The Library has some great sources for finding out background and data for countries. Remember to also search for books and videos in the library's catalog if you want to look into more background about a country, and then also find contemporary or scholarly articles in the article databases.
Mostly used for in-depth public company information, Mergent Online also includes deep and rich country profiles from a business standpoint. See the Country Insight tab in that resource.
Created by the International Business Center and the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University (IBC), globalEDGEâ„¢ is a knowledge web-portal that connects international business professionals worldwide to a wealth of information, insights, and learning resources on global business activities.