Other content related to Business performance and ownership

Description:

This paper discusses in detail issues dealing with the technical aspects of designing and conducting surveys. It is intended for an audience of survey methodologists.

Over the last five years, the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics has been implementing a series of initiatives to improve the process of collecting business statistics data in the UK. These initiatives include the application of a range of new technology solutions data collection; document imaging and scanned forms have replaced paper forms for all processes. For some inquiries, the paper form has been eliminated altogether by the adoption of Telephone Data Entry (TDE). Reporting all incoming data in electronic format has allowed workflow systems to be introduced across a wide range of data collection activities.

This paper describes the recent history of these initiatives and covers proposals that are presently at a pilot stage or being projected for the next four years. It also examines the future strategy of TDE data collection via the Internet, and the current pilots and security issues under consideration.

Description:

This paper discusses in detail issues dealing with the technical aspects of designing and conducting surveys. It is intended for an audience of survey methodologists.

A review of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) identified the need for new methods which would improve the efficiency of the data validation and editing processes in business surveys, but would not adversely impact the data quality. Methods for automating the correction of systematic errors, and for applying selective editing, were developed. However, the ways in which the organization and the procedures for ONS business surveys have evolved, presented a number of challenges in implementing these methods. This paper describes these challenges and how they were addressed and considers the relevance of these challenges to other organizations. Approaches to evaluating the impact of new methods on both quality and efficiency are also discussed.

Description:

The statistics in this bulletin are derived from the 2000 survey of industrial research and development activities in Canada, which covers firms spending a million dollars or more on the performance or funding of research and development in Canada, and from the administrative data of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) for firms which spend less than a million dollars on the performance or funding of research and development in Canada. The use of CCRA data results in a small understatement in total figures for the most recent years reported.

Description:

This release provides data on the research and development activities of the private non-profit sector. Although the contribution of this sector to the national R&D effort is small in dollar terms, its impact, particularly in the university sector, is significant. Questionnaires were mailed to 95 private non-profit organizations thought to be supporting research and development activities. Twenty-two organizations reported performing research and development.

Description:

The statistics in this bulletin are derived from the 1999 survey of industrial research and development activities in Canada, which covers firms spending a million dollars or more on the performance or funding of research and development in Canada, and from the administrative data of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) for firms which spend less than a million dollars on the performance or funding of research and development in Canada. The use of CCRA data results in a small understatement in total figures for the most recent years reported.

Description:

This release provides data on the Research and development activities of the private non-profit sector. Although the contribution of this sector to the national R&D effort is small in dollar terms, its impact, particularly in the university sector, is significant.Questionnaires were mailed to 94 private non-profit organizations thought to be supporting Research and development activities. Twenty organizations reported performing Research and development.

Description:

Updates on expenditures and personnel.

Description:

The statistics presented in this bulletin are derived from the 1998 survey of industrial Research and development activities in Canada and from Canada Customs and Revenue Agency's administrative data for firms performing or funding R&D under $1 million . In 1997, a decision was made to eliminate the short survey forms in favour of administrative data in order to reduce the response burden. The survey collects information on the Research and development spending intentions for 2000, the estimates for 1999 and the actual expenditures for 1998 of corporations performing Research and development activities in Canada.

Description:

The statistics presented in this bulletin are derived from our latest survey of industrial research and development activities in Canada. The survey reports on the research and development spending intentions for 1999, the estimates for 1998 and the actual expenditures for 1997 of corporations performing research and development activities in Canada. In 1997, a decision was made to eliminate the short survey forms in favour of administrative data, in order to reduce the response burden.

Description:

This release provides data on the research and development activities of the private non-profit sector.

Description:

Main market of the business by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size. Main market is the geographic region from which the business derived the highest percentage of total sales revenue.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that had specific strategic focus with respect to business processes (core activities to produce products and all support business activities) over the next five years, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size. Strategic focus with respect to business processes include maintenance on current business processes, optimization of current business processes, introduction of new or improved business processes, downsize of current business processes to focus on areas of advantage.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that required skills in specific areas, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Specific areas include basic digital, computer science, information technology, general data science and analytics, natural sciences and engineering, management, business, international business, skilled trades, design, coaching and mentoring skills to meet the needs of the business, and e-commerce or digital trade.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that encountered skill shortages in specific areas, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period. Specific areas include basic digital, computer science, information technology, general data science and analytics, natural sciences and engineering, management, business, international business, skilled trades, design, coaching and mentoring skills to meet the needs of the business, and e-commerce or digital trade.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that had arrangements with other business entities outside Canada for them to perform manufacturing, processing, or assembly work according to the specifications provided by these enterprises or on behalf of their clients, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and enterprise size, based on a one-year observation period.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that have a corporate diversity strategy, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and enterprise size.

Description: Percentage of total non-profit organizations, by region, size, International Classification of Non-Profit Organizations (ICNPO) and organization type, Canada, 2023.

Description: The Census data which include: head offices and head office employment (NAICS 551114), annual, for two years of data.

Description: Percentage of enterprises that filed or registered the intellectual property to protect product innovations introduced and developed by these enterprises in Canada, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and enterprise size for Canada and certain provinces.

Description: Number of persons on boards of directors that are operating in Canada, by gender and type of corporation, by province and territory, by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), and by selected country of control, annual.

Description:

This survey collects data to monitor science and technology related activities in Canada and to support the development of science and technology policy.

Description:

Business investment has played a key role in the recent recession and recovery. Energy and mining led the recovery in 2010, and intentions point to continued growth in 2011. Manufacturers also expect to invest more in 2011, although investment spending in this sector continues to diverge widely between expanding and contracting industries.

Description:

This survey collects data to monitor science and technology related activities in Canada and to support the development of science and technology policy.

Description:

Knowledge of the causes of measurement errors in business surveys is limited, even though such errors may compromise the accuracy of the micro data and economic indicators derived from them. This article, based on an empirical study with a focus from the business perspective, presents new research findings on the response process in business surveys. It proposes the Multidimensional Integral Business Survey Response (MIBSR) model as a tool for investigating the response process and explaining its outcomes, and as the foundation of any strategy dedicated to reducing and preventing measurement errors.

Description:

Business surveys differ from surveys of populations of individual persons or households in many respects. Two of the most important differences are (a) that respondents in business surveys do not answer questions about characteristics of themselves (such as their experiences, behaviours, attitudes and feelings) but about characteristics of organizations (such as their size, revenues, policies, and strategies) and (b) that they answer these questions as an informant for that organization. Academic business surveys differ from other business surveys, such as of national statistical agencies, in many respects as well. The one most important difference is that academic business surveys usually do not aim at generating descriptive statistics but at testing hypotheses, i.e. relations between variables. Response rates in academic business surveys are very low, which implies a huge risk of non-response bias. Usually no attempt is made to assess the extent of non-response bias and published survey results might, therefore, not be a correct reflection of actual relations within the population, which in return increases the likelihood that the reported test result is not correct.

This paper provides an analysis of how (the risk of) non-response bias is discussed in research papers published in top management journals. It demonstrates that non-response bias is not assessed to a sufficient degree and that, if attempted at all, correction of non-response bias is difficult or very costly in practice. Three approaches to dealing with this problem are presented and discussed:(a) obtaining data by other means than questionnaires;(b) conducting surveys of very small populations; and(c) conducting surveys of very small samples.

It will be discussed why these approaches are appropriate means of testing hypotheses in populations. Trade-offs regarding the selection of an approach will be discussed as well.

Description:

The Unified Enterprise Survey (UES) at Statistics Canada is an annual business survey that unifies more than 60 surveys from different industries. Two types of collection follow-up score functions are currently used in the UES data collection. The objective of using a score function is to maximize the economically weighted response rates of the survey in terms of the primary variables of interest, under the constraint of a limited follow-up budget. Since the two types of score functions are based on different methodologies, they could have different impacts on the final estimates.

This study generally compares the two types of score functions based on the collection data obtained from the two recent years. For comparison purposes, this study applies each score function method to the same data respectively and computes various estimates of the published financial and commodity variables, their deviation from the true pseudo value and their mean square deviation, based on each method. These estimates of deviation and mean square deviation based on each method are then used to measure the impact of each score function on the final estimates of the financial and commodity variables.

Description:

Statistics Netherlands (SN) has been using electronic questionnaires for Business surveys since the early nineties. Some years ago SN decided to invest in a large scale use of electronic questionnaires. The big yearly production survey of about 80 000 forms, divided over many different economical activity areas, was redesigned using a meta database driven approach. The resulting system is able to generate non-intelligent personalized PDF forms and intelligent personalized Blaise forms. The Blaise forms are used by a new tool in the Blaise system which can be downloaded by the respondents from the SN web site to run the questionnaire off-line. Essential to the system is the SN house style for paper and electronic forms. The flexibility of the new tool offered the questionnaire designers the possibility to implement a user friendly form according to this house style.

Part of the implementation is an audit trail that offers insight in the way respondents operate the questionnaire program. The entered data including the audit trail can be transferred via encrypted e-mail or through the internet to SN. The paper will give an outline of the overall system architecture and the role of Blaise in the system. It will also describe the results of using the system for several years now and some results of the analysis of the audit trail.

Description:

The US Census Bureau conducts monthly, quarterly, and annual surveys of the American economy and a census every 5 years. These programs require significant business effort. New technologies, new forms of organization, and scarce resources affect the ability of businesses to respond. Changes also affect what businesses expect from the Census Bureau, the Census Bureau's internal systems, and the way businesses interact with the Census Bureau.

For several years, the Census Bureau has provided a special relationship to help large companies prepare for the census. We also have worked toward company-centric communication across all programs. A relationship model has emerged that focuses on infrastructure and business practices, and allows the Census Bureau to be more responsive.

This paper focuses on the Census Bureau's company-centric communications and systems. We describe important initiatives and challenges, and we review their impact on Census Bureau practices and respondent behavior.

Description:

The Enterprise Portfolio Manager (EPM) Program at Statistics Canada demonstrated the value of employing a "holistic" approach to managing the relationships we have with our largest and most complex business respondents.

Understanding that different types of respondents should receive different levels of intervention and having learnt the value of employing an "enterprise-centric" approach to managing relationships with important, complex data providers, STC has embraced a response management strategy that divides its business population into four tiers based on size, complexity and importance to survey estimates. Thus segmented, different response management approaches have been developed appropriate to the relative contribution of the segment. This allows STC to target resources to the areas where it stands to achieve the greatest return on investment. Tier I and Tier II have been defined as critical to survey estimates.

Tier I represent the largest, most complex businesses in Canada and is managed through the Enterprise Portfolio Management Program.

Tier II represents businesses that are smaller or less complex than Tier I but still significant in developing accurate measures of the activities of individual industries.

Tier III includes more medium-sized businesses, those that form the bulk of survey samples.

Tier IV represents the smallest businesses which are excluded from collection; for these STC relies entirely on tax information.

The presentation will outline:It works! Results and metrics from the programs that have operationalized the Holistic Response Management strategy.Developing a less subjective, methodological approach to segment the business survey population for HRM. The project team's work to capture the complexity factors intrinsically used by experienced staff to rank respondents. What our so called "problem" respondents have told us about the issues underlying non-response.

Description:

In one sense, a questionnaire is never complete. Test results, paradata and research findings constantly provide reasons to update and improve the questionnaire. In addition, establishments change over time and questions need to be updated accordingly. In reality, it doesn't always work like this. At Statistics Sweden there are several examples of questionnaires that were designed at one point in time and rarely improved later on. However, we are currently trying to shift the perspective on questionnaire design from a linear to a cyclic one. We are developing a cyclic model in which the questionnaire can be improved continuously in multiple rounds. In this presentation, we will discuss this model and how we work with it.

Description: Rural Canada Non-Profits (RCNP) is a database that provides estimates of Non-Profit Organization (NPO) counts, total revenue and total employment in Canada. This document presents the data sources, methods and classification concepts used in the production of the RCNP.

Description:

The mandate of the Analytical Studies Branch (ASB) is to provide high-quality, relevant and timely information on economic, health and social issues that are important to Canadians. The branch strategically makes use of expert knowledge and a large range of statistical sources to describe, draw inferences from, and make objective and scientifically supported deductions about the evolving nature of the Canadian economy and society. Research questions are addressed by applying leading-edge methods, including microsimulation and predictive analytics using a range of linked and integrated administrative and survey data. In supporting greater access to data, ASB linked data are made available to external researchers and policy makers to support evidence-based decision making. Research results are disseminated by the branch using a range of mediums (i.e., research papers, studies, infographics, videos, and blogs) to meet user needs. The branch also provides analytical support and training, feedback, and quality assurance to the wide range of programs within and outside Statistics Canada.

Description:

This paper provides an overview of the productivity program at Statistics Canada and a brief description of Canada's productivity performance. The paper defines productivity and the various measures that are used to investigate different aspects of productivity growth. It describes the difference between partial productivity measures (such as labour productivity) and a more complete measure (multifactor productivity) and the advantages and disadvantages of each. The paper explains why productivity is important. It outlines how productivity growth fits into the growth accounting framework and how this framework is used to examine the various sources of economic growth. The paper briefly discusses the challenges that face statisticians in measuring productivity growth. It also provides an overview of Canada's long-term productivity performance and compares Canada to the United States - both in terms of productivity levels and productivity growth rates.

Description:

This newsletter is a brief description of projects within the Business and Labour Market Analysis Division of Statistics Canada. The research covers a wide range of topics including labour market issues, low income, immigration, business firm dynamics, pensions, productivity, technology and innovation, as well as economic geography.

Description:

This product contains presentations done at Statistics Canada's annual Economic Conference which provides a forum for the exchange of empirical research among the business, government, research and labour communities. The conference is also a means to promote economic and socio-economic analysis while subjecting existing data to critical assessment as part of an ongoing process of statistical development and review.

Description:

This paper discusses the approach that Statistics Canada has taken to improve the quality of annual business surveys through their integration in the Unified Enterprise Survey (UES). The primary objective of the UES is to measure the final annual sales of goods and services accurately by province, in sufficient detail and in a timely manner.

This paper describes the methodological approaches that the UES has used to improve financial and commodity data quality in four broad areas. These include improved coherence of the data collected from different levels of the enterprise, better coverage of industries, better depth of information (in the sense of more content detail and estimates for more detailed domains) and better consistency of the concepts and methods across industries.

The approach, in achieving quality, has been to (a) establish a base measure of the quality of the business survey program prior to the UES, (b) measure the annual data quality of the UES, and (c) carry out specific studies to better understand the quality of UES data and methods.

Description:

The purpose of this paper is to provide some general background and describe the methodology of the pilot year Unified Enterprise Survey (UES). It also illustrates the role of the Unified Enterprise Survey Program (UESP) within The Project to Improve Provincial Economic Statistics (PIPES) program. This information package is targeted toward external clients, for example the Provincial Focal Points, enabling them to assess future data releases planned by industry sector. The scope of this information package will be expanded as subsequent data releases over the next six months or so provide more industry specific details for the seven new pilot industries included in the 1997 UES. This document is approximately twenty-two pages in length and is to be offered at no charge to callers requesting information on the UES.

Description:

These papers consist of research related to business and trade statistics.

Description:

The Unified Enterprise Survey (UES) incorporates several annual business surveys into an integrated survey framework. It aims to ensure Statistics Canada receives consistent and integrated data from many types and sizes of businesses, with enough detail to produce accurate provincial statistics. This year, 17 industry surveys are included in the UES, as well as two cross-industry surveys of large enterprises.

Description: The Business Register (BR) is Statistics Canada's continuously-maintained central repository of baseline information on businesses and institutions operating in Canada. As a statistical register, it provides listings of units and related attributes required for survey sampling frames, data integration, stratification and business demographic statistics. The BR is a major pillar of the agency's business statistics programs, including the Census of Agriculture.