compustat global data part iii reference codes august 2 2002 745 gics what are industry classification system the standard is a collaboration between & poor s and morgan stanley capital international 8 digit that correspond to various business or industrial activities such as oil gas drilling wireless telecommunication services based upon of economic sectors which can be further subdivided into hierarchy groups industries sub in total there 10 23 59 123 categories date left justified all have identification code leftmost digits 4 6 use full following sample for ibm sector 45 information technology group 4520 hardware equipment 452020 computers peripherals 45202010 computer active companies history will from