BRASS Best of the Best Business Websites - INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: Doing Business

Search this multilingual directory of 2.3 million companies in 35 European countries by company, product, or business sector. Filter results by: Country, activity, workforce, or subject heading. Results can include company catalogs, with links to business services such as phone directories, package tracking, converters, bank holidays, calendar, newspapers, and online translators.

An abundance of Canadian business and industry information from Canada’s Minister of Industry. Categories include: Programs and services (business startup, company directories, economic and market research/statistics, financing, infrastructure, regulations, and trade and investment), industrial sector, online forms, resources for business, and resources for consumers.

LANIC’s plentiful information portal allows for keyword searching or browsing by Latin American country or region. Country subdivisions related to business: Economy/Finance, General, Government, History, News/Newspapers, Organizations, Politics, Portals, and Travel/Tourism. Maintained by the University of Texas at Austin.

The official global chamber directory, with over 12,000 chambers representing more than 40 million member businesses and boards of trade worldwide. Keyword search by typing in country name, industry, or product. From the listed results, selections provide group’s description and activities, plus contact information and web page.

Country culture and business etiquette source, with a Canadian slant. Select a country or a region, and then link to country facts or cultural information in a Q&A format. From the Centre for Intercultural Learning, Foreign Affairs & International Trade Canada.

The ninth in a series of annual reports by Palgrave Macmillan, IFC, and the World Bank investigating regulations that enhance and constrain business activity. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 183 economies. Data are current through May, 2011. The 2012 report is 212 pages in pdf, available in English; there is also a database profiling and ranking the 183 countries.

Comprehensive directory listing of contact resources for all diplomatic offices. Separate indexes exist for: Embassies and Consulates, arranged by nation; U. S. Embassies Worldwide, arranged by nation; and, UN Permanent Missions. The directory is clearly laid out and fully cross-indexed, and is designed to search both host location and hosted embassy from dual query boxes.

Extensive resources for U. S. individuals and firms wishing to do business abroad, including trade and industry statistics, market data, and exporting and importing data and procedures. Information is from the International Trade Administration (ITA) of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

Provides country risk for nearly every country of the world and sectorial risk rating assessment for 14 sectors. Most of these ratings are brief. Updating is usually twice per year by Coface.

Designed as a one-stop guide to business environment indicators, laws, and World Bank Group project information for 183 countries. Each country snapshot provides: Reform priorities, global indicator rankings (regulatory quality to credit ratings), key data, business environmental laws, World Bank Group publications and reports, and the World Bank Group’s projects and strategy.

Data are mapped from five World Bank Group databases (Doing Business, Enterprise Surveys, Privatization, Private Infrastructure, and Entrepreneurship) to cover over 190 economies across issues. Addresses questions such as: How easy it is to do business?, How often firms are expected to bribe tax inspectors?, and more. Determined by indicator, economies are ranked and assigned one of three color codings indicating the high, middle, and lowest performing economies.

Compare business locations in Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America for more than 100 cities from 10 major countries based on this 2010 study by KPMG. Measures the combined impact of 26 key business cost components and their variation by location. The study also compares data on a variety of non-cost competitiveness factors.