BUS 431: Business with East Asian Countries

 1.  Introduction

This is a short guide focused on the "Foreign Direct Investment" assignment.  It may grow as I learn more about the assignment and the specific research problems that students are encountering. If it doesn't have what you need, don't hesitate to use the Help options listed below.

Good luck with your projects!

Mark

2.  Resources

2.a. Foreign direct investment (FDI) data

Most sources for FDI data tend to be governments and intergovernmental bodies. In some cases you can go straight to the organisation's website to find free data, in others the data is in a fee-based database that the library provides.  Here are a few sources to start with: 

• UNCTAD's Foreign Direct Investment Database
  Should be your very fist stop!  This database presents aggregate inflows, outflows, inward stocks and outward stocks of foreign direct investment (FDI) for 196 reporting economies in an interactive format.
  Note: Detailed statistics on foreign direct investment (FDI) and operations of transnational corporations (TNCs) in selected countries are available at the World Investment Directory on-line page. This is where you want to go if you want to find out who the key in/out FDI countries are for your target country.
   
• UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics
  Look for FDI data in the International Finance section. Likely just a recap of the great data in the resource above.
   
• World Development Indicators
  World Bank source. Offers a few different long time series on net foreign direct investment by country.
   
• Asian Development Bank
  A great source for stats and analysis of countries in the region.  I'd start with their huge Key Indicators publication.
   
• Passport GMID
  Has foreign investment data for every country in the world. Start with a Menu Search (under Search in the top left corner).

• Your target country's Ministry/Dept of statistics
  Just as Statistics Canada tracks things like FDI for Canada, many other countries offer free investments or Balance of Payments data.  Start by finding the site of the right Government Statistics Office. Google is great for this, but I also like this old directory of government sites: Choose your country, then do a CTRL-F on the page to find "statistics," then look for a link to an English language version of the site and search or browse.  Here, for example, is some recent data on FDI for Korea.

2.b.  FDI overviews

Although most countries would offer some information on their government pages about how they regulate (encourage/obstruct) FDI, it's often more interesting to get an external analysis by visiting the site of another government or an intergovernmental body.

• US Commercial Service
  It can take a bit of digging, but this site does offer quite a bit of "investment climate" information for many countries.  Start by selecting your country, then look for a link to a Country Commercial Guide.
   
• International Monetary Fund
  Try searching for FDI and your country name.  Also try "Direct investment" and your country name. And their Data Mapper tool will allow you to create beautiful charts and graphs comparing countries and regions on such measures as Direct Investment Abroad and Direct Investment in Reporting Economy.
   
• Books: A good book on a topic like this will have far deeper coverage than most reports that you might find online.  Start with a quick Keyword search for -- FDI [your country name] -- (e.g., FDI Korea) but you might also want to try searching for the Subject: Investments, foreign - [your country name] (e.g., Investments, foreign - Korea).
   
• IMD World Competitiveness Online
  Provides some basic FDI data, but also many other measures on the "competitiveness" of many different countries.

2.c. Company information

I understand that for this assignment you will need to research the experiences of a specific company in your target country.  If possible, it's usually easier to do some broad research and try to find a company whose experiences in your country are well documented, rather than picking a company before you start the research.

• As with the tip above, start with books.  Try the Subject: International business enterprises - [your country name] (E.g., International business enterprises - Korea (South))
   
• Also consult my guide to finding Case Studies for more tips.
   
• Once you've found a company that you want to focus on, try searching for any books that are mostly about that company (Search for the company name as a subject.)
  • Also try searching for news articles in Business Source Complete and LexisNexis (start with the All News file).  Focus on articles that touch on both your company and your country.  Try some proximity searching if necessary to focus your searches.
     
  • Depending on when your target company entered the country, the company's history may prove useful.  Try our International Directory of Company Histories.

3.  Getting help

3.a. Look for an online or print guide.  Many of the databases that you will use have built-in 'help' sections (e.g., Business Source Complete and Academic Search Premier).  In addition, for general help using our catalogue or moving from citation to journal, we have some online tutorials.

3.b.  Visit the librarians at our Ask Us desk or try contacting our reference librarians via telephone, chat, or email using our Ask a Librarian services.

3.c.  You are also welcome to email me (mbodnar@sfu.ca) with your questions. It makes things much more efficient if you start your email by explaining...

• what class you are in (so I have an idea of your assignment and background);
• when the assignment is due;
• what exactly you are after (saying that you need "everything about Microsoft in Korea" is far too broad - saying that you need to know where to find "data on Microsoft's computer sales in Korea" is better (though not necessarily simpler!));
• where you have you looked so far (have you tried the catalogue and Business Source Complete?);
• and what search terms you tried when you searched.

4. After your search

4.a. Writing your report

Research is only half the battle! You also need to communicate your findings in a clear, well-structured paper, Check the SFU Library guides to Business Writing and Writing for University for resources to help with paper structures, grammar, spelling, and more.

4.b. Help with presentations

The SFU Library has many books on creating effective business presentations and on public speaking or Powerpoint in general, including several recent titles that are available online for SFU researchers. We also have videos with public speaking tips. See our Business Presentations guide for useful resources to help you impress your audience!

4.c. Citing your sources

You also need to correctly cite all of the books, journal articles, and sites that you used in your research. Start with the SFU Library style guides (covers APA and other major styles), as well as our guide to citing Business sources using APA.  Note also that many of our article indexes (e.g., Business Source Complete) will allow you to email article citations to yourself with the citation automatically in APA format.

4.d. Plagiarism

Learning how to properly credit others when you use their ideas is a dfficult, but important part of research. Start with the SFU Library's interactive tutorial Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism to test yourself and to learn more about plagiarism. Also read the SFU Library Guide on Plagiarism for further discussion of this critical topic and for links to other plagiarism guides.