Market research in foreign trade and its sources

Abstract

The article deals with the most significant features of the tasks, methods and topics of market research in general with a special view to the peculiarities to be observed in foreign trade.

Surveyed are the sources of ecoscopic (indirect method) market research, divided into internal (within the company) and external (outside the company) groups. Official statistical publications of national, international and supra-national organizations and offices, along with the problems of their systematization and the comparison among foreign trade statistics are also dealt with in full detail. The list of further sources mentioned corers
publications of various economic and professional organizations (associations), as well as those of chambers of commerce and industry;
studies and other publications of foreign institutes for economic and market research;
foreign trade market research reports of government bodies;
international yearbooks, encyclopedias;
directories, catalogues of international fairs and exhibitions; technical books and professional journals;
political, economic and foreign trade journals and newspapers (dailies and weeklies).

Clipping archives are also described as an important means of presenting and storing market information. In the concluding part the selection and evaluation of the source material – being of a considerable quantity and diversified both in content and in form – is discussed.