How to quickly understand an industry

Quickly understand a new industry in 5 steps!

1. Industry overview

(1) 6 key elements

1. Basic terminology; what are the basic industry terms? What are the professional terms?

2. Industry scale: What is the overall scale and data of the industry? Industry annual economic income?

3. Life cycle: Which stage of the industry life cycle are you in? Are there any bottlenecks in industry development? Is there an industry ceiling?

4. Development history: What is the development history and changes of the industry? What are the industry development trends? Will the future be uphill or downhill?

5. Profit model: What is the main driving force for industry development? What is the profit model of the industry?

6. Upstream and downstream supply: What is the supply structure of the industry? Number and distribution of suppliers?

(2) Search methods and tools

Overall industry data: National Bureau of Statistics, CNKI, 199IT, SouShu.com.

Global data: World Bank public data, Knoema global data, CEIC.

Industry research reports: China Securities Regulatory Commission official website, Discovery Report website, Xingxingcha website, 36kr, Oriental Fortune Network, Yiou, media, OYResearch, Yiou.

Consulting agency report websites: Deloitte, TalkingData, iResearch iResearch, Cass Data.

2. Market analysis

(1) Five key elements

1. Market size: Is the market large or small? Is it big or small compared to other industries?

2. Industry data: How about industry big data? How many companies and products are there?

3. User groups: Who are the main users of the industry? Is the group large or small?

4. Market growth rate: What is the market growth rate in recent years? What is the market profit rate?

5. Financial statements: What are the financial statement data of leading companies?

(2) Research methods and tools

Field research: mainly issuing questionnaires, or asking people who are familiar with the industry market, or doing some practical, small-scale activities to conduct surveys predict.

Questionnaire websites: Questionnaire Star, Questionnaire.com, Tencent Questionnaire.

Copywriting investigation: mainly online information search and library search for relevant books, mostly second-hand information.

Case investigation: mainly research the market and products of leading companies in the industry.

Research tools: industry-related auxiliary software and tools, or industry associations or websites, such as business consultants, webmaster’s home, and the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Ask the professionals: ask questions from experts and Zhihu experts.

Information query channels: official website, public accounts specializing in collecting industry information, search engines such as Baidu.

Company profile query software: Qixinbao, Qichacha, Tianyancha, Wemao, various recruitment software, etc.

3. Product Research

(1) 4 Key Elements

1. Product Overview: What is the product overview? Product quantity and type details?

2. Product demand: Is the product just needed? How is the experience? Is it facing a crisis of obsolescence?

3. Product technology: How mature is the technology? What about industry product technology development and competitive industry technology development?

4. Product form: What is the main form of the product? Tangible or intangible?

(2) Search methods and tools

You can do your own market research, pay attention to product categories such as a certain treasure, a certain cat, etc., or go to a physical store to look. For online surveys, you can check it out on industry websites and Baidu, and it will also be mentioned in some industry reports.

4. Competitive landscape

1. Competitive landscape: Who is the leader? One firm, a polypoly, or a hundred flowers blooming? How is the product competing?

2. Industry influence: Are there other industries that affect competition?

If the previous analysis was vertical analysis, then this is similar to horizontal analysis.

The key to analyzing the competitive landscape is to find differences: differences in positioning, scenarios, etc. bring differences in profits, turnover rates, shares, etc. The same focus is on the return on investment. The higher the return, the greater the difference. The better the business model. If you connect the vertical industrial chain and horizontal competition together, you will get a criss-crossing network.

5. Regulatory policies

(1) 2 key elements

1. Central documents: What about the State Council documents and the documents of various ministries and commissions?

2. Local policies: What about local government documents? Always pay attention to government policies and changing trends, especially those involving restrictions and penalties.

(2) Search methods and tools: Pay more attention to the policy section of the industry official website to quickly obtain this content. You can check the Chinese government website, local government official website, official website of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other ministries.

Analyzing the industry is to better guide our behavior. For example, entrepreneurs will pay more attention to the potential market size, and investors will pay more attention to ROE (return on investment). If it is employment choice, ROE also has certain guiding significance. Is employment selection a systematic project? It should be examined from multiple aspects. Industry attributes are only one dimension.