Research Guides: International Business: Home

Welcome to the International Business Research Guide

This guide provides links to key business resources including both public web sites and USC resources including databases, public websites, books and journals.

Please explore the tabs at the top of this guide and don't hesitate to contact Helga, Ed or Kim in the Gaughan & Tiberti Business Library if you have any questions.

Please comment below if you have any suggestions or feedback on this guide.

Thanks,

- Helga, Ed,and Kim

USC MARSHALL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS LIBRARY INFORMATION

The Gaughan & Tiberti Business Library is located in Fertitta Hall (1st floor; JFF 101) (map)

The Accounting Library is located in the Accounting Building (1st floor; ACC 105) (map)

Hours of operation for both libraries can be found here. Both libraries provide computers for student use, group study rooms, individual study space and collections of print journals, newspapers, reference works and other books.

In-person reference assistance is usually available from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM M-F, but it's usually best to email Helga, Ed or Kim to set up an appointment.

Public Websites for Country Information

Bank for International Settlements
Central Bank websites and Central Bank Research Hub

BBC Country Profiles
General country information & media links

Each profile includes an overview, map,facts, and current leaders. A media overview provides information on the press, television, radio, news agencies, and number of Internet users.Links provided on the side of the profile connect to the latest news and key stories, BBC links, background articles, related Internet sites and video and audio clips from the BBC archives. Additional features include timelines, recent news links, background articles, Internet sites, and BBC archive video and audio clips. Information on over 20 key international organizations is also included.

CIA World Factbook
Doing Business In...
Published by World Bank
Economist - Topics Index
Search the alphabet to find articles indexed on countries worldwide.
Executive Planet Wiki
Business culture and etiquette
Export.gov
Data collected by U.S. Commercial Service for promoting U.S. good abroad. Search for countries under Opportunities Tab; other resources include industry market reports, guides and statistics and events.
Federation of International Trade Associations
Focus on promoting import with country specific data on export trade and business environments
Global Competitiveness Report
Published by the World Economic Forum
Global Enabling Trade Report
Published by the World Economic Forum
GlobalEdge
University of Michigan's site for Global information and links
Grant Thornton International Business Report
International Business Reports (IBR) Economy focus series vary by year.
Heritage Foundation: Index of Economic Freedom
Search 'Find Your Company' for country specific reports
HLB International - Doing Business in ...
Select Publications, then 'Doing Business In' then use 'Choose a brochure to download' to select country
International Finance Corp. and The World Bank: Doing Business - Measuring Business Regulation
International Monetary Fund - Country Reports
Economic and banking news and profiles
International Trade Centre
A partner for small business export success in developing countries.
Legatum Institute - Legatum Prosperity Index
The Legatum Institute is an independent, non-partisan pubic policy group based in London. Rankings by country and region and brief country profiles.
Lex Mundi - Association of Independent Law Firms
Index to 'Doing Business in' reports prepared by independent law firms.
OECD
Country ocioeconomic and statistical data as well as special reports that vary by country.
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Country specific data and factsheets on trade, exports, trade agreements and information to develop and coordinate international trade.
PKF Doing Business in
Links to country reports: Russia, Austria, Taiwan, Chile, China , Ecuador, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, UK, U.S., Jordan, Malaysia, Oman, Belgium, Hungary, Australia, Isle of Man, Malta, Uruguay, Germany, New Zealand, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Morocco, Singapore, South Korea
Polity IV Project
The Polity IV Project continues the Polity research tradition of coding the authority characteristics of states in the world system for purposes of comparative, quantitative analysis.
TradeStats Express - U.S. Department of Commerce, ITA
National trade statistics, including: merchandise exports, imports, trade balances and State export dta
U.S. Census Bureau: International Statistical Agencies
National Statistical Offices/Agencies listed by country
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Includes link to AmCham Directory
U.S. State Department - Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets
Replaces 'Background Notes'
UNDP - Human Development Reports
Reports, Indices & Data by Country on Human Development (e.g. Health, Education, Income, Gender, Poverty, Sustainability and Inequality
World Bank
Social and Economic statistics and special reports.
World Economic Forum - Country and Regional Reports
Search for country reports under Regions (left side of page). The World Competitiveness, Risk Report and Information Technologies reports are among the popular publications that are also available on this site.

USC International Business Databases

BCC Research
All reports are "global" but contain regional analysis with some individual country data.
EIU Country Report
Contains Country Reports, Country Commerce Reports and more from the Economist Intelligence Unit.
EMIS
Provides coverage of emerging economies in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America including articles, financial statements, industry analyses, equity quotes, macroeconomic statistics, and market-specific information.
Global Road Warrior
Business travel guide and country background information.
IBISWorld
Detailed market research and analysis on over 700 U.S. industries as well as Global Industry Reports, China Industry Reports and Business Environment Reports.
Mint Global
Market reports on industries with financial details for companies and economic indicators for the countries in which the companies operate.
OECD iLibrary
Online library of Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) statistical databases, books and periodicals

These online services include access to OECD textual publications as well as publications of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the International Transport Forum (ITF) in PDF form and access to OECD statistical databases in which data can be selected and downloaded as .xls, .csv, or .ivt files. Access is available for titles published from January 1998 onwards. Please note that access to the IEA stats is not part of USC's OECD subscription.
Passport
Passport: International company, country, industry and market information.

It includes company profiles, some with SWOT analysis, country briefings, sector briefings, sector data, industry watch articles and detailed Consumer Lifestyle reports.
ProQuest Statistical Insight
Offers three major sources (federal, state and international) of statistical data tables, publications and links.

Whenever possible, the Superintendent of Documents classification number, the Library of Congress card number, the Government Printing Office (GPO) Monthly Catalog entry number, the GPO stock number, and the depository item number are also included. The abstract may also contain two hypertext links - one to the agency's World Wide Web site where the full text of the publication may be viewed and downloaded; the other to the full text on Statistical Universe, where the publication can be viewed, downloaded and accessed section by section or table by table.
Thomson One
Provides detailed company information including financials, ratios, news, filings, and the company research and analyst reports formerly found in the Investext database

US Commercial Service Market Research Library
International market research and country commercial guides available from the US Government. Registration is required for academic users.

USA Trade Online
Describes the use of Trade Stats Express and USA Trade Online for official US government import and export statistics.
World Bank Worldwide Development Indicators
The World Bank's World Development Indicators provides direct access to more than 700 development indicators, with time series for 208 countries and 18 country groups from 1960 to present.

A subset of these data can be viewed graphically within the World Bank's Data Visualizer.
Also, check out the World Banks new open-data initiative.

USC Article Databases

Search for articles written about business in a specific country in ABI/Inform, Factiva and Lexis/Nexis Academic. Some possible topics are "COUNTRY NAME" or INDUSTRY TRENDS and Name of Country" Use database search tools (Search Builder, Advanced Search or Search Options) to limit by location (geography or region). Search for articles written about business in locally published publications listed under media.

ABI/INFORM Collection
Articles from leading business journals, magazines, trade publications and newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and much more.
EBSCO Business Source Complete
Business news database. Search COUNTRY NAME by selecting 'SU Subject Terms' from drop down menu
Factiva
Good source of current news. You can limit your search to publications by country by going to the Search Builder then limit your search by "Region"
LexisNexis Academic (Nexis Uni)
Another good source of international business news, go to Power Search, then limit search by "Geography"

Gini-Coefficients

The Gini coefficient measure the inequalty among values of a frequency of distribution e.g. income on a scale of 0-1.

A Gini coefficient of 0 expresses perfect equality where are values are the same.
A Gini coefficient of 1 (100 on the percentile scale) expresses maximal inequality among value where one person has all the income.

Passport
Gini factors are available through the Search box.

It includes company profiles, some with SWOT analysis, country briefings, sector briefings, sector data, industry watch articles and detailed Consumer Lifestyle reports.

LIS Cross National Data Center
Home of the Luxembourg Income Study Database and the Luxembourg Wealth Study Database.
See Data Access for databases; registration is required to download microdata sets, but detailed 'Key Figures' in Excel can be downloaded without registration.
University of Texas - Inequality Project
Datasets on pay inequality at the global level and the national level including: Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, China, India & Russia and at the regional level for Europe
World Bank - Measureing Inequality
Explanation of the Gini -coefficient
World Bank Development Indicators (WDI) & Global Development Finance (GDF)
Select 'INDICATORS' tab. Select Gini Index. Data can e downloaded to a variety of formats.
World Income Inequality Database-United Nations University's World Institute for Development Economics Research.
Provides various measures of income inequality for 152 countries or areas, in some cases, prior to 1960.
UNU WIDER World INcome Inequality Database (WIID)
UNU - WIDER -United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research.
Link to Excel database and User Guide. Download the World Income Inequality Database User Guide and Data Sources for important definitions and list of variables used as well as Glossary.
World Bank DataBank

Contact Us for Assistance

Helga Haraldsson
Head, Gaughan & Tiberti Business Library and Accounting Library
(213) 740-0050
haraldss@usc.edu

Eduardo Tinoco
Business Librarian
(213) 740-9167
etinoco@marshall.usc.edu

Christy Kane
Business Librarian
(213) 740-1514
kanec@usc.edu

Kimberly Esser
Business Information Specialist
(213) 740-6255
kimberle@usc.edu

Gaughan & Tiberti Business Library
Fertitta Hall - JFF 101
(213) 740-8520
library@marshall.usc.edu

Country Risk Reports

AM Best Country Risk - Public Website
AM Best is a full-service credit rating organization serving the insurance industry. Select country to download reports.
Coface - Public Website
Coface is a trade receivables consulting firm and provides risk analysis by country.
Euromoney Country Risk - Public Website
Risk analysis from ECR with emphasis on financial and political factors. Paid membership is required for full access.

Passport
To access the RISK & VULNERABILITIES report for a specific country, search for it by name in the search box.

It includes company profiles, some with SWOT analysis, country briefings, sector briefings, sector data, industry watch articles and detailed Consumer Lifestyle reports.
EBSCO Business Source Complete
If you search under the Publications tab for POLITICAL RISK YEARBOOK, you will find links to the PRS Risk Reports for countries around the world.
LexisNexis Academic (Nexis Uni)
Risk guides from PRS Group International can be accessed via LexisNexis Academic on the Easy Search page. In the lower left corner, you will see a box called RESEARCH COUNTRIES. Select your country from the dropdown box and then select PRS RISK GUIDE & SERVICE and a date range (6 months is recommended) and click GO. Scan through the results for reports specifically on your country. Not every country will have a risk report.

International Business: Home