Country and Culture

Area Handbooks/Country Studies http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html "Most books in the series deal with a particular foreign country, describing and analyzing its political, economic, social, and national security systems and institutions, and examining the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors." Background Notes http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/index.html Useful and current notes for countries of the world produced by the U.S. Department of State, these notes contain information about countries such as profile, people, government, economy, trade, exchange rate, foreign relations, and contacts. CIA World Factbook http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html The Central Intelligence Agency provides basic background information by country. Country Commercial Guides http://www.export.gov/marketresearch.html#MarketResearch(Non-Agricultural)l Guides produced by the U.S. Department of State are annual reports on commercial environment of countries through economic, political and market analyses. Country Library http://www.tradeport.org/countries/index.html Arranged by area then country, this site provides background information on each country, market research reports, trade information, key contacts and other useful information. An excellent starting place!   Economic Development Company of Lancaster County http://www.edclancaster.com/linksandnews/news.php Organization that is pursuing an economic development program that focuses primarily on facilitating business development projects throughout Lancaster County . The LancasterProspers Planning Committee consists of 39 business and community leaders who spent 2003 considering the future of the Lancaster economy and developing action steps which should be taken to ensure its continued prosperity.   Fourth World Documentation Project http://www.cwis.org/ The Center For World Indigenous Studies provides online library of texts which record and preserve indigenous  peoples' struggles to regain their rightful place in the international community. International Data Base http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/ipc/www/idbnew.html The International Data Base (IDB) is a computerized data bank containing statistical tables of demographic, and socio-economic data for all countries of the world.   Information by Country www.oecd.org/infobycountry One-stop-shop for OECD work on member countries.  Has the latest news or events and the most recent OECD documents and publications on a given country.   NationMaster http://www.nationmaster.com/ A central data source that graphically compares nations.  A compilation of data from sources such as CIA World Factbook, United Nations, WHO, World Bank, etc. Web of Culture http://www.businessculture.com/ A variety of cultural information arranged by categories such as holidays, religions, gestures, etc...   World Development Indicators http://www.worldbank.org/data/wdi2000/index.htm The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's  annual compilation of data about development. Includes information on world view, people, environment, economy, states and markets, and global links. The tables cover 148 economies and 15 country groups—with basic indicators for a further 58 economies.

Job Opportunities

Dickinson College Services http://dickinson.edu/career/student/international.html Web Guide to International Employment by Dr. Kate Brooks, Director of Career Development and Advising.

Organizations

Federation of International Trade Associations (FITA) http://www.fita.org/index.html The FITA International Trade/Import-Export Portal, is the source for B2B leads, news, events and links to 7,000  international trade related Web sites.   ITAP International http://www.itapintl.com/ The ITAP International Alliance is an affiliation of international companies and consultants with complementary expertise in the field of international human resources. ITAP also offers web based consulting tools which provide global clients with assessments and reports to improve individual employee and team productivity across borders. World Health Organization (WHO) http://who.int/en Information on the health of people worldwide, including the World Health Report, outbreak reports, international travel and health, Weekly Epidemiological Record, and more. UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/ The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization provides information on its organization, activities, current events, programs, publications, statistics, legal procedures, databases, and other information. Includes portions of the World Information Report, among others. UNICEF http://www.unicef.org/ Statistics and publications from the United Nations Children's Fund, including The Progress of Nations, The State of the World's Children, and other reports on child labor, women's & children's rights, etc. United Nations http://www.un.org/ Provides links to all United Nations Internet Information. European Union http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/adressen/eu.html World Trade Organization http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/thewto_e.htm This site includes links to numerous sites in general trade topic areas including goods and services, intellectual property, the environment, development, policy reviews, dispute settlements, analysis and review as well as a list of resources that includes publications, documents on line, legal texts, news releases, archives and other links. Information also available in both French and Spanish.

Finance and Economics Information

Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/ Provides instant access to real-time and historical financial data — and the ability to act on it. Clients include the world's central banks, investment institutions, commercial banks, government offices and agencies, corporations and news organizations. Bureau of Labor Statistics http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ichcc.t02.htm A Table containing hourly compensation costs in U.S. dollars for production workers in manufacturing, 30 countries or areas and selected economic groups, selected years, 1975-2002. Business, Economics and Labor Index http://mel.org/index.jsp A meta-index of links to other business sites, by category. Business Research http://websearch.about.com/library/weekly/topicsub_competitive_intelligence.htm http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/cs/businessmoney/index.htm Learn how to do business research no the web. Internet Resources on International Economics and Business http://grove.ship.edu/ Currency Converter http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/ncc View any exchange rates among the 164 currencies for any day since January 1, 1990 through today. The currency converter is updated daily at 8:00 p.m. EST.   Economic Research http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Federal Reserve Economic Data: a database of over 3000 U.S. economic time series.   The Economist http://www.economist.com/ Source for the analysis of world business and current affairs, providing authoritative insight and opinion on international news, world politics, business, finance, science and technology, as well as overviews of cultural trends and regular industry, business and country surveys.  Publishes all articles from The Economist print edition plus a searchable archive of all The Economist’s articles back to June 1997. Links to other articles and to relevant sources on the web are included with many of the stories.   Global News http://www.mhhe.com/business/management/hill/student/updates/thisweek.mhtml News updates provided by Jay Hyuk Rhee (Ph.D., The Ohio State University), Assistant Professor of International Business at San José State University. His research interests include firm internationalization, strategic planning for entrepreneurial firms, and management of international R&D operations.   International Economic Trends http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/iet/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis publication, International Economic Trends.   International Monetary Fund http://www.imf.org/ News briefs, speeches and information on how to order country reports.   International Trade Links http://www.expandglobal.com/library/ International Import-Export Institute’s Global Resources for International Trade   International Monetary Fund Paper http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/op/193/ International Monetary Fund publication entitled:  Exchange Rate Regimes in an Increasingly Integrated World Economy   Japan’s Ministry of Finance Monetary Rates http://www.mof.go.jp/english/if/e1b064c3.htm Information about worldwide monetary rates and history.   Pacific Exchange Rate http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/data.html University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business, Pacific Exchange Rate Service Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code Search http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/ser.html For information about the new NAICS System, including a comparison of SIC & NAICS codes, see http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html. Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) http://reportweb.usitc.gov/commodities/naicsicsitc.html Listing of SITC codes. U.S. Dept. of Commerce http://www.doc.gov/ A variety of information from the different Department of Commerce sites including the Bureau of Export Administration, the International Trade Administration and others. World Bank http://www.worldbank.org/ Provides abstracts of economic and sector reports, environmental assessments and data sheets   World Economic and Financial Surveys http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2000/02/data/index.htm The WEO database is created during the biannual World Economic Outlook (WEO) exercise, which begins in January and June of each year and results in the WEO publication, which is released in May and October. Selected series that are available in the publication are now available on this website at the time of the release of the WEO press version (late April and September). Bureau of Export Administration http://www.bxa.doc.gov/policiesandregulations/index.htm#ear The site of the U.S. government agency that maintains export controls and issues export licenses. CEDAR http://www.cedar.ca.gov/busines/inter_tr.html This site includes links to resources for exporters, trade leads, export regulations, foreign directories, trade agreements, regional information, transportation, and international tools. Each hypertext link is followed by a brief description of the linked site or organization which can be useful in narrowing your search. Country Reports on Economic Policy & Trade Practices http://www.state.gov/e/eb/rls/rpts/eptp/ Created by the U.S. Dept. of State and arranged by country. International Trade Administration http://www.ita.doc.gov/ This page provides access to a variety of ITA websites, covering international business information on most of the leading markets of the world, including Country Commercial Guides. National Trade Estimates/Foreign Trade Barriers http://www.ustr.gov/ Report by U.S. Trade Representative, submitted annually to congress, which covers all US trade partners. All documents on this page are in PDF format.Office of International Trade U.S. Small Business Administration http://www.ustr.gov/ A good source of export information, including the "Guide to Exporting". Office of Trade and Economic Analysis http://www.ita.doc.gov/ Available information includes: United States Industry and Trade Outlook, United States Foreign Trade Highlights, Foreign Trade Reference Room (for researching foreign export markets), Trade Policy Information System, State Export Data, Metropolitan Area Exports (over 250 U.S. cities). Pangea.Net http://www.pangaea.net/ Pangaea.Net is a site dedicated to international business and trade. It includes full-text feature articles at http://www.pangaea.net/igm/articles.htm, and insights from experienced business people regarding international business and trade issues. TradePort http://www.tradeport.org/ Information on exporting, market research, countries, etc. Trade Information Center http://www.export.gov/ The U.S. Department of Commerce's Trade Information Center is the first stop for information about all federal export assistance programs. This site provides export information, trade leads, financing information, country & regional market information, etc.   World Development Report 2005 http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2005/Resources/complete_report.pdf This annual report released by the World Bank draws on surveys of over 30,000 firms in 53 developing countries, along with various country case studies sponsored by the World Bank.  Released in September 2004, the 288-page report highlights opportunities to improve its investment climates by expanding the opportunities and incentives for firms of all types.   World Bank WDI http://devdata.worldbank.org/data-query/ WDI query page of the web site of The World Bank Group which is a development Bank which provides loans, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and middle income countries to reduce poverty.   World Economic Outlook http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2001/03/index.htm Publication of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  The World Economic Outlook presents the IMF staff’s analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups (classified by region, stage of development, etc.), and in many individual countries. It focuses on major economic policy issues as well as on the analysis of economic developments and prospects.

Government and Law

Electronic Embassy http://www.embassy.org/ Links to foreign embassies, business and trade organizations, companies providing goods and services of interest in a global marketplace, and other information. See also the Embassy Page, below. The Embassy Page http://www.embpage.org/ Directory and links to embassies. Arranged by country. Foreign Trade Statistics http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/ U.S. Census Bureau foreign trade statistics.  Foreign Government Resources on the Web http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/foreign.html A well-organized and searchable meta-site leading to information about foreign countries, including government web sites, country background, laws, treaties, etc., embassies, news, statistics, and international agencies. Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/chiefs/index.html Elections around the World http://www.electionworld.org/ Information includes: Executive: Head of state/vice-head: Name (in function since) party, Head of government, Way of electing the president, Date of presidential elections, Name candidate (party), % vote; Parliament: name of the parliament in the national language & English, its components and a description of the electoral system; Chamber of parliament: date of last elections, % seats; Directory of parties, etc. Includes every independent country in the world: members of the UN, independent countries which are not members of the UN, entities which are recognized by international organizations without being generally recognized, and autonomous overseas dependencies. International Business Practice Guide http://www.ilrg.com/ Designed to provide U.S. firms with an overview of legal practices in 117 countries, and to provide up-to-date information on some of the nuances involved with operating in other countries. Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html Full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted on December 10, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Other Libraries

Virtual Library http://www.etown.edu/vl Over 2000 carefully selected, annotated links in 37 international affairs categories. It is frequently maintained. It has received recommendations from many Internet academic organizations, including CHOICE Magazine, BUBL LINK, Internet Scout, GEM, and the Argus Clearinghouse.   Center for International Business Education and Research http://ciber.bus.msu.edu/ Michigan State University’s Center for International Business Education and Research has hundreds of links to international news/periodicals, country information, company information and directories, international trade, government resources, trade shows, and other related sources. You will run into this site over an over again on other master lists.   Harcourt College Publishers http://www.harcourtcollege.com/newsres.html Harcourt College Publishers site which provides quick access to various news resources. IOMA http://www.ioma.com/links/ The Institute of Management and Information site is excellent for linking into sites on just about every aspect of business/international business. Over 600 links to sites providing business news; competitive intelligence; corporate finance and investment; credit and financial management; human resources and benefits; sales and marketing; small business; etc. A good list of Internet resource sites by industry.   Internet Intelligence Index http://www.fuld.com/Tindex/I3.html The Internet Intelligence IndexTM is designed to help you gather information from a wide variety of public services, in support of your competitive intelligence efforts. It contains links to over 600 intelligence-related Internet sites, covering everything from macro-economic data to individual patent and stock quote information.   International Trade Counseling Center http://blake.montclair.edu/~cibconf/itcc.html Montclair State University, International Trade Counseling Center.  A resources center for export/import counseling.   Thunderbird http://www.thunderbird.edu/about_us/thunderbird_news/in_news/media_rankings.htm Web site of Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management, a leading source of international management education.   Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/public/us   MSN http://www.msn.com/