A major part in strategic planning is the process of gathering data. It should be done prior to, during the creation of the strategic plan, continue on through the implementation, and in the monitoring process of the strategic plan. Data can be secondary or primary data and gathered through internal or external means.

At the country level there are a wide variety of data sources. Key among them are:

CIA World Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

The World Bank

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator

Telephone and internet use

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx

Freedom

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world-aggregate-and-subcategory-scores#.VGE2rYdhC9Ewww.freedomhouse.org/

National competitiveness

https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-competitiveness-report-2017-2018

Costs of doing business

http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

FDI and Cross-border M&As

http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DIAE/World%20Investment%20Report/Annex-Tables.aspx

Trade and trade trends -

https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/wts2016_e/wts16_chap9_e.htm

IMF Economic Outlook

- https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2016/02/weodata/index.aspx

Deloitte Industrial Manufacturing Competitiveness

- https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Manufacturing/gx-global-mfg-competitiveness-index-2016.pdf

BCG Global Manufacturing Cost Index -

https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/interactive/lean_manufacturing_globalization_bcg_global_manufacturing_cost_competitiveness_index/

Within organizations, huge amounts of internal data is now attainable and comes from a growing variety of sources including social data, Google, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), analytics, mobile data, media data, data management platforms.

Some industry data is available but much of it is proprietary.

OECD Industrial Production

https://data.oecd.org/industry/industrial-production.htm

Reuters

- provides some selective industry data.

https://www.reuters.com/finance

World Bank Industry Value Added

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.IND.TOTL.ZS

UNIDO Industrial Statistics

https://www.unido.org/our-focus/cross-cutting-services/industrial-policy-advice-research-and-statistics/industrial-statistics

IBISWorld Global Industry Reports

https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/global-industry-reports/