How to Write a Business Industry Summary

Writing an industry summary is a good way to help your company make good business decisions.

Writing a business industry summary is part of writing a business plan. It is a key element of the business plan because it details what is going on in the industry in which a company plans to operate. A business industry summary should include a few key ingredients to be a success.

Instructions

1. Determine the size of the industry. Most industries are assessed in terms of billions of dollars. Depending on your industry, it may be difficult to come up with exact specs on how big the industry is. However, there are ways to determine roughly how much money is being spent in an industry. For instance, if you were getting into the pet industry, you could do some research on how much the average family is spending on pets and then multiply that amount by the number of households in the country, and you have the size of the industry.

2. Estimate the growth of the industry. A good industry to get involved in is one that is growing. In 2010 the smart phone industry experienced tremendous growth. That also meant that companies that relied solely on "older" cell phones that weren't smart phones had to adjust their game plan.

3. Evaluate the challenges that the industry is facing. Is an industry experiencing growing pains? Is it growing too fast or not growing at all? An example of an industry that has declined over recent years is the U.S. domestic car industry. High labor costs and decreased demand can make a once-thriving industry struggle for air.

4. Discuss the industry's response to economic events. If the economy is bad, how is it affecting your industry? If the economy is going through a rough patch, people might spend more on gas and food and other things they need to survive and not as much on their pets. But there also may be things that make the pet industry grow. For instance, if people are getting more pets in their older years, then as a population ages, the industry would experience growth.

5. Determine the position of your company in the industry. Is your company the industry leader? How are other companies responding to your activities? If your company isn't the industry leader, what steps do you need to take to get to that position in the industry?

References

• Researching an Industry
• Bloomberg Business: Determining Which Business Idea to Pursue