ABSTRACT
This chapter is split into three parts: the first, after some remarks on the problem of foreign language material, examines the key types of source for researching overseas industries; the next is concerned with issues surrounding researching individual companies incorporated outside the UK; because of its massive economic weight, the framework for company research in the US is considered separately. One of the main functions of international governmental bodies like the United Nations and its agencies, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Monetary Fund and European Union is the collection and publication of macroeconomic, industry and social statistics. Multinationals and global financial and business services firms will be focused on both worldwide and regional sectors and, through their local offices, on national ones. Foreign research presents a number of challenges apart from the language barrier. Despite globalization significant differences in the institutional setting for business remain and these have important consequences for the researcher.
