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According to the Census Bureau, NAISC 334510 Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing is a diverse and important industry classification comprised of thousands of companies producing medical devices and related products in at least 53 categories or index entries. The North American Industry Classification System and the Census research behind it are free and available at http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/sssd/naics/naicsrch.  Public issuers (companies selling securities to the public to gain access to capital) are required to submit financial reports to the SEC, and given the high value of the notes to those financial statements and the scrutiny under which they are viewed is a very valuable source of data for market analysis.  SEC data can be accessed through Edgar, at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html. Medical device research, science, medical peer publications, FDA reporting, and other materials on this specific industry can also be had at the

National Center for Biotechnology Information (databases accessed there are numerous) at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. Biomedical literature is also available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed, MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books, and https://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/medline.html is a bibliographic database on life sciences and biomedicine.  Keep in mind that US Citizens’ taxes pay for a wide array of services, data, and information, many sources of which are overlooked by the average person or small business.  The list of free public sources of data is almost unlimited.  The reason I bring this up is to simply point out that market analysis for any given industry starts with a basic mindset, of knowing what data you can get, from what source, what is “fact” versus what is subjective, hearsay, or anecdotal, and whether that information is reliable for your purpose. Firms selling standardized market analysis reports to SMBs, or large corporations and users for that matter, do a wildly varying level or quality of work, in my opinion, and sell those reports for a range of prices. Sometimes, ridiculous prices for generalized information. The mark of a better report or analysis effort is generally to what extent the creator took care in gathering its data, referencing the source of that data, when and to what extent they are making assertions or assumptions about that data, telling you clearly the difference between fact and conjecture, and yet most importantly answering your real questions as a potential user.  For example, if I sold you a report on the Medical Device industry that informs you of the size, direction, and growth of the overall industry, based on good statistics, involving many supporting industry participant interviews, and good verification of what I a purport to be factual, would that do you any good?  Not if your purpose was to know how 1/53 of that industry group operates, exactly what products they make, who is involved outside North America, what the value proposition of those products is, and how you can compete.  And very likely not useful if it is still too general and does not tell what are your prospects, is not designed to your purpose specifically, is not designed to provide decision-making information to  you, and does not support your key questions.  To that end, before you pay money, you will find there is a wealth of information and generalized market analysis reports (and fairly good ones) available for free, or at a reasonable cost through libraries, the web, or your local university library.  This may be a good place to start in order to first understand the landscape. Collecting data from public web sources, even from prospects or competitors themselves can be valuable and free information, with just the burden of knowing what value to place on that information and how it can be biased.  Even a source providing biased information can provide valuable inputs if looked at with the right perspective, to answer purposeful questions.

Worldview Consulting & Accounting, Inc. is an Oregon registered CPA firm. William Burwell, CPA, CFF, MBA, CPIM, is a business consultant and financial forensic accounting services professional with over twenty years of high technology industry experience. Licensed in Oregon and Massachusetts.
