Below, there are many pointers to country-specific information, sorted
by continent. To get more, try this trick:
 Search the Internet using
Alta Vista. See
Chapter 10). Compose a query that contains the
international standard top-level code for the country in question (click
on link in Appendix 6 for a list of country codes).
Insist that the code be present in the URLs of found resources. Qualify further
by adding other words or phrases if your query gives too many hits.
Example: +url:.kr
"+url:" insists that
the preceding string be found in the URL. "KR" is the top-level code
for Korea. This code is often found at the end of the location part of URLs
pointing to this country, unless the server uses a non-country specific code
(like .net or .com). This search is likely to return links
like http://kpd.sing-kr.org/ (Korea
Progressive Directory).
Expect the two character code
to exist in URLs pointing to resources in other countries also. However,
the result is usually good. For example, MN is the code for Mongolia.
Using "+url:.mn" in your query will also find URLs like
http://www.an.cc.mn.us/depts/he/raynauds.html.
Africa
Brainwave for NewsNet has several interesting
newsletters
Africa Intelligence Report
Africa News On-Line
- political, economic and cultural developments
Country Risk Guides: Sub-Saharan Africa
Country Risk Guides: Mid-East & North Africa
Monthly Regional Bulletin - Southern Africa,
PRS-Forecasts: Mid-East & North Africa
PRS-Forecasts: Sub-Saharan Africa
Southern Africa Business Intelligence
The
Information Bank on African Development Studies (IBADS) is a mailing
service provided by the Africa Technical Department at
the World Bank. Its aim is
to send out information about development studies on Sub-Saharan Africa.
Investext brings regular reports
about activity in the African region.
For leads in South Africa,
start with ExiNet. This South
African trade information resource has information on South African Exporters,
South African Trade Fairs and Exhibitions, Travel and Tourism, South African
Publications, South African Property, and South African Demographics: A Regional
Summary. ExiNet boasts a database of over 70,000 South African companies.
Other South African sources
on the Web include The Africa Commercial
home page in Cape Town , and
Compustat.
African Census data
is at
http://lexis.pop.upenn.edu/world/africa.
See
http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov/globalpop/africa/
for the African Population Database.
The
SUDAN-L
mailing list is where you will find information and sources of information
about Sudan.
China
China Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), a major component of China's national
economy. Has Essentials of China's Foreign Economic Relations and Trade,
China Trading Opportunities, and more. In English and Chinese.
China Statistical
Information Network offers the Chinese government's statistical yearbook.
Chinamarkets, another
MOFTEC offering, covers information on thousands of industrial products,
from machinery and electronic products to textiles and foodstuffs, as well
as company information and a business news section.
China Dimensions
offers China Administrative Regions GIS Data, GB Codes for the Administrative
Divisions of the People's Republic of China, Fundamental GIS: Digital Chart
of China with layers for roads, railroads, drainage system, contours, populated
places and urbanized areas, access to the China Census of Population, Data
on Population and Agriculture, Data on Provincial Economic Yearbooks, China
Micro-Economic Database, Agricultural Statistics, Data on Hospitals and
Epidemiology Stations, and the Priority Program for China's Agenda 21. Many
data sets are available at the county level.
CDN-Global
provides news and information about China and Chinese that are of general
interests to readers all over the world. Published three times a week.
China Business
News publishes updated economic news to those into doing business
with China. Chinese Business World
provides information about business, travel, and culture.
Reports on World Bank Projects
in China are at
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/offrep/eap/cn2.htm.
A WWW service for the Chinese
community exists at http://www.edu.tw/.
Most of the local texts support Chinese BIG5 only.
Kompass has information about companies
in China.
India
There is a comprehensive Web site about India, it's economy and industry,
called the Indian Economy
Overview. The site has complete coverage of the recent Indian Financial
Budget, including full text, live coverage, commentary, analysis and reactions.
The aim of the non-profit
National Centre for Trade Information
(NCTI) is to promote "trade, investment and technology flow among different
countries". For statistical information about economy, population, etc.,
see http://www.nic.in/gistnic/.
Check
IndiaWorld. Their
offerings include Indian news, business and entertainment information with
links to India Daily, khoj daily, The Indian Express and The Financial Express,
Madhya Pradesh Chronicle, India Trade Daily, and more.
The Economic Times is
the largest selling business daily in India.
Kompass has information about Indian
companies.
Japan
The Japan External Trade
Organization (JETRO), provides Japanese government procurement
information from Kampo, the governments official journal, alongside economic
information about Japan. One hyperlink points at "Japan Economic Trends,
Industry, Markets, Business Practices." This page contain such things as
First Steps in Exporting to Japan, Doing Business in Japan, and The Japanese
Consumer.
The Mizuho
Securities RESEARCH & LINKS page provides links to English language
resources on Japanese economy, finance and politics.
The Japan Information
Center of Science and Technology (JIST) offers a range of commercial
English language databases in the broad spectrum of science, technology and
medicine.
Orbit has an English language database
of Japanese technology. It contains abstracts of articles, patents and standards
from more than 500 Japanese magazines.
Reuters offers the Yomiuri Shimbun,
Japan's best-selling daily newspaper.
Tradstat offers Japanese
import and export statistics.
Dow Jones Interactive
brings full-text stories from the Japan Economic Newswire (Kyodo News
International), which covers Japanese company, industry and financial markets;
government, defence and science news. It also brings full-text stories from
many other international publications including New Era Japan, New Food Products
in Japan, New Materials Japan, and PDS's Japan Auto Industry Survey, Power
Asia.
The Investext database has
English language profiles of thousands of Japanese companies sourced from
Teikou, Japan's largest business credit agency.
Kompass has information about Japanese
companies. LEXIS-NEXIS,
Dialog, NiftyServe, PC-VAN, and G-Search have
the Teikoku Databank, with directory and income information about over one
million Japanese firms.
Middle East
ArabNet focuses on the Arab world
in the Middle East and North Africa, and offers links and information about
Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait Lebanon,
Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen.
The Israel Industry R&D
Information System (MOP) have an information server at
http://www.matimop.org.il/. There's
a weekly newsletter called
"The Arab Press on
Israel."
The Israel Information
Service is at http://www.israel.org/
(some documents are in French and Spanish). Choices include Basic Statistics,
The Economy, Culture, Communications and Media, and Basic Laws and Legal
Issues.
Kompass has information about companies
in the region.
Other countries in Asia and the Pacific
AFX Asia delivers 400+
subscription- based Asian financial news stories from all of Asia each day.
Operated by providers such as Financial Times Group, AFP, Nikkei, and Australian
Association Press.
Asia Pulse, a real-time commercial
intelligence wire designed for corporate users, delivers information about
Asian infrastructure, private investments, government procurement, company
and industry developments, politics, exports, retail trade, and regulatory
issues. Covers 50 industry categories in over 20 countries.
Asia Intelligence Ltd, an online
source for economic, political, and strategic intelligence on Asia, brings
daily briefings, a conflict monitoring service, and an election watch.
AsiaSource provides timely,
reliable, unbiased information and assistance regarding the cultural, economic,
social, historical, and political dimensions of Asia. With a worldwide events
calendar, a glossary of terms, annotated links and opinion pieces, news services,
country profiles, special features, and more.
The Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) brings information about the 18 current members'
economies, calendar of APEC activities, press releases, and more.
The Asian Development
Bank is at
http://www.asiandevbank.org/,
and Asian Buying Consortium at
http://www.abcflash.com.
The Far Eastern Economic Review Interactive
Edition (Hong Kong) focuses on Asian current affairs, business, economies
and investment. Straits Times (Singapore) is at
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/,
and Singapore Business Times is at
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/.
Dun & Bradstreet
has hard-to-find company information on developing markets such as Indonesia,
the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Tradstat has import and
export statistics on Hong Kong and Taiwan. Asia, Inc., the Hong Kong published
business magazine, contains articles of Asia's executives and their enterprises,
daily financial information, and more.
The Hong Kong Trade Development
Council offers comprehensive trade and business information on Hong
Kong and Mainland China, online trade enquiry, trade fair registration, and
more.
The
ASIA-PACIFIC
DATABASE covers business and economics in Asia and the Pacific.
Dun's
Market Identifiers provide directory listings of businesses throughout
the Asian and Pacific Rim countries.
The ELC file on
LEXIS-NEXIS contains financial and marketing
information on Southeast Asian corporations (1993).
Kompass has information about companies
in Australia, Hong Kong, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,
South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, etc.
Investext also monitors the
region closely.
Yet more Asian pointers
The Asian
Studies area of the WWW Organization's international directory of
networked research and educational resources (WWW Virtual Library) tracks
information and research resources (ftp, gopher, wais, www) for Burma, China,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea,
Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam. Check
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html
to follow developments regularly, or search its full-text database of past
issues.
Eurasia Research
Center offers links to news and other resources on the Balkans, Baltic
States, Central Europe, the Caucasus, formerly Soviet Central Asia, Russia,
Belarus, Iran, Ukraine, Moldavia, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The EXPORT-IMPORT-INVEST
Vietnam - Business Directories pages are in English, French, Spanish,
and German.
Central and South America
Organizacion de los Estados
Americanos' (OEA) "Programs and Issues" page gathers information
on current OAS activities in the areas of trade, democracy, environment,
human rights, drug abuse control, telecommunications and information
infrastructure, and others. Every country in the Americas is a member of
the OAS (except Cuba). In Spanish and English
Business News Americas brings
daily news in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on industries such as
telecommunications, ecommerce, electric power, oil and gas, mining, metals,
infrastructure, privatization, banking, environment. Latin America Related
Information Service is at
http://lanic.utexas.edu/.
Tradstat has import and
export data on Brazil and Argentina. For South American census data, try
http://lexis.pop.upenn.edu/world/latin_america.
The Latin American Data Base (LADB)
has SourceMex (economic news and analysis on Mexico), Chronicle of Latin
American Economic Affairs (reports on trade policy, privatization, monetary
policy, and macro-economic figures), and Central America Update.
RNP - Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (National
Research Network) has links to most ftp, gopher and WWW servers in Brazil.
Instituto Nacional da Propriedade
Industrial offers Brazilian patents data.
Investext closely monitors
the region. Dow Jones has Mexico Service, InterAmerican Opportunities, and
Latin America Opportunity Report.
The European Common Market and Central Europe
Those exporting to the EEC need to master languages like German, French,
Italian, and Spanish besides having a working knowledge of English. Conversation
is the easy part. The problem is writing, and especially when the task is
to translate technical expressions to the languages used within the Common
Market.
Check
the European Commission's Translation
Service for help. Its database contains around five million entries
in twelve languages, including technical terms, abbreviations, acronyms and
phraseology. The search interface offers several options, including source
and target languages, subject field, and the kind of data (terms, abbreviations,
or phraseology) sought.
The Europe Homepage offers
multi-lingual information on the European Union's goals and policies. EUROPA
represents EU's institutions, and is run by the European Commission. Here
are also links to official documents from the Union, publications, online
services, statistics, news, and other Web servers of the area.
The Common Market's free database
service, I*M-EUROPE (Information
Market Europe), is set up to "support the actions of DGXIII of the European
Commission in stimulating the European electronic information services market
and multimedia content industries." It offers information on topics such
as the Telematics Applications Programme, the INFO2000 programme, Task Force
Multimedia Educational Software, and links for more about EU's organizations
and programmes.
The European Commission's
CORDIS (Community Research and
Development Information Service) is a database of all European Community
information related to Research and Technological Development programmes.
You're offered multi-lingual
searches in databases on topics such as News, Programmes for finding
opportunities in your research areas, Projects for Who is doing What, Results
for exploring Innovation, Partners for your Business Research, Publications
for Key R&D, Published Items, Contacts to People who Can Help, Acronyms
relevant to Community R&D, Understanding EU R&D decision making,
and more. Here are also links to R&D in the European Union.
The EC's
DANTE provides advanced international
computer network services for the European research community. The WISE
Information Board on R&D Activities in the European Union is at
http://www.igd.fhg.de/wise/.
The
Guide To European Legal
Databases provides links to European resources on the web.
ACTS NewsClips
is a bi-weekly newsfeed about developments in the European Commission's
Advanced Communications Technologies and Services programme. You can also
sign up for deliveries by electronic mail.
EUbusiness provides daily
overviews of business news and information about the European Union. Topics
include Agriculture, Competition, Consumers, Employment/Training, Eastern
Europe, Energy, Environment, Food/Drink, Living/Working, Media/communication,
Pharmaceuticals/health, Social policy, Trade/external relations, Transport,
Economy, EMU, Tenders, Facts/Figures, Finance, Markets update, and much more.
The Zagreb Stock Exchange
is at http://www.zse.hr/.
The Vienna Stock
market (Austria) is in German.
For economics, check out
http://netec.wustl.edu/NetEc.html
for access to BibEc (bibliography of working research papers), and
WoPEc (a collection of working papers).
The European Business Directory
offers economic analyses and indicators on the main European markets,
and practical information for doing business in Europe. Information is available
in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
Dun & Bradstreet offers company
profiles of more than two million European companies.
For up-to-the-minute news
from England, try the Press Association
Online's wires. The British IEE (Institution of Electrical
Engineers) are at
http://www.iee.org.uk/. Search their
IEE Library Online Catalog. In 1996, it held some 65,000 books and pamphlets
covering all aspects of electrical engineering, electronics, manufacturing
and control engineering, computing, IT, and telecommunications.
The ELC file on
LEXIS-NEXIS contains financial and marketing
information on thousands of European corporations .
Tradstat has import and
export trade statistics on all major European countries collected by European
national statistical agencies and international bodies.
Data-Star is strong on information of Europe:
European Community: Tenders Electronic Daily, a database of European Community
contract offers. Its Textline is an excellent source of information about
European companies. CELEX (European Community Law). European Chemical News.
Dun & Bradstreet European Marketing File. DRT European Business Reports.
Business Opportunities in Europe. ABC EUROPE: European Export Industry.
Euromonitor Market Reports. Euromonitor Market Direction. Spicers Centre
for Europe - European Community Law. Spearhead - UK Analysis of EC Law.
Austria: Creditreform - Austrian
Companies. Hoppenstedt - Austria. KREDITSCHUTZVERBAND - Austrian Companies.
Benelux: the Belgian newspaper
De Financieel Ekonomische Tijd (in Flemish), INFOTRADE - Belgian Company
Financial Data, Hoppenstedt - Benelux.
France: The FRFF/FREFF files
hold balance sheets of over 335,000 French companies (1994). Telefirm - French
Companies Register. French Companies - Full Financial Data. Firmimport/Firmexport
- French Importers/Exporters. Le Monde. SCRL French Companies Financial Profiles.
Germany: German Business &
Industry Directory, German Business Opportunities, Aerzte Zeitung Online,
BDI German Industry, Biotechnology Information. Creditreform - German Companies.
German Buyers' Guide. EcoRegister - German Company Registrations. EcoNovo
- German Companies in Bundesanzeiger. German Business Statistics. German
Company Financial Data. FINF-TEXT - German Company News. Hoppenstedt - Germany.
ManagementInfo Wirtschaft. Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Wer Gehoert zu Wem - Who
Belongs to Whom. Who Supplies What? (Germany & Austria). ZVEI
Electro/Electronics Buyers' Guide.
Italy: Il Sole 24 Ore, L'Impresa,
and Il Mundo Economica in Italian. Italian Company Profiles - Financial.
MAST - Market Structure and Trends in Italy. Sistema Ditte Operanti con l'Estero.
La Stampa.
Switzerland: In its Swiss
News Agency wire service, you have a choice of French or German. Credit Suisse
Information on the Swiss economy. Swiss Educational Documentation. Neue Zuercher
Zeitung. Serials in Swiss Libraries. Swiss Newswire. Societe Generale de
Banque - Banking. Schweizer Handelszeitung. ELSA Swiss Sportwire. Dun &
Bradstreet Swiss Companies Dun & Bradstreet. Swiss Companies Full Financial
Data.
Scandinavia: Trademarks and
applications for Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
United Kingdom: Key British
Enterprises Financial Performance. ICC Full- text UK Company Reports ICC
Directory of UK Companies ICC UK Financial Datasheets. JordanWatch - UK
Companies. Pharm-line - UK Pharmacy. British Trademarks. UK Importers.
Country reports, Financial Focus, Political focus, and International Economic
Outlook from the Union Bank of Switzerland, and more can be found in the
Quest Economics Database (QED) on Data-Star,
FT PROFILE, and Genios.
Investext offers a series of
stockbroker research reports on European companies and sectors from around
400 contributors based on the continent. Their reports offer detailed analysis,
important financial data, and forecasts on everything from the mayor players
to the small manufacturing firms.
LEXIS-NEXIS has the Hoppenstedt German Trade
Associations directory, newsletters from the Europe Information Service:
Europe Energy, Europe Environment, Transport Europe and European Insight,
a weekly brief on European Community-related happenings.
LEXIS-NEXIS has databases with information about
English and French law, and other law material from Australia, New Zealand,
Ireland, Scotland and North America. Their Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory
has information on over 700,000 lawyers and law firms worldwide. The directory
can be used for referrals, selection of associate counsel, and evaluation
of competitive counsel.
The European Patent
Office (EPO) is also on the web.
Check out
Kompass when planning exports to the
EEC. Its database contains details about companies in Sweden, Denmark, Germany,
United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Norway.
Try GENIOS for more on Germany. The German Federal Government is at
http://www.government.de.
ILINK has the EEC-I conference
(Discussion about the European Common Market). FT Profile offers full-text
searches (and a clipping service) in stories from
Financial Times. The database is being updated
daily at 00:01.
ZiffNet's Business Database
Plus has Agra Europe, Belgium: Economic and Commercial Information, British
Plastics & Rubber, British Telecom World, The
Economist, Erdol und Kohle, Erdgas, Petrochemie:
Hydrocarbon Technology, EuroBusiness, Euromoney, Europe 2000, European Cosmetic
Markets, European Rubber Journal, Report on the Austrian Economy, Royal Bank
of Scotland Review, swissBusiness.
Globalbase has
Nouvel Economiste among its many offerings. Questel offers access to 250,000
logos and images of French trademarks (1993), and patent information from
several European countries.
Dialog, Orbit, and
STN are also great sources for patents data.
Scandinavia
Before meeting with people from Norsk Hydro, go online to get recent news
about the company (Chapter 9). It will only take a couple
of minutes. What you find may be important for the success of your meeting.
If you know the names of your
most important competitors, use their names as keywords for information about
recent contracts, joint venture agreements, products (and their features),
and other important information.
Kompass offers information about companies
and products in Scandinavia. Information is presented in the local language
of the different countries. You can search by
-
company name
-
product or service (optionally using an industry classification code for
companies or products)
-
number of employees, type of business, postal number, telephone area code,
export area, year of incorporation, bank affiliation.
North America
There are so many sources focusing on North America, and we have already
mentioned several. This section is therefore kept intentionally short.
The U.S. Commerce Department's
Economic and Statistics Administration offers STAT-USA
(http://www.stat-usa.gov/), which
provides statistical information on economy, energy, foreign trade, business,
and industry. Fee- based subscription required.
Then try
The White House , the
subject index of online government
information, and The
Government Information Locator Service.
The National Technical Information
Service provides access to more than 100 U.S. Government operated
bulletin boards and online systems.
Official Gazette is a weekly
publication from the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering new
patents and trademarks, expired and reinstated patents, re-examination and
re-issue applications, announcements, changes in procedures and requests
for comments. Its archive contains every issue from the last 20 years.
The US Patent Database
offers bibliographic information about the patents, claims, reference and
abstract information. You can view the images, and order patents online.
The the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is at
http://www.uspto.gov/.
Statistics Canada is the country's
national statistical agency. Kompass is
also an interesting source.
PRESSline is a database of
press releases, pictures and logos that is available free of charge. Companies
and organizations are charged a small fee for storing their releases. In
English, German, and French.
Information on the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is available from several sites, including
http://www.nafta.net/.
Russia and Eastern Europe
InfoMarket
brings Russian Securities Market News in English, and is an invaluable
source for Russian commercial financial information.
The Russian Industry Enterprises Web
contains information about over 100.000 Russian enterprises within agriculture,
oil processing, electric energy, communications, and more.
Russian
Regional Database combines official statistics with survey data to
present a comparative picture within areas such as economic competitiveness;
labour market change; social cohesion and stability.
Dow
Jones offers BizEkon News, and others. Commercial vendors
LEXIS-NEXIS,
Data-Star, FT Profile and
Reuters also have many interesting sources.
The St. Petersburg Business
Journal is at http://www.spb.su/. For
more newspapers covering the region, visit Editor
& Publisher Interactive.
The European Information
Network, a Prague-based Web publishing company, posts daily Russian
news reports . The site offers a databank of information about election laws,
Russian government addresses and the Russian constitution.
Friends and
Partners, jointly "developed by citizens of the US and Russia to
promote better understanding between the people of our countries," has a
a Commerce/Business section.
Maximov News - Information And
Guide To The Russian Federation - offers full-text news, contact and information
sources from the former Soviet Union. In English and Russian.
Business Central Europe offers
the latest monthly or quarterly statistics and annual historical data going
back to 1990 for most countries in the region. Through DATATIMES, you can
research English-language versions of The Budapest Sun and the
Prague Post.
Czech
Economy - Internet Resources has similar information for Slovakia,
Poland, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia-Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia,
Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. The
Prague,
Budapest and
Warsaw Business Journals are in English
and covers business news and industry information from Central Europe.
The Central Europe Online
Navigator publishes daily news an industry reports on Czech and Slovak
Republics, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Includes political and economical
analyses. |
