An industry leader is a company with the biggest share in its industry/market. It also means a company with sufficient dominance to influence the competitive landscape and lead the direction of the industry.

Minimum Requirements

• Provide 7-10 industry leaders if the criteria for ranking is publicly available (revenue for a public company, monthly website visitors).
• Provide 5 industry leaders if the criteria ranking is not readily available.
• Explain what the ranking is based on to the client briefly in your introduction, then explain further in the research strategy.
  • Did you base it on revenue, market share, funding, website visitors, website ranking, etc.?
• For each leader, provide:
  • the name
  • a brief description
  • why they are qualified to be on the leader list
• Provide a minimum of one image per 3-hour request. If possible, add an image for each concept discussed.

<aside> ⚠️ Note: An industry or market leader refers to a company with the biggest market share in its industry. It also pertains to a market player with sufficient dominance to influence the competitive landscape as well as lead the direction of the market. An industry leader is characterized by their influence and performance within that industry.

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Identifying Industry Leaders

• Industry leaders are identified based on their influence and performance:

  Influence

  • Industry leaders have the biggest market shares in their sector. This article explains how to determine market shares for industry leaders.
  • Industry leaders have considerable influence in their sector. They are usually the first ones to enter a new market or introduce a new product/offering that affects the direction of the market. This article provides more information on the influence of industry leaders.

  Performance

  • Industry leaders demonstrate strong financial performance. The most common key performance indicators (KPI) are revenue and profit margin.

• Look for credible lists ranking industry leaders based on reasonable metrics for their specific industry. For example, industry leaders in the technology sector would be determined based on revenue, market share, and cutting-edge technological innovation while industry leaders in the pharmaceutical sector could be determined based on sales of top-performing drugs aside from revenue or market share.

• Use market research and business databases such as IBISWorld and ReportLinker to find market research reports on your topic. MIT Libraries and UBC Library provide a comprehensive list of industry-specific market research databases.

• Most market research reports identify industry leaders in the preview of the report, even if the full report is paywalled. Some reports may also include a segmentation of industry leaders according to geographical regions, market share, or growth. Use these reports as a starting point and then corroborate and enhance your findings using reputed news and media articles.

• Look for reports from consulting firms such as EY, Deloitte, PwC, and Accenture. These reports often identify industry leaders, e.g., Gartner identifies leaders, visionaries, challengers, and niche players in the Gartner Magic Quadrant.

• Consult credible business and media sources that often run featured and spotlight articles highlighting industry leaders. Some sources also link back to the original market report in their industry leader list, so read thoroughly and use the linked reports for further research.

  • If the articles include commentary from experts and industry analysts, you can use it to add depth to your findings.

Findings

• Unless stated otherwise in the Research Criteria, include the names of industry leaders, their website, why they were considered industry leaders (i.e., the ranking metric), and information on their performance and/or influence within the industry.
• Organize your findings using bullets and concise headings/subheadings.