Resource Desk

Maintained by the Australian Trade Commission to assist Australian Exporters with their activities, most of this site's content has been created with the Australian firm in mind. However, the Country Info section contains information useful to everyone. Each country's profile includes a doing business guide with sections for business etiquette, investment policies, labor laws, and business traveler information.

Provided by the BBC News-UK edition, the Country profiles section features general information, history, and political and economic background including audio and video clips for each country according to region.

This site provides business and political information for many Asian countries. Business in Asia highlights specific counties and includes information for those interested in the manufacturing industry. Travelers to these areas will find the site helpful as it provides information about embassies, links for research, and places to visit.

Business Monitor International offers industry reports on sectors like Telecommunications, Oil and Gas, and Information Technology. Also, it provides regional country risk monitors, and business forecast reports on Asia, Emerging Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. In addition, the site offers databases containing data on companies in important markets and industries; those on markets are available for sale. Lastly, Business Monitor International provides websites containing articles and reports on the various regions and industries. While subscription is necessary for this site, a free trial is available.

CSIS provides strategic insights and policy solutions to current and emerging global issues. Users can find analyses about regional affairs, international stability, and political risk. In addition, insights about longer-range consequences of current practices and policies (global aging, energy, among others) are available.

The U.S. State Department provided reports on general economic and trade statistics for a large number of countries around the world through 2001. Although this publication is no longer updated, the information presented provides a valuable insight into direct investment, economic indicators, and balance of payments. Use the menu on the left to access the reports for various years.

This site contains a collection of links to a wide array of information about country background information, world rankings, data and statistics, research, and more.

Information on all countries of the world is available under a fee-based subscription. A subscription provides users with up-to-date news, statistical data, a comprehensive country background, country maps, and in-depth political, economic, investment, social, and environmental overviews.

The country guides feature both a snapshot and a more detailed country guide on a large number of countries with a particular focus in investment climate, including issues such as taxation, business regulation, foreign investments, and labor issues. Deloitte does not allow outside websites to directly link to their country guides so to access the guides, click on the link on the left hand side directly under the introduction.

This page is part of the Department for International Development, a part of the United Kingdom government. It gives a brief report on the progress made by less developed countries in areas such as economic and political situation.

Maintained by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), “Doing e-business in…” provides information on the infrastructure, law and regulations, and taxation conditions regarding internet usage and readiness in over 60 countries. The e-business readiness rankings are a guide to rate a nation's ability to conduct internet-based commerce by assessing each country's general business environment and “connectivity." E-business news items and a market profile for each of the ranked countries are also included.

Provided by the economist.com, “Cities Guide provides current business, economic, and tourist insights to 20 of the largest cities around the world. Information on the cities ranges from recent articles to "Insider Tips" to night life descriptions to cost of living indicators.

Web site provides detailed overviews of the energy resources and usage for each country in the world. The resource is updated regularly and can be downloaded as PDF files.

Eldis provides information on world development issues. The Country Profiles section of Eldis features news, statistics, organizations and sector information by country. Other information also available from the Eldis include resource guides, recent news and events, and links to key development websites.

Emerging Markets Online is a market research service specializing in power, energy, and telecom and utilities markets of Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. A catalog of expert industry databases, market research studies, industry newsletters and daily headline news services are provided. Only basic headlines and sample reports are available for free. All other services and reports are offered for a fee-based subscription.

Energy Asia is an energy industry portal for the Asia Pacific region. Site includes information and contacts in the oil, gas, power and petrochemical industries in the region. Energy Asia also provides daily online energy news, an online directory, energy data from several Asian countries, and an energy bookstore.

The Business & Economics section of EurasiaNet provides information for the following countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. For each country, a series of resource links are provided on topics like businesses, brief history, and others.

Euromoney Publications PLC provides feature articles on various regions and countries of the world, extracted from a range of Euromoney publications. Each feature article includes extensive and insightful information on the business environment of the countries, primarily from a financial and economic perspective. Free registration is required for some parts of the site.

Euromonitor is a fee-based subscription service that provides detailed analysis on multiple global industries. While the actual reports are only available for purchase, the site includes insight articles, reference book listings, global and country reports, and company profiles. Informative free executive summaries for all the reports that are sold are also available.

Provided by the U.S. Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), the Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards (FAIRS) country reports are “market access reports” that provide technical specifications for food and agricultural imports for countries worldwide. Downloadable reports are available by country in PDF and WordPerfect formats.

Financial Times publishes approximately 200 country and industry surveys annually which appear with copies of the newspaper most days of the week. Topics include financial markets, global industries, business management and developed and emerging countries. A summary is available for free, however the full reports are accessible only through an FT.com subscription.

Freedom House publishes three studies a year dealing with political issues. The Freedom in the World survey evaluates the state of political rights and civil liberties around the world, providing ratings and narrative reports for 192 countries and 18 related territories. The Press Freedom Survey is an annual country-by-country worldwide assessment of freedom of the press, examining press laws, political and economic constraints on news reporting, and cases of press freedom violations. The Nations in Transit is a comprehensive annual progress report on the status of the political and economic reforms in the 27 emerging democracies and transitional countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Archived reports are available for all three publications. Also listed under News & Periodicals: Publications.

Geared towards a younger audience, geographic.org helps the user learn more about world geography. Specialty topics link to climate, flags, maps, and countries. The “Country Ranks” feature positions 231 countries in various economic and demographic statistics.

GEM is a research program composed by teams representing almost 30 countries. Through its "National Reports", GEM gives country-specific entrepreneurial information on an annual basis.

Global Insight provides the most comprehensive economic, financial, and political coverage of countries, regions, and industries available from any source—covering over 200 countries and spanning more than approximately 170 industries—using a unique combination of expertise, models, data, and software within a common analytical framework to support planning and decision making. A free trial is available.

Provides customized information for 161 countries. Apart from some basic country facts/statistics, the site goes into great detail describing the climate, transportation, communications, business culture, and many more aspects of each country. Access to entries requires a fee-based subscription, however services under “Global Toolbox” are available for free. Also listed under Culture.

A joint effort of the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, the index scores the relative freedom of 161 world economies based on 10 factors -- trade policy, fiscal burden of government, government intervention in the economy, monetary policy, capital flows and foreign investment, banking and finance, wages and prices, property rights, regulation, and black market. The complete publication is available online. Also listed under News & Periodicals: Publications.

Access to country reports written by the staff of the International Monetary Fund is provided. Publications include working papers, country reports, economic issues, and policy discussion papers, all in full text. Fee required to access full text, though a summary is often available free. Available only in PDF format. Also listed under Statistical Data Sources. (It takes a minute to load the website)

Part of Indiana University (IU) Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), the page provides current research topics that the IU CIBER is working on. Topics include free trade agreement among China, Japan, and Korea, regional and global integration in South America, and more.

Detailed market reports on all countries provided by the Canadian government. Each country report includes a brief background on the country, as well as industry sector analyses. To locate the country reports, log in as a Canadian National. Also available in French.

Information Technology Landscape is a database on all facets of Information and Communication Technologies in over 80 nations. Each report is organized to highlight top insights to that country's technology, including telecommunications, internet, labor, regulation, policy, and national technological competencies. Since this site is in relation to a MBA course, new countries are added and old countries updated each semester.

Interex.be provides detailed economic and business information, such as tax issues, the labor market, or economic indicators, for 80 countries. Specific market information is also provided for each country, with the ability to follow market changes. Also available in French and Dutch.

Information provided by Industry Canada comprises extensive facts about all countries. Information on each country varies, but most include Economic Trends, Investment Climate, Country Commercial Guides, International Business Practices guides, and industry sector information, among others. All countries have demographic information from the CIA World Factbook.

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation established by the Canadian Parliament, whose mission is to aid developing countries through the use of science and technology. Specific focus of the aid is to improve the economic, social, and cultural aspects of these developing nations.

A joint initiative of Transparency International and University of Passau, the Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries by the extent of corruption in public administration. A new index is published every year. There is also a separate report on the willingness of leading exporting countries to bribe internationally. Currently, the latest index is for 2007. An alternative presentation of the index can be found on the Transparency International website.

Prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, the series is comprised of 102 books, each of which examines a different foreign country. Each book looks at the particular country's history, society and environment, economy, government and politics, and national security. Most of the books have not been updated recently, but provide relevant background and historical information.

Link2 Exports provides country profiles in conjunction with the British Chamber of Commerce, which includes information on the economy, statistical data, and society and government information. Link 2 Exports also provides news and a comprehensive visitor’s guide to each country.

A service provided by the European Commission in cooperation with member states, consists of a number of databases analyzing non-EU countries Market Access conditions, barriers to trade, among other relevant issues. Access to the Sectoral, Trade Barriers Database, Statistics, and Studies sections is free. However, information under the Exporters Guide, Applied Tariffs, and WTO Bound Tariffs is only available to users connecting from any of the 27 European Union member states.

Mondaq Business Briefing is a service dedicated to professionals and business people involved in international trade and investment. Legal, regulatory, and financial commentary, along with analysis and new updates from world leading professional advisors in over 80 countries on a multitude of international topics are provided free of charge. One time registration is required.

FDI.net is a unique web portal that offers free, on-demand country analysis and information on all things related to foreign direct investment in 175 countries. The site combines business and public resources with World Bank Group analysis to provide users with a single entry point for the full-spectrum of information needed to make a decision about investing in a foreign country.

The PRS Group maintains multiple databases of country-specific information, reports and an international risk guide as part of its primary business, monitoring the climate for international business around the world. Most of these are only accessible to registered users for a fee.

An online directory and international trading portal for women in business, The Bag Lady provides information on trade and regulations, social climate, communications and transportation, business profiles, demographics, communications and transport, and military in 197 UN countries.

The EIU produces objective and timely analysis and forecasts of the political, economic and business environment in almost 200 countries. It also produces reports on certain strategic industries and on the latest management thinking useful to multinational companies, exporters and importers, and any group that needs to know about political, economic and business developments across the world. Free registration is required to access some of its services.

The EIU, a part of the Economist group, is an information provider for companies establishing and managing operations across national borders anywhere in the world. Viewswire features the latest online reports in politics, economics, finance, business, and regulations. Most reports are accessible only through a fee-based subscription (14 day free trial period). There is also customized versions of the website for Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, all in English.

Provided by the US Department of State, Background Notes contain information (such as facts on each country's history, economy, and government, among others) for all nations that the US has relations with. Information is updated as often as it is received for each country.

Copies of annual country reports on Human Rights Practices submitted by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress. In accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights are taken into account. Report for the most recent year and several past years are available on the site.

A part of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) site, Country Analysis Briefs provides an overview of the world energy situation by special topic or region and country, and includes recent reports. Country and region briefs include information on general background, oil, natural gas, electricity, environment economic overviews and recent developments.

UNICEF is usually known for its charity work for children. However, its website also provides news, articles, and background information on each country. Most of the content concerns children but the extensive statistical information that is given cover a wide range of topics including, economics, nutrition, health, education, and demographics. This site is also available in French, Spanish, and Arabic.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s FAS works for improved foreign market access for U.S. agricultural products. Information on trade shows, trade leads, trade policy, current agricultural news, exporter assistance, import and export programs, development and training, and much more are available.

Provided by the University of Illinois Center for International Business Education and Research (UIUC CIBER), this page has the recent research papers that the UIUC CIBER is working on. Research papers have a strong emphasis on global competitiveness and multinational corporate strategy.

Provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement for over 130 countries. They indicate the regulatory costs of business and can be used to analyze specific regulations that enhance or constrain investment, productivity and growth.

Worldmapper provides a unique graphical representation of global data spanning everything from trade to health statistics. The maps are generated to show the extent of each measure by color and size, giving an understandable overall picture of how the factor affects each part of the world. This site is useful for academicians, researchers, or anybody who wants to learn more about conditions across the globe.

An online database created by FedEx that gives up-to-date information on customs duties and tariffs of 118 countries for a wide variety of products categorized according to the Harmonized System (HS). A paid subscription is necessary to obtain information, but a free trial is available.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) periodically reviews all member countries' trade policies, depending on each country’s share of world trade. Trade Policy Reviews provides the press releases, summaries of Secretariat, governments’ reports, and chairpersons’ conclusions on these reviews. A complete list of reviews since 1995 is also available.