Regional Business Profile Series (county, metro and state versions)

Click here to download PDF version of FAQ page.

Click here to return to the main BizMiner FAQ page.


View List of Available Metro Areas, Counties, and States

Contents
P1: Industry Population/Contents
P2: Industry Distribution
P3: Failure Rates
P4: Annual Market Volume/Market Share by Segment
P5: Sales/Employment Growth and Distribution
P6: Startup Activity and New Branch Development
P7: About the Data

NOTES ON US MARKET RESEARCH REPORT TERMS

Content is this report series is specific to the customer-selected county, metro area or state, except where otherwise specified. All metrics are detailed area-wide and for each of nine traditional industry sector with the area: Agriculture-Forestry-Fishing; Mining; Construction; Manufacturing; Transport-Communications-Utilities; Wholesale; Retail; Finance-Insurance-Real Estate; and Services.

Current Industry Population:

The Industry Population table displays the number of firms in the industry for five groups:

Establishments: Firms plus Branch operations.

Firms: Independent companies.

Small Businesses: In order to focus the analysis on the small businesses of greatest interest to our users, the analysis defines small businesses as single site firms with fewer than 25 employees. All small businesses are also “firms”.

Startups: In order to reduce distortion and focus the analysis on the startup population of greatest interest to our users, the startup sales and employment analysis limits the definition of startups to single site firms with fewer than 50 employees, with less than $10m annual sales and reporting one year or less of operation. All Startups are also “firms”; the overwhelming majority are also “small businesses”.

Branches: Subsidiary facilities of firms; non-headquarters operations.

The Time Series: The report analyzes trends in three running years, each for the twelve months (real time) specified in the Time Series table in the report (and sample). Content is adjusted to account for time lags in raw data; the dates shown generally reflect the actual time series shown in the Time Series table.

Industry Segment Distribution:
The profile displays three-year local percentages of companies, small businesses, startups and branches as a percent of total of business operations within each sector (establishments). US segment distribution displayed for comparison purposes.

Industry Sector Distribution:
Another table displays three-year local percentages of each sector as a percent of the local business population. Again, US data is provided for benchmarking purposes, weighing the concentration of local against national sectors. The analysis is supplemented by the Sales Distribution and Employment Distribution tables.

Failure Rates:
Failure rates track the actual experience of business establishments, firms, small businesses, startups and branches doing business at the start of the time series, and still in operation at its end-point. "Survivors" are business operations within a given category which have maintained operations for at least three years. Throughout the report, Survivor measures isolate and report on these ongoing firms in addition to snapshots of the entire industry and various other segments. As a result, these Survivor benchmarks display experience-rated measures, rather than snapshots of the industry at a particular point in time.

Firms which have experienced a transfer in ownership but continue as independent firms are considered "survivors". Firms which relocate but maintain independent operations are considered survivors if they do not move out of the jurisdiction being analyzed. Firms which are purchased or merge and become subsidiary locations, or whose location is terminated, are grouped with the "failures". Any business entity which does not evidence ongoing operations (for example, by registering with government agencies or credit reporting services) is considered to have ceased viable operations and is classified with the "failures".

The Failure rate analysis is developed for discrete business segments by segregating the original pool of tracked firms by industry classification, location, and population segment (all firms, small businesses, startups etc.) That beginning universe is segregated and tracked to develop the failure rate for that group. As a result, failure rates occasionally reflect performance above 100% or below 0% due to business migration among industries (changes in primary business line) or (in the case of location-specific failure rates) due to business relocations during the analysis period. In general, this anomaly is found only in highly granular industry segments or very small local jurisdictions.

Industry Market Volume:
Reported Annual Market Volume includes industry sales figures from multi-site firms classified in the selected industry and headquartered in the selected area. Branch revenues, even of branches located outside the area, are included. The Reported Market Volume figures include sales of US firms and US-reporting subsidiaries of firms headquartered outside the US. All sales volume figures are for the industry (firms identifying this as their primary classification) not the product or service. As an example, a report for retail furniture stores analyzes sales of stores whose predominant revenue stream is furniture sales; that data would not include furniture sold at a general department store. Consequently, more detailed industry segments may under-report volume due to the choice of companies to identify a higher level “parent classification as their primary line of business.

While there is significant overlap of firms in each category between years, results can be affected by business failures, mergers and the migration of companies between the three categories. Migration between business classifications has a much lesser impact in most cases.

Market Share by Segment:
The share of total reported industry market volume captured by each category of local firms is displayed as a percentage for each year of the time series. Naturally, the (all) Firms category captures 100% of the snapshot sales in each year. Small Business and Startup shares of total market volume are also displayed.

Sales Growth:
The Sales Growth data compares the change in local reported sales over the time series, including sales figures from multi-site firms headquartered in the selected area. The local industry specific growth rate is displayed for each sector, followed by US data for the corresponding economic group. Data may be affected by reclassification of firms between industries.

Sales Distribution:
The percentage of total reported area sales volume is displayed for each sector in each year of the analysis, followed by the corresponding national data. The statistics indicate the conformity to national concentrations for both high-performing and under-performing sectors, as well as the change in economic distribution over time.

Employment Growth:
Employment Growth data compares the change in local employment over the time series. Local reported employment growth rate (all establishments, including branches locate in the area) is displayed for each sector, followed by US data for the corresponding economic group. Employment of branch operations outside the area but owned by local firms is not included in the local rates. Data may be affected by reclassification of business operations between industries.

Employment Distribution: The percentage of reported total area employment is displayed for each sector in each year of the analysis, followed by the corresponding national data. The statistics indicate the conformity to national employment concentrations for both high-performing and under-performing sectors, as well as the change in employment distribution over time.

Startup Activity:
The Local Startup Activity Rate measures the percentage of local industry firms in each sector which indicated one year or less of operation during the one–year period reflected by the Time Series table and which maintained operation through the end of the time series. These startup firms are compared to the total number of local firms in the sector for which ages can be identified to create the Segment Startup Rate. This is then compared to the US Segment Startup Rate, the national sector-specific startup percentage. Independent, newly initiated franchise operations are included in these calculations as startup operations.

New Branch Development:
The Local New Branch Rate measures the number of new local industry branches developed in the final year of the time series and which maintained operation through the end of the time series. These are compared to the total number of local establishments in the sector over the same time period: The US Segment New Branch Rate performs the comparable calculation at the national level for comparison purposes. Like the Startup Activity Rate, New Branch Rates are an indicator of new growth and sector vitality.

ABOUT THE DATA

Raw data analyzed for BizMiner reports is sourced from an array of the nation's private business databases, reporting agencies and government statistical sources, including the Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Economic Census of available sectors. None of these raw data sources creates the final measures reflected in BizMiner industry profiles. In total, BizMiner accesses over half a billion sourced data points from eighteen million business operations for each of its twice annual updates. Census and other government data are used incidentally to inform and test projections for non-reporting firms.

At the same time, some firms are missed and specific information on others is lacking from the database. However, the overall current coverage of the databases approaches 12 million business operations annually. While 100% firm coverage is desirable for analysis purposes, the greatest value of the content rests in discerning patterns of activity, which are reflected in the large samples used to develop our reports. As is the case with any databases this large, some errors are inevitable. No representation is made as to the accuracy of the databases utilized or the results of subsequent analyses.

Sales volume figures are for firms identifying this as their primary classification. For example, a report for retail furniture stores analyzes sales of stores whose predominant revenue stream is furniture sales; that data would not include furniture sold at a general department store. Firms in more detailed industry segments may opt to identify a higher level parent classification as their primary line of business, effectively reducing sales applied to the detailed segment.

It is sometimes difficult to ascertain precise sales data for the smallest firms in the databases. When precise numbers are not available, reports that offer a sales range may be utilized. When there is a very small number of firms in a category (most often startups, which are by nature often micro-firms) the sales is recorded at 150,000 (reflecting a 100,000-175,000 range).

Survival and sales analysis of independent business operations are based on information supplied largely by business owners and representatives to private reporting services. Inaccurate information supplied by business owners or representatives may affect the analysis. Survival rates assume that the discontinuation of a facility's presence among credit reporting databases utilized reflects the discontinuation of operations of that facility. Where insufficient data is available to create specific line items in specific industry reports, projections developed through proprietary algorithms, including projections from broader industry data, may be utilized.

The Time Series: Our Profiles are adjusted to account for time lags in raw data. We adjust the time series to compensate, and the dates shown in the reports generally reflect the actual time series shown in each Profile. Neither the Brandow Company nor its resellers are responsible for conclusions drawn or decisions made based upon this data or analysis. In no event will the Brandow Company or its resellers be liable for any damages, direct, indirect, incidental or consequential resulting from the use of the information contained in BizMiner reports.

Click here to return to the main BizMiner FAQ page.