Lippincott Library of the Wharton School offers two useful research guides that describe business resources relevant to China in Africa:
Many Lippincott databases offer current and recently-past business research reports that will present a lot of facts and interpretation but not much attribution or citation. The best databases for African business are:
- Business Monitor International
- Easy to browse. Click on "Africa" in the menu bar, then pick your country and pick your topics, including country risk, financial markets, company intelligence, or specific industrial sectors. BMI's "Advanced Search" interface uses the same strategy but adds keyword searching: HINT! Select "Africa" as geography, and "China" as keyword in title and lead paragraph.
- ISI Emerging Markets
- EMIS - Emerging Market Information Service is a platform for news and business information about emerging markets worldwide. You can start at the "My EMIS Dashboard" or use the "Quick Links" dropdown on the web page's upper righthand corner. "Sub-Saharan Africa" will retrieve results for many countries. Then look to the search results left sidebar to filter for "China" as a keyword search term.
- EIU Country Commerce (ILT)
- For Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, a great overview of "doing business", providing annual reports on the national regulatory and market conditions, key commercial indicators, operating and investing practices, incentives and taxation, and many other topics.
Two large fulltext collections offer a mix of scholarly business journals, popular business magazines, trade periodicals, and other materials:
- ABI/Inform
- This leading database will use country names as geographic descriptors (or subject terms) and will use NAICS codes as industry descriptors. Use country-name descriptors to narrow your search quickly, then hunt for your specific interest - and don't forget to use fulltext searching!
- Business Source Premier ("EBSCOhost")
- Coverage comparable to ABI/Inform, but BSP's indexing is not so well-structured as ABI/Inform's.
