International Business On-line Tools

Win Global Partners are glad to share with you some useful 3rd party free tools which can help your company to prepare to expand into foreign markets. Some of those tools require registration, some don't, but they all are free. Under no circumstances you should consider the results of using those tools as an action plan. Once you've done all or some tests feel free to contact Win Global Partners to discuss the results and work on a foreign market entry solution unique to your company.

Global Opportunity Tool (http://www.bwob.ca/resources/global-opportunity-tool/)

The tool provides information about global markets and is designed to help you identify opportunities for international expansion. It was developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Export Readiness Assessment (https://www.edc.ca/edcsecure/exportable/intro.asp?lang=e)

Export Development Canada prepared this tool to help you address following questions:

1. Is there an appetite for your product or service?
2. Is your company ready to take on the export challenge?
3. Do you have financing in place?
4. Have you developed a comprehensive business and marketing plan?

CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. The reference tab includes: 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, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

UK Foreign Office's Country Profiles (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/)

UK Foreign Office has knowledgeable experts who keep detailed profiles of every country worldwide. You'll find summaries of these detailed country profiles. For each country, there are headline facts and figures about the population, capital city, currency and so on. Then they briefly outline the geography and recent history, current politics and economic trends, and the country's commercial and political relations with the UK.

Regional Trade Agreements Information System (http://rtais.wto.org/UI/PublicMaintainRTAHome.aspx)

This database contains information on only those agreements that have either been notified, or for which an early announcement has been made, to the World Trade Organization. It allows you to retrieve information on Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) notified to the GATT/WTO by country and by several criteria. You may also consult the list of all RTAs in force, list of early announcements, pre-defined reports and Summary Tables containing WTO Figures on RTAs.

World Trade Organization’s Tariff Data (http://wto.org/english/tratop_e/tariffs_e/tariff_data_e.htm)

Limited to WTO member states the WTO website offers complex options for researching members’ customs duty rates. One, the new Tariff Analysis Online, draws on two databases to offer tariff rates on products defined at the highest level of detail, import statistics and the ability to analyze these data interactively. Another, the Tariff Download Facility, provides standardized tariff statistics, in slightly less detail but with the ability to compare between countries immediately.

2011 Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/reports-and-publications/2011-0)

Trade barriers may be broadly defined as government laws, regulations, policies, or practices that either protect domestic products from foreign competition or artificially stimulate export of particular domestic products. This report classifies foreign trade barriers into nine different categories and specifies how these categories apply in different countries with the exception of the United States. These categories cover government-imposed measures and policies that restrict, prevent, or impede the international exchange of goods and services. They are:

1. Import policies (e.g., tariffs and other import charges, quantitative restrictions, import licensing, and customs barriers);
2. Government procurement (e.g., buy national policies and closed bidding);
3. Export subsidies (e.g., export financing on preferential terms and agricultural export subsidies that displace exports in third country markets);
4. Lack of intellectual property protection (e.g., inadequate patent, copyright, and trademark regimes and enforcement of intellectual property rights);
5. Services barriers (e.g., limits on the range of financial services offered by foreign financial  institutions, regulation of international data flows, restrictions on the use of foreign data processing,  and barriers to the provision of services by foreign professionals);
6. Investment barriers (e.g., limitations on foreign equity participation and on access to foreign government-funded research and development programs, local content requirements, technology transfer requirements and export performance requirements, and restrictions on  repatriation of earnings, capital, fees and royalties);
7. Government-tolerated anticompetitive conduct of state-owned or private firms that restricts the sale or purchase of U.S. goods or services in the foreign country‘s markets;
8. Trade restrictions affecting electronic commerce (e.g., tariff and nontariff measures, burdensome and discriminatory regulations and standards, and discriminatory taxation); and
9. Other barriers (barriers that encompass more than one category,  e.g., bribery and corruption, or that affect a single sector).
    

More tools to follow.