Fundamental to conducting industry research is the classification of economic activity. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system is widely used to classify US economic activity. This system was developed by the Office of Management and Budget and is still used by the SEC as well as in some business information publications.
In 1997, a new system of classification was instituted incorporating Canada, Mexico and the United States and was called the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS, pronounced "nakes" which rhymes with "snakes"). Today NAICS is used by the Census Bureau's Economic Census and in many business publications.
