sites add the word "‘university" and limit the search to pages from Canada.

Note: hypertext links to databases will work on campus only. For off-campus access use the webproxy (http://proxy.queensu.ca).