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"International" in business describes any commercial activity that crosses a national border — exporting, importing, sourcing, foreign investment, or managing operations in more than one country. The practical skill behind it is country research: you need to know a market's economy, political conditions, trade-bloc membership, and industry structure before you commit to entering it or buying from it. globalEDGE, a global business knowledge portal from Michigan State University, organizes exactly this kind of research through its Country Profiles, which cover statistical, historical, economic, and political data for 202 countries. One caveat before you rely on it: the site states it is no longer actively maintained due to the end of federal grant funding, so treat it as a stable reference source rather than a source of breaking news.

What Makes Business "International"

Domestic business operates inside one legal, currency, and cultural system. International business adds layers that change the decision:

• Currency and payment risk — cross-border transactions settle across exchange rates and banking systems.
• Legal and regulatory variation — tariffs, import rules, and compliance requirements differ by country.
• Political conditions — stability, policy direction, and trade relationships affect how safe a market is to enter.
• Cross-cultural management — negotiation styles, communication norms, and workplace expectations shift how deals get done.
• Logistics and distance — shipping, lead times, and customs add cost and complexity.

The research question is never just "is this a big market?" It is "can we operate there, at what cost, and under what conditions?"

The Four Dimensions to Research for Any Country

globalEDGE's Country Profiles are built around a small set of filters that map onto these dimensions. Use them as your research checklist.

The site lets you browse by Country, Trade Bloc, Economic Classification, Industry, and State, so you can approach the same question from several angles — for example, starting from a trade bloc to see which markets share access rules, then drilling into individual countries.

Step-by-Step: Researching a Country on globalEDGE

1. Start from the Country Profiles entry point. The profile hub is described as "your source for statistical data for 202 countries around the world," covering history, economy, and political conditions.
2. Select your country from the alphabetical list (Afghanistan through the full set of 202). Expected result: a country-level data page.
3. Read the economic picture first. Identify the economic classification and main industries. This tells you whether the market fits your product or sourcing need.
4. Check political conditions. Look at the government and stability information to gauge operating risk.
5. Identify trade-bloc membership. This determines whether your goods face tariffs or preferential access.
6. Cross-reference with the Industry view to see how your sector performs in that market.
7. Compare against a second country using the same four dimensions so your decision rests on relative, not absolute, numbers.

Verify your findings

Because the site is no longer actively maintained, confirm time-sensitive figures — current tariffs, exchange rates, and political developments — against a live official source such as the country's trade ministry or a customs authority. Use globalEDGE for structure and background, and current sources for anything that changes month to month.

Applying the Research to a Real Decision

Say you are choosing between two countries for a sourcing partnership. Run both through the same four dimensions:

• Economy — does the country have the industrial base and workforce your product needs?
• Political conditions — is the operating environment stable enough for a multi-year contract?
• Trade bloc — does membership reduce your import duties or simplify customs?
• Industry — is your sector established there, or would you be building supply capability from scratch?

The country that wins on cost but loses on political stability or trade access is often the wrong choice. The framework forces you to weigh all four rather than optimizing for one.

Where Cross-Cultural Management Fits

Country data tells you whether a market is viable; cross-cultural factors determine whether you can actually execute there. globalEDGE's stated scope includes cross-cultural management alongside country data and cross-border transactions, which reflects the reality that negotiation style, hierarchy, and communication expectations affect how contracts get signed and how partnerships run. Research these separately from the numbers — they rarely show up in statistical profiles but frequently decide whether a deal succeeds.

Key Takeaways

• "International" means any business activity crossing a border, and it adds currency, legal, political, cultural, and logistical layers to domestic decisions.
• Research a country across four dimensions: economy, political conditions, trade bloc, and industry.
• globalEDGE's Country Profiles cover 202 countries and let you browse by country, trade bloc, classification, industry, and state.
• The site is no longer actively maintained, so verify current figures against official sources.
• Use the same dimensions to compare markets, and treat cross-cultural factors as a separate, decisive layer.

Dance appears in figurative oil painting as a study of the body in motion: artists use pose, gesture, and the direction of limbs to suggest rhythm and timing that a still image cannot literally show. If you want to understand or evaluate these works, look at how the painter handles weight, balance, and the implied beat rather than at whether the figures look "accurate." Shoshana Kertesz, a figurative oil painter, lists dance and music among the subjects of her practice, which places her work in this tradition.

Why dance keeps returning as a subject

The human figure is already the core of figurative painting, and dance pushes that figure into its most expressive state. A dancer's body is:

• Committed — every limb has a direction and a purpose, so there is no neutral, resting pose to fall back on.
• Rhythmic — the pose implies a before and after, which gives a still image a sense of time.
• Social or solitary — dance can be a couple, a crowd, or one person alone, so the same subject carries very different emotional weight.

That combination gives a painter more to work with than a seated portrait: movement, tension, and an implied soundtrack.

How a painter captures movement in a still image

Oil paint is well suited to this because it stays workable for a long time, letting the artist rework edges, blur a limb, or drag a brushstroke to imitate the path of a body. Common techniques include:

Pose and line of action

The "line of action" is the imaginary curve running through a figure from head to foot. A strong curve reads as motion; a vertical, static line reads as rest. Painters exaggerate this curve in dancers.

Blur and lost edges

Softening the edge of a fast-moving arm or leg suggests speed, while keeping the face or torso sharp anchors the figure.

Repetition and overlap

Two or three overlapping positions of the same figure can imply a sequence of movement, similar to how a photograph with a slow shutter speed records a gesture.

Weight and balance

A believable dancer is off-balance in a controlled way. Look at where the hips sit relative to the supporting foot — that relationship tells you whether the figure is mid-turn, mid-leap, or settling.

The role of the body, gesture, and music

Gesture carries the emotional content. An open, upward gesture reads differently from a closed, inward one, even in the same pose. Music enters in two ways: as an actual subject (musicians in the scene, an instrument in hand) and as a structural idea, where the composition itself has a tempo — repeated shapes, pauses, and accents.

Georges Braque's line, quoted on Kertesz's site, is a useful lens here: "There is only one valuable thing in art: it's the thing you cannot explain." In dance painting, that unexplained element is often exactly the sense of timing — you can see the pose, but you feel the beat.

What to notice when you look at dance-themed figurative art

Use these as a checklist rather than a rulebook:

Exploring exhibitions with dance-inspired figurative work

If you want to see this in person, start with juried and regional shows, which often mix figurative painting with other media. One current example from Kertesz's site: the "22nd Annual Juried Art Show" at Belmar Arts Center, 608 River Road, Belmar NJ, running Aug 21, 2026 – Sept 27, 2026, with an opening reception on Aug 21, 6–8pm.

To find similar shows near you:

1. Check local arts centers and juried annual shows, which post dates and open calls publicly.
2. Look at an artist's exhibition page directly — Kertesz's site lists current and upcoming exhibitions.
3. At the show, spend time on one dance figure and trace its line of action before moving on.

The practical takeaway: judge dance painting by how it handles weight, direction, and implied timing, not by how closely it copies a photograph. That is where the subject actually lives.

Horst A. Friedrichs is a London-based photographer whose reportage-style images of British subcultures, style, and city life have appeared in advertising and editorial campaigns worldwide. If you want to understand what his photography covers — or how a reportage approach differs from studio portraiture — this explains his subjects, method, and notable projects.

Who Horst Friedrichs Is

Friedrichs works from London and shoots for both advertising and editorial clients. His stated approach blends "classic heritage with traditional style," and his images are made in a reportage style that captures natural moments either on location or in the studio. That combination — documentary instinct plus a strong sense of style — is what connects his commercial work to his long-term personal projects.

Why London Is Central to His Practice

London is not just his base; it is a recurring subject. His project London: Portrait of a City, produced for MERIAN magazine, treats the city itself as a portrait subject. Other London-specific work in his portfolio includes London's Finest Shops and Hidden Pubs of London, both of which focus on the texture of everyday city life rather than landmarks alone.

This local grounding matters: a reportage photographer working in their own city has access to people, places, and subcultures over years, not just a single shoot day.

Recurring Subjects: Subcultures and British Style

Friedrichs is described as one of the most popular trend-spotting photographers, and his subject list reflects that. Recurring themes include:

• Mods and rockers — the classic mid-century British youth tribes
• Teddy boys — referenced in his portfolio as "Tedyboys rock n roll"
• 21st-century rockers and mods — updated in projects like OR GLORY: 21st Century Rockers and I'M ONE 21st Century Mods
• Fan culture — including Liverpool FC's legendary fan culture
• British institutions and craft — Scotch whisky, Swiss watchmakers, Rolls-Royce, and menswear labels such as Belstaff, Dent De Man, and Samsonite

The through-line is style as identity: what people wear and how they gather says something about who they are.

Reportage Style: What It Means in Practice

Reportage means photographing real situations as they unfold rather than directing them. In Friedrichs' case, the site description notes his images capture "natural moments on location or in the studio" — so even studio work keeps a documentary feel.

For anyone trying to recognize or commission this style, the practical markers are:

• Subjects appear absorbed in what they are doing, not posing for the camera
• Settings are real — a pub, a street, a workshop — not seamless backdrops
• Lighting and composition serve the moment rather than overriding it

Editorial and Commercial Work

His portfolio spans magazines and brands across Europe and beyond. Examples from his published work include:

He has also photographed public figures and personalities, including Sir Paul Smith, Hans Zimmer, Max Richter, Suggs of Madness, and Mesut Özil for a book cover.

Books and Long-Term Projects

Several of his subjects have become book-length projects rather than single assignments:

• I'M ONE: 21st Century Mods
• Pride and Glory
• OR GLORY: 21st Century Rockers
• Cycle Style, Coffee Style, Denim Style
• Best of British
• London: Portrait of a City

These titles show how a reportage photographer builds depth: return to a subject over years, and the work becomes a record of a scene rather than a snapshot of it.

How to View or Commission His Work

To see the full range, start with his portfolio site, where work is organized by project and client. If you are considering a commission, note two things from his stated practice: he shoots both on location and in studio, and his strength is natural, unstaged moments — so briefs that require heavy art direction or constructed sets are a different fit than documentary-style campaigns.

For editorial use, his existing magazine work (STERN, GEO, Der Spiegel, GQ) gives a clear sense of how he handles feature-length assignments.

Birmingham City University (BCU) is a large, practice-based university in Birmingham, in the UK's West Midlands. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate and Clearing routes across a wide range of subject areas, and it positions itself around work experience, industry-standard facilities and social mobility. If you want a university that emphasises applied, career-facing learning in a major UK city, BCU is worth shortlisting; if you want a small, campus-contained or research-intensive institution, it may be a weaker fit.

What "practice-based" means at BCU

BCU describes itself as having "a focus on practice-based learning." In practice, this means courses are often built around applied work, industry-standard facilities and placement or work-experience opportunities rather than purely theoretical study.

The university backs this up with several claims on its own site:

These are BCU's own cited figures, so treat them as the university's positioning rather than independent verification. The practical takeaway: BCU is a reasonable choice if work experience and facilities matter more to you than, say, a traditional research reputation.

Study levels and subject areas

BCU covers both undergraduate and postgraduate study, plus Clearing options that include HNDs, Foundation Degrees and Degree Programmes.

Subject areas listed on the site include:

• Accounting, Finance and Economics
• Acting and Theatre
• Architecture
• Art and Design
• Business and Management
• Computing
• Construction and the Built Environment
• Education and Teacher Training
• Engineering
• English
• Fashion and Textiles
• Film, Animation and Photography
• Games
• Health Professions
• Jewellery
• Law
• Marketing
• Media and Journalism
• Music
• Nursing and Midwifery
• Psychology
• Social Work and Community Studies
• Sociology and Criminology
• Sport and Life Sciences

That spread is broad enough that most applicants will find something relevant, but the strength of the offer is concentrated in creative, health, business and built-environment fields rather than, for example, pure sciences.

Postgraduate study is framed around three motivations: pursuing a passion, advancing a career, or changing direction. BCU runs postgraduate Open Days if you want to explore that route.

How to apply, including Clearing

The main routes described on the site are:

1. Standard application — for most undergraduate and postgraduate courses, via the usual UCAS or direct postgraduate route.
2. Clearing — for courses with places still available. BCU states Clearing is open from 2 July 2026, with places available to start "this Autumn, or in January 2027." You search courses, then call 0121 331 6777 to apply. The hotline is open weekdays 9am–5pm. If you already have your results, you can also apply online.
3. Open Days — an Undergraduate Open Day is listed for 10 October, covering courses except Sport, with booking required.

Personal statement support

BCU offers a free Personal Statement guide that includes subject-specific examples from real students and guidance on using AI safely. This is useful if you are applying through the standard route and want a concrete starting point rather than generic advice.

Next steps if you are considering BCU

• Search courses by UCAS points, search term or subject area to see what is available, including in Clearing.
• Book an Open Day (undergraduate or postgraduate) to see the campuses and facilities.
• Check scholarships — BCU runs scholarship schemes that may provide extra funding and support; eligibility needs checking on their site.
• Take the virtual tour if you cannot visit in person; it offers 360-degree tours of facilities across campuses.
• If you are starting this September, the "Starting at BCU" section covers what to do before arrival, timetables and welcome week.

One practical caveat: the site does not publish tuition fees, entry requirements or scholarship amounts in the material available here, so confirm those directly with BCU before making a decision.