Business Information Alert articles from January 2004

Business Information Alert archives from January 2004

Compiling company lists: a case study.
January 1, 2004... This is the last of three articles on compiling international company lists. In the first article, I presented the rationale for preparing lists as a routine practice in many international business research projects. The sources and source...

From the editor.(Editorial)
January 1, 2004... Sylvia James concludes her three-part series on compiling company lists for business research projects with a case study. She shows you in detail how she compiled the "Hot 100" fastest-growing companies in the U.K. for Real Business, a magazine...

Is Latin America the comeback kid for 2004?(News & Trends)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Is Latin America the Comeback Kid for 2004? LatinFinance, the Florida-based investment magazine, predicts that the worst is over for the Latin American region. The Wall Street Journal, citing the full investment grade rating won by Mexican debt...

Economatica.(Fee-Based Resources)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
January 1, 2004... Economatica database covers more than 5,000 companies in Latin America. The data starts as early as 1986 (when the service began). It includes quarterly company balance sheets, daily market data (stock prices, ADRs, indices, currency exchange...

ISI emerging markets.(Fee-Based Resources)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
January 1, 2004... ISI Emerging Markets, a EuroMoney Institutional Investor database, covers fewer Latin American countries (11), but the depth and quality of information resources is impressive. Company, industry, and economic news and reports are provided by...

The long-awaited United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (COMTRADE) provides annual detailed import/export commodity and trading partner statistics for 130 countries, claiming to cover "90 percent of world trade.".(Fee-Based Resources)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
January 1, 2004... The long-awaited United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (COMTRADE) provides annual detailed import/export commodity and trading partner statistics for 130 countries, claiming to cover "90 percent of world trade." Many countries have...

Business News Americas.(Fee-Based Resources)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
January 1, 2004... If you subscribe to Factiva, you have flail access to Business News Americas, a highly regarded multilingual daily news service that supplies original reporting on the Telecom, E-business, Electric Power, Oil & Gas, Mining, Minerals, Metals,...

SourceOECD.(Fee-Based Resources)(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
January 1, 2004... Mexico is the only Latin American member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). However, the organization's publication outlet, SourceOECD, has excellent economic surveys of Chile, Brazil, and Mexico. By the way,...

LatinFinance.(Fee-Based Resources)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... LatinFinance, the journal mentioned above, features banking, merger, and investment reports. Numerous special supplements focus on specific key industries, regions, and financial products in Latin America. www.latinfnance.com

Latinvestor.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... LATINVESTOR is a financial portal covering stock markets, industries, country reports, media, legalities, and more. It includes smaller economies such as Bolivia and Ecuador. A few free features include current investment bank briefs arranged...

Global Trade Atlas (GTA).(Fee-Based Resources)
January 1, 2004... GLOBAL TRADE ATLAS (GTA), the newest product of privately owned global trade information services, shows value, quantity, and unit price for traded commodities using the HS classification. GTA offers a wide variety of search and display options...

Latin Trade.(Free Resources)
January 1, 2004... Latin Trade, a monthly magazine, is not free, but posts several ranked lists online, e.g., Top 100 Mergers & Acquisitions, Top 100 Banks, 500 Biggest Tech Spenders, and haft a dozen others, along with an extensive business travel guide,...

Andean Community.(Free Resources)
January 1, 2004... Andean Community is a monthly updated statistical site for Trade/Investment and Social and Economic Indicators from 1993. www.comunidadandina.org

UN Economic Commission for Latin America & Caribbean.(Free Resources)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The UN Economic Commission for Latin America & Caribbean publishes important studies. Here are three hefty documents that can be freely downloaded. These include: 1) Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2002; 2) Annual...

Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast.(Free Resources)
January 1, 2004... Mexico Consensus Economic Forecast is a quarterly report by the Bank One Economic Outlook Center at Arizona State University. All the issues (from 1995) are free. http://wpcarey.asu.edu/seid/eoc/mexico/

The Inter-American Development Bank.(Free Resources)
January 1, 2004... The Inter-American Development Bank is the place to go for project finance information, country strategy, and economic assessments. The historical data extends from 1990 to 1999 or 2000. www.iadb.org

Latin Focus.(Free Resources)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
January 1, 2004... Latin Focus is a rich source of economic statistics. Unlike most of the products reviewed here, it has indicators for the region as well as individual countries. Country profiles for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru,...

The Latin American Energy Organization.(Free Resources)
January 1, 2004... The Latin American Energy Organization shows regional and country-specific energy statistics for 26 countries. The latest data is from 1999. www.olade.org

Telecom Country Profiles.(Free Resources)
January 1, 2004... Telecom Country Profiles by the U.S. International Trade Administration has moved, due to reorganization within the U.S. Department of Commerce. To get these valuable statistical studies, go to http://export.gov/infotech. Under "Industry...

Globaledge.(Free Resources)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Globaledge is not a Latin American specific site, but I include it here because of the fast and smooth access it offers to hundreds of important country information resources. The Center for International Business Education and Research at...

Zonalatina.(Free Resources)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Zonalatina, a comprehensive collection of media directories, has added Google searching, making their market research reports much more accessible. For example, you can find an analysis of "Movie Attendance in Ecuador" or "Food Consumption by...

Info briefs.(News & Trends)(President Bush signs Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... President Bush signed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT) on December 4, 2003. Banking, insurance, and financial service successfully lobbied Congress to enact legislation that undermines state privacy protections....

Environmental Research and Development: U.S. Industrial Research, the Clean Air Act, and Environmental Damage.(Energy & Environment)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... John T. Scott, 2003. Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. Hardcover. 163p. ISBN: 1-84376-167-X. $75. The debate over the environment continues to rage in the 21st century. One of the major areas within this debate concerns the federal government...

Internationalization, Technology, and Services.(International Business)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Marcela Miozzo & Ian Miles, eds. 2003. Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. Hardcover. 262p. ISBN: 1-84376-053-3. $110. Internationalization is the expansion of a company's activities to other nations. Political developments, such as the North...

Super Searchers on Competitive Intelligence: The Online and Offline Secrets of Top CI Researchers.(Market Research)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Margaret Metcalf Carr (Reva Basch, ed.; Jan Herring, forward). 2003. CyberAge Books/Information Today, Inc. Softcover. 331p. ISBN: 0-910965-64-1. $24.95. Companies more closely view competitive intelligence (CI), especially in today's...

How to Get Organized Without Resorting to Arson.(Office Management)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Liz Franklin. 2003. Clara Fyer Books. Softcover. 237p. ISBN: 0-9719495-6-5. $19.95. The tide of this book and its subtitle ("A Step-by-Step Guide to Clearing Your Desk Without Panic or the Use of Open Flame") give you a clue to the tone of...

Flu season trivia.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Achoo! The custom of saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes goes back to Saint Gregory and the Roman plague in the 6th century. The dreaded disease always ended in a spasm of sneezing. The Pontiff ordered that "God bless you" be said to...