Teambuilding industry statistics?

March 22, 2007 10:35 AM

Team building industry statistics: how would I go about finding these? I'm looking for typicals like how much is spent, who spends it, what types of activities (lasertag, brainstorming) and how the numbers may have changed since 1990 - in the US, mainly, but elsewhere is also appreciated, as well as any other search terminology.

I did find this outdated article from 2001, along with about a brazillion returns on Google for 'teambuilding' and 'team building'. 'Offsites" also yields several returns.

posted by yoga to human relations (6 comments total)

I'm not sure there is a such thing as a "teambuilding industry."
posted by rhizome at 10:58 AM on March 22, 2007

ahem. rhizome: you're kidding, right?

posted by niles at 11:18 AM on March 22, 2007

There is in terms of firms and/or consultants who provide services such as team analysis on effectiveness, collaboration, Myers-Briggs testing, and external events like rafting trips, ropes courses, etc.

I'm not sure how cool/kosher it would be if I were to call up this place, this place, this place, or any of the other 3,480,000 results on this search.
posted by yoga at 11:22 AM on March 22, 2007

A good way to begin research of this kind is to find out the name of the industry.

It looks like team building falls under the NAICS code 611430 Professional and Management Development Training.

Trade groups are good sources of information. The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) is one such group and they provide a free summary [pdf] of a research report on the industry.

What you are really looking for is an Industry Overview and Research Reports. I searched Standard & Poor's Net Advantage (available online from some public libraries) with negative results for this industry.

Because this is a specialized industry (S&P has good coverage of the biggies such as Aerospace & Defense, Banking, Insurance, et cetera) you are going to need a specialized database.

For the industry overview and research reports, if you were in NYC I would suggest you head over to SIBL. There you can access databases such as Investext (in person only) and obtain research reports about the industry.

Call some of the libraries in your area (or better yet if you or anyone you know is going to college try the academic library) and ask for assistance.
posted by MLIS at 10:59 PM on March 22, 2007

Thanks so much MLIS! I really appreciate the clarification on what I'm looking for.
posted by yoga at 9:38 AM on March 23, 2007

you're welcome yoga. Here is a search string I used to find some industry overview guides. Good luck!
posted by MLIS at 3:05 PM on March 23, 2007