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GLB 300 - Gateway to Global Business

Assignment #2:  International Business Study

Librarian:  Carolyn Johnson  •  Spring 2002

The purpose of this research is to familiarize you with information sources for international business, foreign trade, foreign countries, and their business cultures.

Part 1: Selecting a country.  Before you select a country and begin to gather information about it, get some quick background information to help you decide if the country is a good candidate for your company's products or services.

The National Trade Data Bank contains reports prepared by branches of the U.S. government about foreign trade prospects.  These reports can be accessed by:

• products (International Market Insight, Best market reports))
• industries (Industry Sector Analysis)
• countries (Country Commercial Guide)


The National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) (http://www.ustr.gov/reports/nte/2000/contents.html) is an inventory by country of the most important foreign trade barriers affecting U.S. exports of goods and services, foreign direct investment, and intellectual property rights.  It is published annually by the U.S. Trade Representative, with information from other federal  agencies, members of the private sector, and U.S. Embassies abroad.

The United States Trade Representative (http://www.ustr.gov/) site also lists trade initiatives/agreements, issues/disputes, press releases, etc.  If your country is not listed in the NTE Report's table of contents, you can still find information about the country by doing a search on the USTR home page.
 

Think about the questions you would have before undertaking or expanding an international business venture.  Then arrange the questions into the categories described in your assignment:  issues related to the consumer, product/service, marketing and competition; issues related to the economic, technological, social/cultural, and political/legal environments.  Or, looking at the categories above, think of the questions you would need to answer for your company and product or  service.

Best Sources for this Assignment and How to Use Them...and How to Cite Them

Go to Consumer Market Sizes
Enter country and product. You may need to try a few words for the product.
Charts show units sold and expenditure. Change dates in window for forecast information.
Compare the country's market with markets of similar countries (South America, Soviet Bloc, Eastern Europe)
Compare the country's market with other countries in which the company already does business.
This is market research by a reputable organization (Euromonitor), using a number of factors to analyze sales and project future markets.
• Country Data section has information on demographics, average earnings, etc.

• Fill in boxes: country and SIC code. Click search.
• Fill in boxes: country and company name. Click search.
• Fill in boxes: country and industry name(s). Click search.
• Fill in boxes: country and product name(s). Click search.
• Fill in boxes: country and keyword and concept = market share and market size.
• Also search competitors' names and country.
• Some articles in foreign languages do not have fulltext, but abstract is in English.You can still use this information for your report.

• Look up your company
• See the Global Company Report in the upper right corner of the Content Profile.
• Open Full Report. Don't print it--it could be several hundred pages long!
• Use the Find command under the Edit menu to search through the report for mention of your country.
• If you find something useful, go back to the menu and print that section of the report, or copy & paste into a Word document (must do this in Technopolis or a campus classroom).
• Go into the Worldscope database (in the blue bar at the top of the screen, click the word "Databases", then select "Worldscope") to find foreign competitors. Use SIC code and country.

• Go to NTDB.
• Search databases under Market and Country Research for your country.
• Search within country information for your product.
• Use the Find command under the Edit menu to search through lengthy reports.

• Use the 1999 index volume to look up your country.
• Look for statistical information about your product.
• Statistical information about consumer expenditures, cost of living, product imports and exports, might be helpful.

• Reports containing information about current political, economic, etc., climate of countries
• Includes 18-month and 5-year projections for risks of getting involved in a particular country

More useful sources for this assignment can be found on these web pages:

International Business

Countries and Cultures

Business Database Selection Chart
 
 

Contact Business Librarian:   Carolyn Johnson
 
 
 
 
 

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