© Federal Statistical Office Germany, Roland Sturm, E 101 Business Register, Statistical Units A new statistical definition of the enterprise conceptional

© Federal Statistical Office Germany, Roland Sturm, E 101 Business Register, Statistical Units

A new statistical definition of the enterprise

conceptional and practical implications

Joint UNECE, Eurostat, OECD Meeting

of Group of Experts on Business Registers

Session „Economic globalisation and business registers“

3. September 2013 Geneva

Roland Sturm

Federal Statistical Office, Germany

Folie 2© Federal Statistical Office Germany, Roland Sturm, E 101 Business Register, Statistical Units

the smallest combination of legal units

that is an organizational unit

producing goods or services,

which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making,

especially for the allocation of its current resources.

An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations.

An enterprise may be a sole legal unit

The current definition of the enterprise



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EN2

EN3EN4

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EN3


Findings about application (ESSnet Consistency):

1. No consistent application in Member States

2. Only 8 Member States employ the „complex enterprise“

3. Mostly enterprises are seen equivalent to Legal Units

4. More and more use of administrative data



Findings about reality:

1. Legal Units are not appropriate to delineate/identify economic actors

2. National borders lose relevance to delineate/identify economic actors

3. Autonomy defines Enterprises 4. Market Activity is proxi for autonomy5. Inside the enterprise often no market prices

meaningless for economic statistics


an organisational market oriented unit which benefits from a sufficient degree of autonomy in

decision-making. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or

more locations.The enterprise can correspond to either• a single legal unit not controlled by any other legal unit• an enterprise group as a set of legal units under

common control, or • an autonomous part of an enterprise group

The proposed definition of the enterprise


Gains in preciseness• market orientation, autonomy

Differences concerning relations• reference to enterprise groups instead of legal units• splitting of legal units

Loss of freedom• Obligatory control relations

(no complex enterprise without control relations)

Current versus proposed definition


an organisational

market oriented unit

which benefits from a sufficient degree of autonomy in decision-making.

An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations.

The enterprise can correspond to either

• a single legal unit not controlled by any other legal unit

• an enterprise group as a set of legal units under common control, or

• an autonomous part of an enterprise group

The proposed definition of the enterprise – What is new?

!new

new


The Global Enterprise (GEN)UCI

GEN1 GEN2 GEN3 GEN4


The Global Enterprise (GEN) and its national parts (TEN)

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DE

US

UCI

GEN1 GEN2 GEN3 GEN4


central positions:

1. GEN segregated in max 1 TEN per country

2. Legal Units can be active for more than one GEN

3. TEN „inherits“ the NACE of the GEN

4. For „national uses“ if needed: double classification

The Global Enterprise (GEN) and its national parts (TEN)


1. TEN are not autonomous

2. TEN are „random“ parts of enterprises

3. TEN are not defined from a „national“ point of view of statistics, but defined by the organisational structure of the enterprise (group)

4. Legal Units can be active for more than one TEN

Implications from the concept of the TEN


TEN application in national statistics

FR

DE

US

S - Sales/MarketingH - Human Resources

T - TransportP - ProductionH - Human Resources

M - ManagementH - Human Resources

S

H

T

P H

H

M

GEN1


„The choice of the adequate statistical unit is to be

determined by the goals of the respective statistical

domain - and not the opposite“ (N. Rainer)

• FATS on basis of GEN?• SBS on basis of GEN? Comparability of SBS for EU-

and national level?• National Accounts for member states or Europan

Account – or World Accounts?

Where to employ GEN and TEN?


• Why is the current concept of the enterprise not widely applied?

• Will the application of the GEN/TEN-concept be easier?

• Is the delineation of GEN/TEN structures by international cooperation (international profiling) workable?

• How to enforce respondence?• How to combine the GEN/TEN approach with the use

of administative data?

How to employ GEN/TEN?


Definition

How we believe things are

Operationalisation

How we handle things in practice

Definition should not restrict

the possibilities of operationalisation

Definition versus operationalisation


Territorynational – multinational - „global“

GEN/TEN is operationalisation!

NEN, DEN, EU-EN, (…) is operationalisation!

• current definition is neutral• proposed definition is neutral



Profiling

„A method to analyse the structure of an enterprise group in order to establish statistical units“

= operationalisation

• current definition allows Top-Down and Bottom-Up• proposed definition enforces Top-Down

restricts operationalisation



Legal Units

as respondents: operationalisation

as observation units: operationalisation

as statistical units: ?? definition

• Current definition describes reality unsufficiently and may restrict operationalisation

• Proposed definition restricts operationalisation



Legal Units

• An enterprise is…

“the smallest combination of legal units

or parts of legal units, …”

would suffice definition and operationalisation



Thank you for listening!

Roland Sturm

Telefon: +49 (0) 611 75 2580

[email protected]

www.destatis.de


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UCI

GEN1 GEN2 GEN3 GEN4


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Documents

© Federal Statistical Office Germany, Roland Sturm, E 101 Business Register, Statistical Units A new statistical definition of the enterprise conceptional