Business Resources: International Business

The term "international business" can mean two things. 

1. Businesses outside the United States.

2. Businesses that operate across international borders.

This guide will help you with both of these ideas.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an invaluable resource when doing industry research.  Every business database (and some non-business databases!) will have NAICS as a search option under Advanced Search.  With a NAICS code you can target results that specifically address the industry you are researching.

Most of our business databases will have a NAICS number assigned to a company or industry, even if it is not in North America, so this is still a great resource to use!

1. Click here to go to the NAICS lookup page.

2. In the search box on the left hand side enter one or two keywords that describe your industry,

3. When you find one that is a good fit copy the 6 digit code.  You can also click on the code to get a brief description and any cross references that may be available.

4. Paste into the advanced search page of the database you are using.  Remember to use the drop down menu next to the search box to tell the system you are searching by NAICS code.

It may seem likae an extra step, but a NAICS code can be a huge time-saver, especially if you are having trouble finding results specific to your industry!

This guide is designed to help you do research on international businesses.  If you need further assistance please feel free to contact Robert. ===>

This is the more straightforward of the two cases.  If your company is traded on a major securities exchange you can probably find some resources through a library database.  If your industry contains publically traded companies you can probably find some resources in the library databases. 

1. For industry reports, in Business Source Premiere you can often find a "Global" report.  (i.e. Accountancy Industry Profile: Global)  Alternately, you could look at the industry report for each country you are interested in.

2. Company reports are a little more variable.  Most often there will only be one company report associated with the home country of that company which hopefully addresses their international activities.  Sometimes you will find multiple country reports on one company.  If you are still choosing a company looking for one with "Global" in its name will make things a lot easier.

3. Sometimes a company will operate under a different name internationally.  For instance, the company we know as Kraft Foods in North America operates as Mendelez in other parts of the world.