SIC Those NAICS on Me: Industry Classification Codes for Business Research.

UNITED States; MEXICO; CANADA

This article examines the value of industrial and products codes. The governments of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada actually supplanted the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes with a more comprehensive system, called North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS), in 1997, then revised the codes in 2002. The three governments use NAICS codes to track national economic statistics, but the coding system has only gradually permeated the world of online databases, which still, by and large, relies on SIC codes. It is a considerable investment for producers to retool from SIC to NAICS. Individual countries maintain their own versions of industrial codes, reflecting the industries important to their national economies, while publishers, particularly directory publishers, have invested in creating their own coding systems, usually at the product level. For those that have switched to NAICS, researchers should look carefully at whether the 1997 version or the 2002 one is in use. The U.S. SIC codes were created by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Last revised in 1987, a good Web site that lists them comes from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Agency. The Census Bureau has a full explanation of the NAICS coding system, plus information of new industries and sectors. It presents links to and from the 1997 NAICS codes but not to the 1987 SIC codes. The next NAICS revision is scheduled for 2007. For other countries' SIC codes, similar government Web sites can be consulted. Specialty Web sites can also be useful.