International Business Intelligence Gathering

 Step 1) Keep Current in International Business

Economist.com & EIU Viewswire open incomparable windows on the world of international business,
offering timely briefings on business issues worldwide as well as country intelligence for over 190
countries. They are Web-based services from the Economist Intelligence Unit and
the Economistmagazine. Factiva, combines Dow Jones & Reuter's content. It features a searchable
publications library with the full-text of The Wall Street Journal, TheWall Street Journal Europe, The
Asian Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Business Week, Reuters, and thousands of other
newspapers, magazines, news services and journals worldwide. Lexis-Nexis also has the full-text of
thousands of sources covering international business issues including the Financial
Times. ABI/INFORMand Business Source Premier index, abstract and provide selected full-text of
thousands of English language business and economics journals. Use the Articles Guide guide to
identify additional databases for full-text articles. The Financial Times’ portal, ft.com, reports current
news from a European perspective.
2)  Find In-Depth Country Intelligence
EIU.com provides more than 200 in-depth Country Profiles and Country Reports for the major economic
and strategic powers including the U.S., Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia,
Japan, Russia, China, Hong Kong, and India, as well as Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia,  Africa, the
Middle East, and Israel. EIU Viewswire covers all of the countries with convenient Country home pages
that organize EIU's news and analysis into sections on the country's politics, economy, finance,
business and regulations. Datamonitor360 features Country Analysis Reports using the PESTLE
framework. Each profile analyzes the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental
structure of the country. Each of the PESTLE factors is explored on four parameters: current strengths,
current challenges, future prospects and future risks. You can supplement these reports with the U.S.
Department of State's Background Notes and Country Commercial Guides (easily retrieved
via globalEDGE). globalEDGE features Country Insights reference pages that link to key sources for
each country. Doing Business is the World Bank's portal that provide's objective measures of business
regulations and their enforcement across 183 economis and selected cities at the subnational and
regional level. Baker Library’s Country Guides are useful guides to country-related Web
sites. FITA (Federation of International Trade Associations) has excellent country profiles with links to
sources.  HLB International's "Doing Business in..." guides are free sources of information on foreign
countries. Portals to the World are "links to electronic resources selected by Library of Congress
subject experts.". The CIA's World Factbook s a widely cited sources of basic statistical information. 
The World Bank e-Library has extensive downloadable books and reports on countries and regions
that focus on social and economic development. Two notable examples are the annual World
Development Report and Doing Business In. FDI.net is the Investment Promotion Network sponsored
by the World Bank. It organizes more than 12,000 Web-based documents in a searchable
database.  Wikipedia's List of Sovereign Stateslinks to detailed country reports with links to
references.  You may also wish to visit  Yahoo! Countries or use Google or Bing to locate additional
sources. Countries and Their Cultures [GN307 .C68 2001 Ref] is a four volume encyclopedia of
individual country customs and cultures that is available online and in print. Canada's Centre for
Intercultural Learning has developed Country Insights, a site that provides insightful information on the
cultural characteristics of countries around the world including the U.S. Kwintessential Country
Profiles is a British site that provides free information on "understanding other people's languages,
cultures, etiquettes and taboos" for the traveler of visiting business person. Culture Crossing is "a
community built guide to cross-cultural etiquette & understanding" with detailed guides for individual
countries. SourceOECD has in depth economic, financial and international trade data and country
reports for all of the major economies and the emerging markets. The World Bank's Doing
Business database provides comparative data on the cost of doing business across 155 economies.
The World Bank has developed outstanding Web sites on Political Risk Insurance and Foreign Direct
Investment that explain these subjects in depth and link to resources on these topics by country. The
Political Risk Yearbook reports on individual countries are available in Business Source Premier.
Culturgrams [GT150 .C85 Ref Res] provide insight to customs and cultures of 177 countries. The
Political Risk Yearbook [HB3730 .P762 Ref] is an annual multi-volume work thoroughly analyzing
political, economic and investment risk in more than 100 countries.
3)  Research International Companies
Hoover's Online, OneSource, Thomson Research, and Factiva all have reports on international
publicly traded companies. The reports include company profiles, news and articles, annual reports,
SEC filings, financials and stock market performance data. Datamonitor360 features in-depth comapny
profiles on more than 50,000 U.S. and international private and public companies.  Thomson One
Banker  provides worldwide company reports, analytics and market data. Investext on
OneSource has a selection of investment research reports written by leading firms that evaluate the
investment outlook and performance for leading companies and industries worldwide.  You can also
search ABI/INFORM, Business Source Premier, Factiva and the other Article Databases for articles
about international companies. Two leading online financial services, Bloomberg and Datastream, are
available on the Business Workstations.  The Company Research Tutorial outlines Ten Steps to
Company Intelligence. Most of these steps apply to international as well as U.S.
companies. Europages, Kompass, Thomson Global Register, and other Company Directories offer
company profiles and contact information. You may use the directories in the Company Information
Center to locate companies and/or the search engines such as Googleand Yahoo! to find company
home pages.
4)  Investigate International Industries and Markets
IBISWorld U.S. & Global Industry Reports features over 700 reports on U.S. industries and a growing
collection of global industry reports. The U.S. reports are written at the 5-digit level of the North
American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Each report of about 25-30 pages uses Michael
Porter's "Five Competitive Forces" framework. Gale's Business & Company Resource
Center features essays on major global industries. Investext on OneSource has a selection
investment research reports covering  major international industries and their leading companies. 
Euromonitor International's GMID: Global Market Information Database is an online database
providing business intelligence on countries, consumers and industries. It offers integrated access to
statistics, market reports, company profiles and information sources. 205 countries are researched, with
extended coverage of 52. It includes Market Research Monitor. Datamonitor360 is an international
market research database that has thousands of industry analyses utilizing Michael Porter's Five Forces
framework to create industry scorecards. Business Insights offers international market research
reports on Consumer Goods, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, Technology, Telecoms,
eCommerce and Human resources. Mintel publishes hundreds of market research reports covering the
U.S., UK and European consumer markets and lifestyles. The Business & Industry Database covers
many foreign trade journals and newspapers as well as U.S. sources. The U.S. Commercial Service
publishes a Market Research Library with detailed country and industry research reports to help U.S.
businesses export. ABI/INFORM, Business Source Premier, Factiva, Lexis-Nexis and the
other Article Databases provide thorough coverage of international markets. The reports in Standard
& Poor’s Industry Surveys focus on both the U.S. and international industries. You may profit from
reviewing the steps to industry research found in the Industry Research Tutorial.
5)  Locate Key International Data and Statistics
Both GMID and Datamonitor360 feature extensive data on products, markets, countries, economics
and demographics. STATISTA: The Statistics Portal covers international markets, countries and much
more. Charts and Tables can be downloaded for presentations. TableBase is an international database
that specializes exclusively in tabular data dealing with companies, industries, products and
demographics. Smathers Libraries has many of the sources referred to. The Article Databases often
contain data relevant for international research. EIU Viewswire has five-year economic forecasts for
each country that can be downloaded as Excel files. The Dismal Scientist tracks economic conditions
around the world including Asia, Europe and Latin America. SourceOECD has detailed economic,
financial and trade data for many countries. IFS Online (IMF) is the International Monetary Fund's
online database of financial data by country. The IMF, OECD and the World Bank all have financial,
economic and country data on their Web sites. World Development Indicators Online is the most
comprehensive database for comparative economic and social indicators. Global Financial Data is an
unparalleled source for historical stock market, financial, and economic data for more than 200
countries. You can use both Bloomberg and Datastream on the Business Workstations for international
economic and financial data.
6)  Explore International Business World Wide Web Sites
globalEDGE is a comprehensive directory of Web sites related to international business studies. The
websites listed in the right-hand column of the International Business Information Center offer a
wealth of information about countries, business customs, exporting, importing, doing business in foreign
countries, and a host of other topics. Mouse over the links to see brief descriptions of the sites.
7)  Investigate International Trade Resources
Export.gov is the United States Commercial Service's export portal. Here you will find market research,
trade leads, and other exporting resources including, A Basic Guide to Exporting. The State
Department’s Country Commercial Guides are comprehensive overviews of foreign markets prepared
annually by embassy staff. Exportall, FITA, TradePort and Trade Compass are four  international
trade portals on the Web that have good free content. EIU Viewswire has detailed information about
foreign exchange, tax and trade regulations for each country.  ABI/INFORM, Factiva, Lexis-Nexisand
the other article databases provide thorough coverage of international trade topics. D&B’s Exporter’s
Encyclopedia [HF 3011 .E9 Bus Ref] is an impotant print publication in Business Reference. See
the International Business Information Center for additional sources.
8)  Research International Public Policy Issues
Many public policy issues impact the international business environment. You can research the World
Trade Organization, globalization, sustainable development, foreign direct investment and many other
issues using CIAO and Policy File. CIAO is Columbia International Affairs Online, a database of
articles, working papers, conference proceedings and other materials. Policy File is a database of
research from universities, public policy think tanks and other organizations including the American
Enterprise Institute, Brookings, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Hoover Institution, the IMF, the
Institute for International Economics, and many others. You can further explore the literature by
utilizing PAIS and EconLit, the Social Science Citation Index in the Web of
Knowledge, ABI/INFORM and the other Article Databases. Search UF Libraries' Catalog by author,
title, subject or keyword to find additional books and reports held by the Libraries. Our Government
Documents Department is a depository for UN, U.S., OECD and European Union documents.
9)  Browse Core Collections of International Business Books
The Business Library contains core collections of books on African Business,  Asian
Business, China Business, European Business, Globalization, International
Business, International Finance, International Investment, International
Management, International Marketing, International Trade, Latin American Business and
the World Economy. You may search UF Libraries' Catalog by author, title, subject or keyword to find
additional books held by the Libraries. Or browse Books24x7, netLibrary and the World Bank e-
Library for eBooks. The Global Entrepreneur is an excellent example of a valuable book available
both in print and electronically.
10)  Conclusion
Use the International Business Information Center to link to the most
important Databases, Articles, Web sites and other sources for keeping abreast of international
business and to identify sources for researching international companies, industries and markets.