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BA 551: Global Supply and Sourcing

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Where can I get more help?

Contact the OSU Libraries Information Desk

Start With the World Factbook

World Fact book

 

THE WORLD FACTBOOK (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/) is the best place to start your country research, as it will give you all kinds of basic information to build upon. It provides reliable, up-to-date information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Includes a Reference tab with maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, a World Oceans map, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

As a government resource, there is no copyright on the maps and other images--so you may use them freely in papers, reports and presentations.

Companies, Competitors, Industry

First Research Provides access to an online library of profiles on over 900 industry segments. Features in-depth, up-to-date information. Profiles include overviews, the competitive landscape, products, operations, technology, finance regulation, regional and international issues, human resources. Look for the International: Global Content tab!

Mergent Provides information about private and public companies in the United States. This database also contains information about companies located in other countries, but this can vary widely according to what is publicly available.

Business Insights: Global Contains global company and industry intelligence. SWOT reports, market share reports, and financial reports included, along with thousands of company histories and industry essays.

You can find other useful business databases in the Business LibGuide.

Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers

There are two general ways to find journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.

1) You can search the libraries' online databases such as Business Source Premier which covers full text articles from business journals, magazines, and newspapers.  You can search by keyword, author, subject, title, etc.  Please note that not all of the business journals the library subscribes to are found in this database (see #2).

LexisNexis Academic Full text articles from international and US national, state and local news sources, as well as specialized business and industry information. Quickest approach: use the pull-down Search The News section under the Hot Topics box.

(For more database suggestions, please refer to the library guide for Business)

2) If you know the title of the journal you are looking for, using 1Search type in the title and then choose the search scope "At OSU Libraries only" (the drop-down next to the search box). Then pick Journals as the Resource Type under Refine My Results.

These journals may be of value in understanding topics in this class:

International Demographics

 

NationMaster compares statistics between different countries.  

Note: NationMaster is a secondary source. This means that they pull their information from other sources. To see the original source, look at the bottom of the page. This is important because it will tell you WHEN the information was compiled and WHO created the information.

 

United Nations Statistics Division is an excellent source for international demographics and statistics.

International Marketing Data and Statistics

These e-books have an amazing amount of data, and are well worth your time!

Other Web Resources to Try

Books about International Culture and Business

The CultureShock! books are part of a cross-cultural reference series for understanding local customs and etiquette. Each book contains at least one chapter about conducting business. The books are updated periodically and written by individual authors.

The newest publications are available as e-books, and are listed below. (Check 1Search for earlier publications in paper for other countries)

culture shock book

Australia 

Beijing 

Borneo 

Brazil

Czech Republic 

Denmark 

Ecuador 

France 

Germany 

Great Britain

Hong Kong 

Japan 

Korea 

London 

Malaysia 

Mauritius 

Morocco 

Netherlands 

New Zealand 

Philippines 

Portugal 

Saudi Arabia 

Scotland 

Singapore 

Spain 

Sri Lanka 


Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands books contain individual chapters about conducting business in various countries. 

Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands: Latin America: How to do business in 18 Latin American countries  Valley Library (HF5389.L3 M882 2007)

Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands, Sales and Marketing  Valley Library (HF5389 .M674 2012)

Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands: Asia: How to do business in 12 Asian countries  Valley Library (HF5389 .M667 2007)

Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands: Europe: how to do business in 25 European Countries Valley Library (HF5389 .M67 2007)


Use 1Search to locate books about doing business in different countries.

You might want to consider using the following keywords as part of your search:

  • country name (ie, Canada, Brazil, etc.)
  • etiquette
  • business
  • culture
  • corporate culture
  • communication
  • cross-cultural communication