If you're looking for a quick overview of business practices within a foreign country and need information on governance, economy, industries, taxation/trade laws or business etiquette, try one of the many "Doing Business in..." type guides available.

Various organizations and companies publish these country guides which are aimed at helping their clients navigate the intricacies of conducting business in foreign countries. These guides usually range from 10 to 30 or so pages and provide an excellent introduction into the business practices of a country and often point out additional resources such as key government contacts, other business related organizations and so on. One word of caution: because these guides can go out of date relatively quickly, verify any information you pull from them from other, reliable sources.

Some of the more popular 'Doing Business' Guides are:

• Deloitte Country Guides: "Based on research by the Economist Intelligence Unit and Deloitte, and updated at regular intervals, the Guides contain extensive information on investment conditions, tax regimes and regulatory requirements, along with information for executives working abroad. The Guides are supplemented by the Snapshot series, an at-a-glance summary of basic information, including tax rates, for more than 75 countries. Each country is updated twice a year."
• Grant Thornton: This accounting firm offers business guides for both developing and developed countries. Choose a country (top right corner), then look for a link to a "Doing Business" guide.
• World Bank: This site from the World Bank provides access to a database and many country-specific publications providing "indicators of the cost of doing business by identifying specific regulations that enhance or constrain business investment, productivity, and growth."
• HLB International: This worldwide organisation of professional accounting firms has a number of country guides detailing investment factors and tax systems for individual countries.
• executiveplanet.com: Business culture guides for over 40 countries. Canadians, you may be interested to know, are tactful, line up in order and eat with the fork held in the right hand.

Other guides include:

• Ernst and Young: Once more visible, these popular guides are hidden on their Web site. Try a quick search for "Doing Business In" at the link above (using the "all EY" search option) to get an idea what sorts of reports they produce. Also browse their country-specific libraries
• Atradius: According to their site, their country guides "provide valuable advice on ways to safeguard your export sales, with economic overviews and information on legal, and out of court, collection processes".
• MGI: These country guides provide tax and business information including business environments, business entities, foreign investment and trade and confidentiality and diligence against criminal activities.