Country Business Research

There may be debate about whether or not the world is getting flatter, but there is no arguing with the idea that globalization has made it more important then ever for business students to become proficient at ferreting out economic and financial conditions beyond the North American horizon. You are unlikely to make it through VSB without country profiles and international business news. Bartley Business Information Center recommends the following highly reliable resources for finding country specific analysis, news, and data.  Unless otherwise noted online resources are only available via subscription paid by Falvey Library through Villanova's proxy server to our faculty, students, and staff. Print publications are available in Falvey Memorial Library.

Country Reports | Books and Guides | Statistics | News & Analysis

Country Reports

ABI Inform Global (Proquest)

Provides online access to Going Global Career Guides which are extensive reports on living and working abroad.  In the Advanced tab search "Going Global Career Guides" AND target country.

Business Source Premier

Offers Country Monitor reports from Global Insight, Country Profiles from Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).  From the Advanced Search tab search target county in Title field AND "profile or monitor" in Select a Field (optional)

CountryWatch.com

Each Country Review includes a discussion of the political situation, social landscape, environmental profile, economic conditions and investment climate in 150 pages or less. Comparative datasets may be built and downloaded in Excel. Stories from regional and international newswires are filtered by country

LexisNexis Academic

CIA World Factbook and Walden Country Reports are available.  Select Reference and choose Country Profile, type the target country and use the drop down menu to select the source.

Market Insight (Standard & Poor's)

One stop shop for Compustat, Global Insight or CIA WorldFactbook reports.  Compustat reports are one page snapshots. Global Insight reports have forecasts and analysis of macroeconomic and industry trends supported by historical data in 10-20 pages. CIA Worldfactbook reports briefly on country demographic, government, economy, military, and infrastructure conditions. Select the Country tab and use the dropdown menu to Go! to the target country report.

MarketLine (Datamonitor)

Country reports describe prevailing political, economic and trade conditions in 20-30 pages.  Select the Countries tab and Browse by Country.

National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers REF HF 1456.U855

Prepared by the United States Trade Representative this report available free on the Web presents a country by country snapshop in time of the trade deficit, US foreign direct investment, import policies, regulatory policies, export subsidies, service and investment barriers as well as intellectual property protection and impediments to electronic commerce.

OECD

The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development has a one stop shop for select freely available reports on the economy, trade, development, environment, energy and social issues of member states.

STAT-USA

Source of U.S. Department of State Country Background Notes and Country Commerce Guides. Link to GLOBUS&NTBD

 World Bank Country Briefs

Freely accessible summary reports on development progress with emphasis on World Bank projects with links to news and events.

Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies

Basic overview of each nation's political economy, financial system,  infrastructure, industrial and agricultural capacity, working conditions and trade policies.

Books and Guides

Cross Cultural Business Behavior REF HF5389.G47 2005

A practical guide for global managers on how to avoid discourtesies so as not to break deals. Covers business protocal, negotiating style, non-verbal communications, recommended avenues for initial contact, as well as table manners, gift giving and other norms unique to each country.

Dun & Bradstreet's Guide to Doing Business Around the World REF HF1416.M78 2001

Desk reference that provides snap shots of key cultural influences and practices important to business, with the briefest of overviews of country political economy, business climate and risk status. Contact information for embassies, chambers of commerce and D&B offices included.

Exporters' Encyclopedia REF HF3011.E9 2006/7

A primer on the nuts and bolts of exporting with advice on how to formulate an export strategy. Detailed and practical sections on communications, key contacts, trade regulations, documentation, marketing, transportation and business travel.

Global Competitiveness Report REF HF1414.G559 2005/6

Quick guide to the factors presenting impediments for doing business in foreign countries with a unique "competitiveness balance sheet ranking."

Kiss Bow or Shake Hands: How to do Business in Sixty Countries REF HF5389.M67 1994

Country by country guide to cultural norms of doing business interjected with tales of business blunders due to misunderstood manners. Covers dominant cognitive styles, value systems, negotiating strategies and practices, as well as rules for punctuality, dress, greetings, gift giving, gestures and entertaining.

Oxford Handbook of International Business REF HF1379.O996 2001

Collection of essays on doing business in foreign regions and countries with outstanding articles on the history, theory, policy environment, strategies and management of multinational enterprises.

World Accounting REF HF5611.O75 1987

Country by country summaries of the regulation of accounting and auditing, description of primary financial statements and accounting records and treatment of classes of assets and liabilities.

VUCAT Villanova University Library Catalog

To find others books in the Falvey Memorial Library search by KEYWORD BOOLEAN for the target country name and terms such as "international business enterprises" or multinational or accounting or etiquette.

Statistics

Balance of Payment Statistics - Yearbook: International Monetary Fund REF HF1014.I5 2005

Annual current, capital, financial, net erros and reserves and International Investment position tables.

China Data Online Service

Focuses on the conomic statistics of China, arranged by regions and categories.  Coverage includes monthly and yearly reports on china's macroeconomic development, statistical databases on China's population and economy at the county and city level, and financial indicators of more than 568 industrial branches.  Only available to one user and from campus: Username: louiseg Password: vufml2006

Global Market Information Database (Euromonitor)

Build historical statistical reports with forecasts by selecting target countries and industry segments, economic indicators or foreign trade categories.

International Financial Statistics - IMF REF HG3881.I626

Annual, quarterly and monthly data on exchange rates, fund position, monetary authorities, depository money banks, interest rates, prices and labor, international transactions, balance of payments, international investment position, government finance and national accounts.

International Marketing Data and Statistics. Euromonitor International REF HA42.OI56 2006

Annual data from 1990 to 2004 for non-western European and North American countries on a wide variety of market indicators from registration of new automobiles to disposable income  to percapita retails sales of confectionaries and population projections.

International Trade Statistics Yearbook.- United Nations REF HF91.U473 2003

Summary report of four to seven years of imports and exports by country and Standard International Trade Classification or by commodity and country.

OFFSTATS Official Statistics on the Web

Free directory of links to official statistics on the web searchable by country or topic.

Retail Trade International. - Euromonitor. REF HF5429.R48 13 ed.

Country reports on retail sales in macroeconomic context, retail infrastructure, distribution outlets and competitive environment with forecasts.

Statistical (Lexis-Nexis)

Search tables and abstracts of statistical data published by the United States, intergovernmental organizations, and universities.

WRDS

Access to Global Insight data on national income, balance of payments, foreign debt, exchange rates, money supply, employment and other national level indicators. Source for annual, quarterly and monthly IMF and OECD time series.

News & Analysis

ABI Inform

Use the drop down menu to limit your search to ABI Inform/Global to search newspapers of record for international and foreign business such as the Financial Times of London, magazines for multinational executives such as The Economist and the Asian edition of Fortune or scholarly analysis found in publications such as the Review of International Political Economy.

Bloomberg

Bloomberg, available only in Bartley 2008 and the Applied Finance Lab, is the financial analyst's lifeline for up to the minute market news. Use the pneumonic NI for news and information and drill down through regional news or TNI for top news and information to get news on market moves, tax or topics by country.

EconLit

Use EconLit to find journal articles, books and working papers on country and regional economics.

Lexis-Nexis

For news wire stories, in the Guided News Search tab use the drop down menu to choose World News, then select the target region of the world.

Mideast Wire

Brief English translations of news on economics and business developments in the Arab press. In the right screen column select Archives Search, Advance Search button to get news by country and topic.

PAIS International

Good source for abstracts of books and scholarly publications covering political economy, risk analysis and financial conditions by country.