what is the global industry classification standard gics 
the global industry classification standard gics is a method for assigning companies to a specific economic sector and industry group that best defines its business operations it is one of two rival systems that are used by investors analysts and economists to compare competing companies gics was developed jointly by morgan stanley capital international msci and standard poor s the gics methodology is used by the msci indexes which include u s and international stocks as well as by a large portion of the professional investment management community 1understanding gicsa company s industry classification is key to an investor whose aim is to create a diversified portfolio or to identify competitors of a company in the same industry the top of the gics hierarchy defines 11 economic sectors these are further divided into 24 industry groups then into 68 industries and finally into 157 sub industries each stock has a code to identify it at all four of these levels the 11 sectors are 1a company is assigned gics classification codes at the sub industry levels by standard poor s and msci according to their definition of the company s principal business a company s main source of revenue is the most important factor in determining its principal business activity other factors such as earnings analysis and market perception are also considered since the gics s creation in 1999 a number of revisions have added deleted or refined industry groups sub industries and industries a real estate sector was added in 2016 the telecommunications sector was renamed the communication services sector in 2018 at the same time the sector was expanded to include some media and entertainment interests previously classified under the consumer discretionary sector as well as some interactive media and services interests previously classified under the information technology sector 