MANA 4040 - International Management: Country information

Dr. Rehbein

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First, here are some links directly to sample country reports for a few of your specific countries. Below those, are resources for finding more country reports.

Databases and links for country profiles

The databases and links below offer country profiles that are regularly updated, mostly annually, some more frequently. Some are fee-based library subscription databases; some are free ...

Business Source Premier from EBSCO This link opens in a new window
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Searches business publications; includes company, country, and industry reports. Good coverage of scholarly business publications. Mostly 1984 - present.
In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for nearly 1,570 journals. This database contains popular business publications such as Business Week, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review, and hundreds of scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. Also included is Wall Street Words, a dictionary of financial terms, linked directly to words within the citations and full text. Full text backfiles go as far back as January of 1990, while indexing and abstract backfiles go as far back as January of 1984.

Country Commercial Guides
Prepared annually by U.S. embassies with the assistance of several U.S. government agencies.
CountryWatch Country Review reports
Via Ebsco's Business Source Premier. Add a country name to the search to find reports of interest. The reports are usually 200+ pages in length.

CultureGrams: World Edition from Axiom Press This link opens in a new window
Brief profiles of 181 countries. Includes some cultural information appropriate for travelers.
Includes 25 categories such as Land & Climate, People, Customs & Courtesies, Lifestyle, Society, History, Religion, Family, and Economy. Also has multimedia content such as typical greetings and the national anthem.

Doing Business discontinued, new program under development.
The Doing Business website from the World Bank and International Finance Corporation provided rankings about business climate, or the ease of "doing business", in countries until September 2021. The program was then discontinued due to questions about the integrity of the methodology. World Bank is developing a new approach for assessing business climate in countries, tentatively called Business Ready, or B-Ready. B-Ready will go live in 2024 sometime.
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Forwarded from https://www.doingbusiness.com/
EIU Viewswire (in the ProQuest Political Science database)
Economist Intelligence Unit.
IHS Markit Country Intelligence reports (now owned by S&P Global)
Via Ebsco's Business Source Premier. Add a country name to the search to find reports of interest.
The reports are usually 20-25 pages, and focus on the economy and political situation.
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Ebsco calls these reports Country Monitor reports, and so the search reflects that. But IHS Global calls them Country Intelligence reports!
MarketLine Country Profiles
Includes PESTLE analyses (political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental).

Passport This link opens in a new window
On first use only, acknowledgement of privacy and security policy required.
Data, reports and analysis about countries, industries, companies and consumers. Includes: economic and social data for ~200 countries; market research reports for ~80 countries; company and consumer profiles. We do NOT subscribe to the Sustainability module.
Video demo on how to search in Passport.
Economic and social indicator data redistributed from IMF, UN, World Bank, OECD. Annual data only.

Political Risk Yearbook reports
Via in Ebsco's Business Source Premier database. Longer (40-70+ pages) profiles of 100 countries, developed and developing only. These profiles are great for information about the political scene, and the economy.
Worldwide Corporate Tax Guide
From Ernst & Young.
"The chapters in this guide provide at-a-glance information, as well as details on the taxes on corporate income and gains, determination of trading income, other significant taxes, miscellaneous matters (including foreign-exchange controls, debt-to-equity rules, transfer pricing, controlled foreign companies and antiavoidance legislation) and treaty withholding tax rates."
Worldwide Tax Summaries Online
From PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Provides an "up-to-date summary of basic information about corporate and individual taxes in over 150 countries worldwide".

Culture & communication

Finding information about a country's culture and how they 'do business' is relatively easy. Below are several resources (including a couple of databases) which include information explicitly about this in their reports.

In addition, we have lots of books on the subject. Some are more general, and include discussion of many countries or an entire region. Others may be about a single country. Roger Axtell and Terri Morrison are two authors who have written extensively in this area. In addition, here are some subject headings that you might use when searching in MARQCAT:

–   business communication
–   business etiquette
–   business travel
–   communication, international
–   intercultural communication

Finally, the Oxford Handbook of International Business has a full chapter on culture and human resource management that may be helpful.

Country Insights (Centre for Intercultural Learning)
From the Canadian Foreign Service Institute of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. It has a Q & A format with questions about very specific situations a traveler may encounter.
Culture Crossing Guide
A community built resource for cross-cultural etiquette and understanding.
Requires Flash to run.

CultureGrams: World Edition from Axiom Press This link opens in a new window
Brief profiles of 181 countries. Includes some cultural information appropriate for travelers.
Includes 25 categories such as Land & Climate, People, Customs & Courtesies, Lifestyle, Society, History, Religion, Family, and Economy. Also has multimedia content such as typical greetings and the national anthem.

Hofstede Centre - Country Comparison
World maps of countries based on their national culture, using 6 dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism, and indulgence). Here's a brief intro about Hofstede's work.
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To learn more about Geert Hofstede's work, read his book, Cultures and Organizations: software of the mind ....

Passport This link opens in a new window
On first use only, acknowledgement of privacy and security policy required.
Data, reports and analysis about countries, industries, companies and consumers. Includes: economic and social data for ~200 countries; market research reports for ~80 countries; company and consumer profiles. We do NOT subscribe to the Sustainability module.
Video demo on how to search in Passport.
Economic and social indicator data redistributed from IMF, UN, World Bank, OECD. Annual data only.

UNESCO - Culture
This area of the UNESCO portal site has information about a variety of things cultural in countries, including World Heritage Sites, literary and artistic prizes, and more.
This site is perhaps more for culture appreciation than directly relevant to business ...