CAN THE S.I.C. YIELD ACCURATE MARKETING DATA?

The article discusses the usefulness of the U.S. Census Bureau's Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) as a source of marketing data in its application to the economic activities inherent in manufacturing. The article discusses the ways in which a classification system could be established, by product or by industry. The article notes the difficulties of classifying multiproduct manufacturers, where the data from one product may skew the data in another classification. Other difficulties in the marketing use of SIC data are highlighted. The author suggests that users of the data do so with an understanding of the possible inaccuracies and advocates for the continual development of measures of statistical quality.