Industry classification or industry taxonomy organizes companies into industrial groupings based on similar production processes, similar products, or similar behavior in financial markets.
A wide variety of taxonomies is in use, sponsored by different organizations and based on different criteria.[1]
| Abbreviation | Full name | Sponsor | Criterion/ Unit |
Node count by level | Issued |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| NAICS | North American Industry Classification System | Statistical bureaus of US, Canada, and Mexico | production/ establishment |
6 digits 17/99/313/724/1175 (/19745)1 |
1997, 2002, (2012) |
| NACE | Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community | European Community | production/ establishment |
6 digits | |
| ANZSIC | Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification | ||||
| SIC | Standard Industrial Classification | US | production/ establishment |
4 digits 1004 categories |
1937–1987 (superseded by NAICS, but still used in some applications) |
| ICB | Industry Classification Benchmark | FTSE | market/ company |
10/20/41/114[2] | |
| GICS | Global Industry Classification Standard | Standard & Poor's, Morgan Stanley Capital International | market/ company |
2-8 digits 10/24/68/154 |
|
| TRBC | Thomson Reuters Business Classification | Thomson Reuters | market/ company |
10/25/52/124[2] |
1The NAICS Index File[3] lists 19745 rubrics beyond the 6 digits which are not assigned codes.
Besides the widely-used taxonomies above, there are also more specialized proprietary systems: