Research Guides: Company and Industry Research: International

International Company Business Data

The following online sources will provide selected information of public and private international companies, including the names of officers, company organization, company histories, SIC/NAICS codes (if they do any business in the U.S.), sales, number of employees, annual reports, profitability ratios, and more.

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
Features company profiles provided by Datamonitor, a database of 5000 of the largest worldwide companies. These reports contain information on the key facts, business descriptions, history, major products and services analysis, SWOT analysis, top competitors, locations and subsidiaries. Provides full text for more than 2,300 scholarly business journals, including full text for more than 1,100 peer-reviewed titles. With full text back to 1965, and searchable cited references back as far as 1998, this database covers all business fields.

General Country Information Resources

These sources will give you background information on individual countries or regions. They will also give you information on the prevailing cultures of the area, measures of physical infrastructure, and consumption & production volumes for commodities & value-added products. Providing insight into the country where a firm is either headquartered or may develop a presence in, will help to persuade your reader when writing an international business plan.

CIA World Factbook
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook provides up-to-date statistical and descriptive information about the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, infrastructure, raw materials & commodities, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.
more...less...
Its Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
To find information for a given country, either try limiting in "Publication Type" to "Country Report" or type in a country name, then on the second line, enter "Political Risk Yearbook". Provides full text for more than 2,300 scholarly business journals, including full text for more than 1,100 peer-reviewed titles. With full text back to 1965, and searchable cited references back as far as 1998, this database covers all business fields.

Market Research Library: U.S. Commercial Service
Access the U.S. Commercial Service Market Research Library containing more than 100,000 industry and country-specific market reports, authored by our specialists working in overseas posts.
more...less...
The Library Includes: Country Commercial Guides (read latest “Doing Business In” guides), Industry Overviews, Market Updates, Multilateral Development Bank Reports, Best Markets, and Industry/Regional Reports.
Students/researchers may register with Export.gov to get access.
BBC News Country Profiles
Provides instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions.
Index of Economic Freedom
Provides country analysis and data on foreign investment taxes, tariffs, banking regulations, monetary policy, black markets, etc.
more...less...
The degree to which an individual nation is free economically is a very important measure to consider in making international business investments. In determining a country's Economic Freedom Score, the Heritage Foundation considers many attributes, including Rule of Law, Limited Government, Regulatory Efficiency, and Open Markets.
Tradeport
"California's Gateway to Global Trade" provides free country profiles in PDF format in the “Market Research" tab. Choose "Country Library" in the drop-down menu.
NationMaster
A website that allows users to generate graphs comparing two countries based on numerical data extracted from the CIA Factbook and other cited data sources.
more...less...
"A great tool to use for looking backward to see who tracks the data you're looking for." Celia Ross, Making Sense of Business Reference.
World Development Indicators
The World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) is the statistical benchmark that helps measure the progress of development. Provides both current and historical country-specific data on more than 1,400 indicators.

SEC EDGAR

SEC Filings
SEC filings of international companies who trade stock on US exchanges are available. These are known as 20F reports and are similar to the 10K reports of US companies. They can be found in LexisNexis and Mergent.

Competitive Currencies

Assessing an Industy Internationally

A. T. Kearney - Ideas & Insights: Research Studies
Our research studies offer unique, in-depth, forward-looking analysis of major issues for global business leaders, helping them make the best decisions in an increasingly global world. Includes: Global Retail Development Index, Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index.
globalEDGE -Global Insights
Global Insights provides international business and trade information on over 200 countries, the 50 U.S. states, as well as nearly two dozen industry sectors, and many of the world’s trade blocs.

Choosing an International Company to Research

Fortune "Global 500"
An annual ranking of the world's biggest companies from Fortune Magazine.

Fun Sites

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century maps of North and South America, although it also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. Digitization of the collection began in 1996 and there are now over 35,000 items online, with new additions added regularly.

Quick Links for Doing International Business Research

Asian & European Business Collection This link opens in a new window
This database provides information pertinent to the study of business and finance topics across Asia and Europe, including academic journals, newspapers, newswires, and magazines. Find information on companies, economies, markets, international trade, and overall business conditions and practices throughout these regions.

Australia & New Zealand Database This link opens in a new window
Locally-sourced scholarly publishing adds important social, scientific, and business context to cross-disciplinary and globally relevant areas of study. Australia & New Zealand Database provides ongoing full-text academic journals that are locally published by scholarly publishing organizations and educational institutions in Australia and New Zealand. Major subject areas of study are represented, including business, science, technology, engineering, social sciences, education, and humanities.
Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database This link opens in a new window
This database is a longstanding, comprehensive Canadian periodical collection covering multiple subjects and topics, with millions of full-text records. Accessible to readers and researchers at every level, the Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database features a diversified mix of publications, including scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, reports, radio and television transcripts, news, dissertations, and more.

Europe

East Europe, Central Europe Database This link opens in a new window
Locally-sourced scholarly publishing adds important social, scientific, and business context to cross-disciplinary and globally relevant areas of study. The East & Central Europe Database features full-text academic journals that are locally published by scholarly publishing organizations and educational institutions located in the East and Central Europe region. Major subject areas of study are represented, including business, science, technology, engineering, medical, social sciences, education, arts, literature, history, and others.
India Database This link opens in a new window
India Database a comprehensive multidisciplinary resource that provides full-text, scholarly journals, all published in India. These scholarly sources support many academic fields of study, such as business, medicine, science, technology, social sciences and humanities. Providing a unique source of the very best scholarly periodical output from India, India Database specialized in current scholarship originating in India, with most coverage from the last ten years and is updated daily with new content.
Latin America & Iberia Database This link opens in a new window
Latin America & Iberia Database provides full-text academic journals that are locally published by scholarly publishing organizations and educational institutions in many Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuala, as well as Spain and Portugal. Major subject areas of study are represented, including business, science, technology, engineering, medical, social sciences, education, arts, anthropology, law, and humanities.
Middle East & Africa Database This link opens in a new window
Locally-sourced scholarly publishing adds important social, scientific, and business context to cross-disciplinary and globally relevant areas of study. Middle East& Africa Database provides full-text academic journals that are locally published by scholarly publishing organizations and educational institutions in many Middle Eastern and African countries. Major subject areas of study are represented, including business, science, technology, engineering, social sciences, education, and humanities.
Turkey Database This link opens in a new window
Locally-sourced scholarly publishing adds important social, scientific, and business context to cross-disciplinary and globally relevant areas of study. Turkey Database provides full-text academic journals that are locally published by scholarly publishing organizations and educational institutions in Turkey. Major subject areas of study are represented, including business, science, technology, medical, engineering, social sciences, education, and humanities.
UK & Ireland Database This link opens in a new window
Locally-sourced scholarly publishing adds important social, scientific, and business context to cross-disciplinary and globally relevant areas of study. This database provides full-text academic journals that are locally published by scholarly publishing organizations and educational institutions in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Major subject areas of study include business, science, technology, engineering, social sciences, education, and humanities. Researchers highly value local content.

Company and Industry Research

Books in the Library

Current Events in Foreign Countries

List of Countries