More Information

Market Share Reporter (Gale)

Market Share Reporter (MSR) presents market share reports on U.S. and international markets compiled from periodical literature, providing a unique resource for competitive analysis, diversification planning, marketing research, and other forms of economic and policy analysis.

Categories of Market Shares

Entries in MSR fall into five broad categories. Items were included if they showed the relative strengths of participants in a market or provided subdivisions of economic activity in some manner that could assist the analyst.

Corporate market shares show the names of companies that participate in an industry, produce a product, or provide a service. Each company’s market share is shown as a percent of total industry or product sales for a defi ned period, usually a year. In some cases, the company’s share represents the share of the sales of the companies shown (group total)—because shares of the total market were not cited in the source or were not relevant. In some entries, brand information appears after the company name.

Institutional shares are like corporate shares but show the shares of other kinds of organizations. The most common institutional entries in MSR display the shares of states, provinces, or regions in an activity. The shares of not-for-profi t organizations in some economic or service functions fall under this heading.

Brand market shares are similar to corporate shares with the difference that brand names are shown. Brand names include equivalent categories such as the names of television programs, magazines, publishers’ imprints, etc. In some cases, the names of corporations appear after the brand name.

Product, commodity, service, and facility shares feature a broad category (e.g. household appliances) and show how the category is subdivided into components (e.g. refrigerators, ranges, washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers). Entries under this category cover products (autos, lawnmowers, polyethylene, etc.), commodities (cattle, grains, crops), services (telephone, childcare), and facilities (port berths, hotel suites, etc.).

Other shares. MSR includes a number of entries that show subdivisions, breakdowns, and shares that do not fi t neatly into the above categorizations but properly belong in such a book because they shed light on public policy, foreign trade, and other subjects of general interest. These items include, for instance, subdivisions of governmental expenditures, environmental issues, and the like.

Coverage

Market Share Reporter (MSR) reports on published market shares rather than attempting exhaustive coverage of the market shares, say, of all major corporations and of all products and services. Despite this limitation, MSR holds share information on thousands of companies, brands, and product, commodity, service, and facility categories. Several entries are usually available for each industry group in the SIC classification; omitted groups are those that do not play a conventional role in the market, e.g., Private Households (SIC 88).

MSR tends to refl ect the current concerns of the business press. In addition to being a source of market share data, it mirrors journalistic preoccupations, issues in the business community, and events abroad. Important and controversial industries and activities get most of the ink. Heavy coverage is provided in those areas that are:

  • large, important, basic (autos, chemicals)
  • on the leading edge of technological change (computers, electronics, software)
  • very competitive (toiletries, beer, soft drinks)
  • in the news because of product recalls, new product introductions, mergers and acquisitions, lawsuits, and for other reasons
  • relate to popular issues (environment, crime), or have excellent coverage in their respective trade press

Variation in coverage from one edition to the next is due in part to publication cycles of sources and a different mix of brokerage house reports for the period covered (due to shifting interests within the investment community).

People who used Market Share Reporter also used: