InfoGuides: INTB 225 Global Business Environment (Spadafora Fall 2024): Basic Country Resources

Last Updated: Dec 19, 2024 2:05 PM

INTB22502 URL

https://infoguides.rit.edu/intb22502

Hello from Jennifer!

Hi! I am Jennifer Freer, your business librarian! I can help you navigate through the library business resources to find information, articles, and books. I can also help with citation in APA, MLA and Chicago plus I can help you use Zotero. The green button above has links to book an appointment or try to catch me on chat. Email jlfwml@rit.edu to ask questions if that works better for you!

Recommended Resources

CountryWatch This link opens in a new window
Basic country overview including macro-economic factors, tax, economy discussion, political overview, maps, socio-cultural,
Europa World Year Book This link opens in a new window
Covering political and economic information in over 250 countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. 1 user at a time. If you are prompted by Europa to login, that means someone is in the product. Wait 10-15 minutes and try again.

IMD World Competitiveness Ranking
Partial free access. Includes country profiles with Landscape and Overall Factor. Excludes Evolution and Attractiveness data.
2023 Index of Economic Freedom
All Fitch Solutions Publications in ProQuest (link expires 8/24/25)
Publisher of many reports including infrastructure, energy, telecommunications and more.
Click the link above and then after the original search string add and ti(insert country name) to the search... don't forget to insert the country name! Not all countries are covered. If link does not work go into the ProQuest database and search for pb(fitch)
BBC Country Profiles
CIA The World Fact book
Corruption Perception Index
Country Profiles from International Model UN Association
Country Risk Reports (only) from Fitch Solutions (link expires 9/27/25)
If the link does not work, click on the ProQuest logo after you get the error screen and run this search after you are in ProQuest: pb(fitch) AND ti(risk)

Proquest Complete This link opens in a new window
All Fitch reports are in ProQuest. You can enter here and run a search pb(fitch) if any Fitch links on this page do not work.

Global Competitiveness report 2019
Global Competitiveness Report Special Edition 2020
Pillars of Competitiveness Methodology 2018
The pillars are usually a part of Global Competitiveness reports.
IMF Data
Infrastructure Reports from Fitch (Link expires 9/27/25)
Not all countries covered here. If your country is missing try Lexis-Nexis. If the link does not work run this search ti(infrastructure) AND pb(fitch). To get to the search screen click the ProQuest logo on the error screen.
OECD Data
Trade Policy Reviews from WTO
UNCTADstat Country Profiles
United Nations Data
World Development Indicators
World Investment Report
World Political Yearbook
Worldwide Governance Indicators

News Access

The Economist (articles by most recent first) via ProQuest
Latest available articles from the magazine edition published each week. Will not include all content a personal subscription contains.
The Economist (browse by issue) via ProQuest
Browse by issue date.

The Wall Street Journal via ProQuest
Latest available articles from the newspaper edition published each day. Will not include all content a personal subscription contains.
Dow Jones Institutional News
wsj.com is not available through the library but some of its content is added to this source. There will be a day or more delay. Some content and stories are only available on wsj.com
more...less...
If you want immediate access to premium items available only through wsj.com consider getting a student subscription directly

Does the library offer direct electronic access to major newspapers and magazines listed here?

We do not. Instead we offer secondary access through ProQuest and EBSCO through the links above. The articles represent the majority, but not all, of the articles published in the print versions of the publications. Most include text only with occasional images. For full and unrestricted access to any publication look at subscribing directly. Most of these publications offer student discounts. That said library access does provide a majority of the content.

New York TImes via Proquest
Latest available articles from the newspaper edition published each day. Will not include all content a personal subscription contains.

bloomberg.com (via EBSCO)
Does not include all articles or items from bloomberg.com. Articles display in chronological order.

BusinessWeek via Ebsco
The library's subscription to BusinessWeek. Articles display in chronological order.

Use these sources to get basic info on countries

COUNTRY PROFILES

Great resources for overviews of:

political
economic
social/cultural
institutions

CountryWatch This link opens in a new window
Provides country overviews including political, economic, investment, social, and environmental overviews.
Europa World Year Book This link opens in a new window
Covering political and economic information in over 250 countries and territories, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. 1 user at a time. If you are prompted by Europa to login, that means someone is in the product. Wait 10-15 minutes and try again.

Country Commercial Guides
Free from the U.S. government. Each report is designed to help business people understand the basics of doing business in other countries.

NEWS

Proquest Complete This link opens in a new window
News via the New York Times and Wall Street Journal among other sources on countries.

Sample ProQuest Search (Expires 9/26/25)
Retrieves news from New York Times and Wall Street Journal with country name in article title. Remove Belgium from the parentheses next to ti and add your country name. ti(country name) will search for the name in the article title.

INDUSTRY INFO

Passport This link opens in a new window
Consumer products only!
Business Source Elite This link opens in a new window
Articles on business and management subjects from academic journals, trade publications and daily newspapers. Also includes Company Profiles.
Hoovers (D&B Hoovers) This link opens in a new window
MarketLine Industry reports by country and region after searching for an industry. These industry classifications are broad.

CULTURE & ETIQUETTE

Global Road Warrior This link opens in a new window
Business culture, climate, culture and society and other information for the business traveler.

GLOBALIZATION INDEX

KOF Globalisation Index
"The KOF Globalisation Index measures the economic, social and political dimensions of globalisation." - From the site

INVESTMENT CLIMATE

2023 Investment Climate Surveys (BLS)
"The U.S. Department of State’s Investment Climate Statements help U.S. companies make informed business decisions by providing up-to-date information on the investment climates of more than 165 countries and economies. They are prepared by economic officers stationed in posts around the world and analyze a variety of economies that are current or potential markets for U.S. businesses of all sizes." - from site

INTB Resources Tutorial

View here or on YouTube.

INTB 225 Video