The main type of information used in the analysis of a particular problem or situation is economic information, which, in turn, is divided into three main types: statistics, accounting and operational information.
Statistics gives a general picture of the state and development of the national economy, highlights the course of socio-political processes in the country or its parts. At the same time, special methods of observation and analysis of mass phenomena are used.
Accounting (accounting statements) is a way of reflecting the funds of enterprises and organizations depending on their condition, location, use and sources of origin. It reflects the development process of the enterprise and serves as the basis for the analysis of its economic and financial activities.
Operational information is information necessary for current activities, for making operational decisions. Both official statistical indicators and unpublished data resulting from direct observation, personal experience, various experiments, data from credit bureaus, etc. can act as operational information.
In foreign economic activity, when choosing a counterparty partner, it is necessary to use all types of economic information in order to find and choose a reliable and solid partner in the transaction.
The development of the information space in the republic and its integration into the world information environment are very important for the successful promotion of Belarusian goods to foreign markets. And in this regard, special attention is paid to the development of information support for foreign economic activity in our country.
Thus, in the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On State Regulation of Foreign Trade Activities” No. 223-Z of 29.12.98 , Article 19, Chapter 4 notes that “in order to develop and increase the efficiency of foreign trade activities in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, there is a system for collecting, processing and disseminating foreign trade information. The procedure for the collection, processing and dissemination of information, as well as the sources and procedure for financing the system of foreign trade information shall be determined by the Government of the Republic of Belarus.”
The search for the necessary information about markets, prices, customers, goods, performance indicators of firms is an important stage of foreign trade operations. In order to get complete information about foreign firms, the investment climate and the markets of foreign countries, it is necessary to learn how to work with directories, annual reports of companies, business economic literature, newspapers, magazines, etc. media sources, as well as directories and electronic file cabinets of banks and credit bureaus, file cabinets – terminals of information computer networks, including the Internet.
But before using sources of information, you need to know where to find them. Information is a kind of resource, and its source is the places and form of storage.
Storage places – state bodies, chambers of commerce, research institutes, libraries, associations and unions, banks, exchanges, credit bureaus, consulting and information firms and agencies, diplomatic and trade missions, representative offices of firms, exhibitions, fairs, etc.
Form of storage – reports, information and analytical notes, company reports, press, advertising publications, directories, catalogs, databases, electronic catalogs, etc.
When studying foreign firms, the following sources of information can be used:
1. Periodicals publishing specialized information about companies.
Printed information contains a lot of information about the current activities of large companies. Newspapers on the economic strip publish not only excerpts from the annual reports of firms, but also numerous information about the release of certain types of products, capital investments, the state of orders, export transactions, the purchase of shares of other firms, mergers and acquisitions of firms, etc. Economic and industry magazines usually publish complete annual reports of the largest firms, as well as information about their current activities. Thus, the American magazine “Fortune” (http://www.fortune.com) publishes annually summary tables on the 500 largest firms and banks in the world, in which firms are ranked by sales. Data on income, assets, profits, number of people employed in the company are given. Thus, for the first time, according to the results of activity for 1996, a Russian company JSC got into this prestigious Global-500 rating.
Gazprom (146th place). According to the results of work in 2000 and 2001, this company occupied the 280th and 236th places, respectively, among the 500 largest firms and banks in the world.
2. Information published by the companies themselves.
Firms publish:
annual reports, which give a complete description of the company’s activities, more often in dynamics for 3-5 years, as well as the actual material for the industry as a whole; balance sheets – reflect the funds available to the company and sources of financing; prospectuses of the company – reflect the production activities of the company, technological processes; company catalogs – contain a list of goods that the company produces or sells, accompanied by their image and brief description, as well as information about the terms of purchase.
3. Information about companies provided by specialized organizations.
These include credit reference firms or credit bureaus, business unions, chambers of commerce, government organizations, consultancy firms, trade missions, etc.
The largest credit and reference firm “Dun & Bradstreet” (USA) specializes in issuing certificates of companies at the request of clients. Currently, this company and Creditschutzferband (Austria) control about 85% of the market for branded information. The American company has branches in more than 32 countries of the world, the staff is about 57 thousand people. In addition to issuing business and solvency certificates, Dun & Bradstreet annually publishes a newsletter, Key Business Ratios, which provides firm profiles for 125 industries. Materials from credit bureau certificates are not subject to publication or disclosure, because in addition to information from official published sources, statistical publications, they contain partially confidential information received in business circles close to this company.
State organizations that provide information about firms include specialized national centers of different countries, such as Business Link, Prelink (UK), JETRO (Japan), CETRA (Taiwan), Foreign Trade Center (France), InformVEC (Russia), etc.
By analogy with foreign information centers in the Republic of Belarus in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 56 of 13.02.1995, the Order of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus No. 151 of 15.02.1996. The National Centre for Marketing and Price Study (NCMiCC) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus has been established. The Center is designed to solve the problems of information support in the field of foreign economic activity of Belarusian business entities of all forms of ownership, as well as foreign firms interested in cooperation with the Republic of Belarus. In accordance with the State Program for Foreign Policy and Foreign Economic Information Support of Foreign Economic Activity, the Center is designated as the leading organization for the collection and dissemination of foreign economic information in the republic. NCMiCC provides a range of information and analytical services on the following aspects of foreign economic activity:
analysis of foreign trade markets; marketing of products and services; justification of contract prices; verification of business solvency and trading partners; formation and maintenance of consolidated catalogs of products and services by country and region; liaison with national trade information centres; preparation of recommendations, proposals and projects on the introduction of new forms of marketing and trade, etc.
On the basis of the Center, a number of projects are also being implemented in the field of creating electronic commerce systems, such as: the Interstate Center for Electronic Commerce, the Tenders Information System, the Trade Center, the creation of a network of information and marketing centers in Belarus and Russia and e-commerce centers, a network of information and marketing centers for the promotion of domestic goods and services to the national markets of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States and a number of others.
4. Directories of firms contain systematized information on industrial, commercial, transport, insurance and other types of firms, as well as banks, etc.
Depending on the nationality of the companies represented in them, the directories are divided into international and national. International directories include, for example: Kompass International, ABC EUROP PRODUCTION
EUROPEX, Moody, Nordisk Handels Kalender, Kelly’s Directory, etc. They contain information on the largest companies in different countries. National directories provide information on firms in their country.
Depending on the nature and volume of published information, all directories of firms can be divided into the following types: commodity firms, address, industry, general firms, joint-stock companies, etc.
The international information system Kompass International (http://www.kompass.com) is very popular, containing up-to-date information on 1.7 million enterprises of manufacturers of goods and services in 75 countries, and available since 1997 via the Internet worldwide. With the help of this system, you can not only find a business partner, but also check its reliability, offer your goods and services, and also make a request for the purchase of the necessary products. There are two modes of access to the Kompass database on the Internet. Free mode provides for receiving brief contact information. The paid regime provides access to a complete database of the company, which includes the activities of the enterprise, the number and date of registration, the names and surnames of the managers, the amount of the authorized capital and turnover, the list of banks with which this company works, the countries of export / import, the list of branches and representative offices, data on partners, the number of employees, etc.
The ABC EUROP PRODUCTION EUROPEX (http://www.abconline.de) directory includes information on exporters of goods and services from 40 European countries, contains 400,000 addresses of exporting companies of 9,200 types of products in seven languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Russian.
5. Internet.
The main function of the Internet is the storage and dissemination of information that is necessary for the study of foreign markets and the search for a partner when selling or purchasing goods or services. The Internet provides an opportunity for an enterprise to open a virtual representative office in all countries of the world at once, which would work using several languages and would contain the most recent and detailed information necessary for potential partners of the company and would work 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Through the Internet, the company is provided with access to extensive databases, many of which are available free of charge. For example, amp Connect, an electronics manufacturer, has created an interactive catalog that contains more than 100,000 product names and is designed to provide distributors and customers with up-to-date information (http://connect.ampincorporated.com). Distributors from 100 countries have access to the catalog in 8 languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, German, French, Japanese). Prior to the creation of the electronic catalog, the company with an annual revenue of more than $ 5 billion. Approximately $7 million per year. spent on updating and sending distributors and customers 400 specialized catalogs containing 134 thousand products. It took about $800,000 to pay phone bills alone. per year. To access the catalog, the user must register, registration and use are free of charge. The total cost of developing and maintaining an electronic catalog is about 1.2 million dollars, of which 300-400 thousand is the cost of software and hardware, the rest is the translation and improvement of the catalog.
From sources publicly available on the network, the company can obtain sufficiently detailed information about the state of the domestic market of this country, study the existing rules and restrictions on this market, find out the requirements for the parameters of the goods and packaging, fees and duties charged. In real time, you can also get an estimate of the cost of transportation costs of the required volume of products.
For an additional fee, more detailed and specialized reports on the state of most industries in different countries are available. For example, the Russian association InformVEC, which specializes in information support of foreign economic activity, provides a range of such services (http://www.inves.ru).
With the help of the Internet, it is possible to compile a list of possible partners, information about which is contained on the websites of local chambers of commerce and industry, state bodies, industry associations, check their solidity and reliability through the network databases of the relevant agencies and immediately contact the selected potential partners by e-mail.