Proposal for categories
Purpose of the classification of categories
Each of the companies in Grace's Guide is identified as operating in one or more industrial sectors, using a category label, in order to make it possible to identify easily the companies working in a particular area of products/services.
Reason for this proposal
The existing classification has grown up step-by-step since the Guide was founded. As a result there is only limited consistency between the way in which the different sectors are described. Most of the existing categories can continue as they are but it is appropriate to consider whether a more structured process can be established now, to help those making entries in future and to clear up existing problems.
The purpose of this proposal is to offer up for discussion a more systematic classification and how it would be operated in future. The intention is that this classification should be easy to use but operate within a hierarchy so that there is some logical connection between the different classes.
Please use the discussion page to make general comments; detail changes can be made on the relevant pages of this proposal.
Top level categories
At present there are 10 top level categories but these only cover a fraction of the sectors in the Guide.
An extended system has been developed based on the main sectors of the UK GDP. The GDP is split between production and services, which is an approach that we could follow, but using the terms Products and Services which are more in line with the labels used in the Guide.
Where categories are already mentioned in the top level categories, these have largely been retained in the new list, which is as follows:
Intermediate Products and Materials
Plus the other existing top-level categories:
- Country
- Events
- People
- Reference
- Things to do
Some of the next level categories, especially ones which are already identified in the Guide, are discussed on the following pages.
Use of higher-level categories
It is proposed that the higher-level categories should not be used to label companies, since this would produce a page which consists of both names of the broad classes as well as lists of individual companies thereby making it less easy for the user to know how to use the list. An example of where this occurs at present is in the category: metals. I am sure we could find a label such as "metals suppliers" to label the individual companies.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Paul