2.3.1 Official statistics

Another way of gathering information about markets is to consult the raw data collected by the official statistical bodies of the country or region you are researching, and interpret the data yourself. The kind of statistics that are usually collected include demographic data, household income and expenditure, numbers and types of businesses etc. Regional break-downs may be available that are not covered by market research reports (e.g. data for Cataluña or one of its provinces, for a particular US state or region of the UK).

Here is a selection of public websites that you may find useful:

• Eurostat  (official statistics of the EU)
• Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya • Instituto Nacional de Estadística  (Spain)
• National Statistics  (official statistics for the UK)
• US Census Bureau 

Alternatively, check the ISI directory of official statistical agencies and societies  to find statistics for your specific country or region.

2.3.2 Company information

Market research reports usually identify the main players in a market and give some basic information about each company. You may want to supplement this information using other sources, for example to:

• Identify your own set of companies based on different criteria than those used in the reports (e.g. construction companies in Cataluña, or IT companies with less than 100 employees)
• Do a peer analysis of competing companies
• Access more information than is given in the market reports

IESE library has access to two very useful databases which give extensive financial information on public and private companies. They can be searched by many criteria including size, geographic location and industry and allow you to produce peer reports and analysis, comparing items from the financial accounts. Sabi covers Spanish and Portuguese companies and Amadeus covers European companies (including Spain and Portugal). Both are available from the E-Resources page > Databases by alphabetical order .

You can find more company information sources listed at E-Resources page > By Subject .

2.3.3 Country information

Are you researching an overseas market? You may want to gather some country-level information such as the economic, political and regulatory environment, market structure, demographic data, transport and communications infrastructure etc. The following sources can help:

CIA World Factbook
A free internet source of country profiles maintained regularly by the US Central Intelligence Agency. Profiles include sections on geography, people, government, economy, communications, transport, military and transnational issues.

EIU Country Reports
The Economist Intelligence Unit is well known for its country and economic analysis and forecasting, and for its series of country profiles and reports. Substantial sections of these reports are available for free via this website. See also Business Source Premier.

Business Source Premier
BSP includes selected full text country reports from publishers such as EIU, Datamonitor and Global Insight. The easiest way to search is to enter the name of your country, and then select the heading “country reports” from the list of results. If you are interested in a particular publisher´s reports, you could enter “economist intelligence unit and Norway” for example.

GMID 
In addition to market reports, GMID includes demographic, economic and other indicators for individual countries. Time series and forecasts are available. Select the geographic area of interest on the first screen, then switch to the category screen to select the data topic. Then click “Run Search”.
 
You can find more country information sources listed at E-Resources page > By Subject > Country information .