If you want to find everything you can about an industry, IBISWorld is a great place to start. IBISWorld provides hard-to-find industry data like market size, major players in the industry, market share, geographic spread, keys to success, and more.

IBISWorld covers 700 industries. Here’s a list of the most popular industry profiles that were downloaded here at UB last month (hmm… video games, beer, fast food - that sounds about right!):

Here’s a sample market share table from the fast food report:

So, go give IBISWorld a try (it’s much quicker and more reliable than Googling!).

Business law (Sarbanes-Oxley)

International regulations

Global banking and financial markets

Risk management, compliance, and governance

I wrote a short article for the university newspaper about lists and rankings that include Buffalo, NY.  Here it is:

Lists and rankings are fun—they often are interesting, sometimes insightful and other times misleading and even contradictory. Here’s a compilation of recent lists that include Buffalo. Does this sound like your city?

The year of the arts? AmericanStyle named Buffalo the top arts destination among mid-sized U.S. cities. Yet, Buffalo ranks near the bottom (46 out of 49 cities) in the “creative class” rankings.

Nice place to visit, but… Art attractions are a reason why The New York Times included Buffalo in its list of 44 places to visit in 2009, putting us at No. 37, between our familiar peers Kazakhstan and Madagascar. On the other hand, Sperling’s Best Places ranks Buffalo at 205th on its best places to live list.

…does anyone wanna live here? The City of Buffalo has had the fifth largest population loss since 2000 of any city with a population of more than 100,000. Since peaking at No. 8, the Buffalo area’s population has continually declined and is expected to reach its lowest ranking ever this year, No. 47. Forbes ranks Buffalo 9th on its gloomy list of “fastest dying cities.”

Do you come here often?On a lighter note, Buffalo is 30th on the list of best cities for singles , tied with that other swinging hotspot, Milwaukee. Buffalo ranks lower (57) on the “sex in the cities” list, but still better than our rival Milwaukee (84).

Thank you, Cleveland! Buffalo is no longer the second-poorest city in the country having dropped to third this year, just below Cleveland (2) and Detroit (1) in poverty rate . Perhaps it’s because we like to save—Buffalo has the third-highest coupon redemption rate in the U.S.

No boom, no bust. Buffalo’s housing market ranks as the fourth strongest in the country, largely because real estate never boomed here. Indeed, Buffalo often is ranked as one of the most affordable housing markets . That’s one reason why Business Week ranked Buffalo as No. 14 on its list of best places to ride out the recession.

Jobs gained, jobs lost. Buffalo gained 2,100 jobs in 2008, coming in at No. 40 (out of 310 cities), but is expected lose 11,400 jobs in 2009—a ranking of 41 . That doesn’t sounds too bad, but the Milken Institute ranks Buffalo at No. 180 out of 200 on its best performing cities list , which ranks cities on “how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth.”

Wide right, no goal. According to The Sporting News , Buffalo is the 42nd best sports city in North America, behind Montreal (Boston is first). You’d think we’d rank higher, given that the Buffalo Bills have the cheapest tickets in the NFL , are seventh in attendance and rated 11th for best fans .

And, finally, the silver snowball goes to… Buffalo ranks second all-time in the annual Golden Snowball Competition for snowiest city in upstate New York (Syracuse gets the gold, having won 39 times). So, what do Buffalonians do to keep warm? Maybe a little nip of brandy (third hardest drinking city ) or perhaps we just cozy up with a book (42nd most literate city ).

For ongoing coverage of lists that include Buffalo, check back here .

Fortune has just come out with its annual list of the 100 best companies to work for.  Three companies with ties to Western New York made the list:  Mattel #48 (Fisher Price, a subsidiary of Mattel, is located in East Aurora), Wegmans #5 (has made the list 12 years in a row), and Paychex #39 (located in Rochester, founded by Tom Golisano).

If you’re graduating soon and looking for places to work, check out our collection of eBooks for job seekers — you’ll find tips on resumes, cover letters, interviewing and more.

Here’s yet another “nontraditional” way to gauge the economy…  an article in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin called “Playboy Playmate Curves: Changes in Facial and Body Feature Preferences Across Social and Economic Conditions” explores trends in the measurements of pinups as they relate to social and economic factors.

“Past research has investigated ideals of beauty and how these ideals have changed across time. In the current study, facial and body characteristics of Playboy Playmates of the Year from 1960-2000 were identified and investigated to explore their relationships with U.S. social and economic factors. Playmate of the Year age, body feature measures, and facial feature measurements were correlated with a general measure of social and economic hard times. Consistent with Environmental Security Hypothesis predictions, when social and economic conditions were difficult, older, heavier, taller Playboy Playmates of the Year with larger waists, smaller eyes, larger waist-to-hip ratios, smaller bust-to-waist ratios, and smaller body mass index values were selected. These results suggest that environmental security may influence perceptions and preferences for women with certain body and facial features.”