Business performance and ownership

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: From July 2nd to August 6th, 2024, Statistics Canada conducted the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions. The purpose of this survey is to collect information on businesses in Canada related to emerging issues. This infographic presents key results from this.

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This table contains 27 series, with data starting from 1981 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (1 item: Canada); Type of currency (27 items: Australian dollar, daily average; Brazilian real, daily average; Chinese renminbi, daily average; European euro, daily average; ...).

Description: Private sector business counts by majority ownership, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Expectations over the next three months by the business or organization, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Obstacles faced by the business or organization over the next three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Most challenging obstacle expected by the business or organization over the next three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Business or organization expectations of how long various obstacles will last, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Business or organization change in supply chain challenges over the last three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Business or organization expectations of change in supply chain challenges over the next three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description:

This table contains 27 series, with data starting from 1981 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (1 item: Canada); Type of currency (27 items: Australian dollar, daily average; Brazilian real, daily average; Chinese renminbi, daily average; European euro, daily average; ...).

Description: Private sector business counts by majority ownership, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Expectations over the next three months by the business or organization, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Obstacles faced by the business or organization over the next three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Most challenging obstacle expected by the business or organization over the next three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Business or organization expectations of how long various obstacles will last, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Business or organization change in supply chain challenges over the last three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Business or organization expectations of change in supply chain challenges over the next three months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Business or organization plans to expand, restructure, acquire, invest, transfer, sell or close over the next 12 months, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

Description: Average yearly revenue growth expected by businesses or organizations over the next three years, by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), business employment size, type of business, business activity and majority ownership, third quarter of 2024.

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This paper examines whether new views of the multinational that see these firms as decentralizing research and development (R&D) activities abroad to exploit local competencies accord with the activities of multinationals in Canada. The paper describes the innovation regime of multinational firms in Canada by examining the differences between foreign- and domestically owned firms. It focuses on the extent to which R&D is used; the type of R&D activity; the importance of R&D relative to other sources of innovative ideas; whether the use of these other ideas indicates that multinationals are closely tied into local innovation networks; the intensity of innovation; and the use that is made of intellectual property rights to protect innovations from being copied by others.

We find that, far from being passively dependent on R&D from their parents, foreign-owned firms in Canada are more active in R&D than the population of Canadian-owned firms. They are also more often involved in R&D collaboration projects both abroad and in Canada. As expected, foreign subsidiaries enjoy the advantage of accessing technology from their parent and sister companies. While multinationals are more closely tied into a network of related firms for innovative ideas than are domestically owned firms, their local R&D unit is a more important source of information for innovation than are these inter-firm links. Surprisingly, foreign subsidiaries also more frequently report that they are using technology from unrelated firms. Moreover, the multinational is just as likely to develop links into a local university and other local innovation consortia as are domestically owned firms. This evidence indicates that multinationals in Canada are not, on the whole, operating subsidiaries whose scientific development capabilities are truncated - at least not in comparison to domestically owned firms.

A comparison of the extent and impact of innovation activity of domestically and foreign-owned firms shows that foreign-owned firms innovate in all sectors more frequently than Canadian-owned companies in almost all size categories. They are also more likely to introduce world-first rather than more imitative innovations. Their superiority is most pronounced in the consumer goods sector. Finally, foreign-owned firms are more likely to protect their innovations with patent protection.

The paper also compares foreign subsidiaries to Canadian corporations that have an international orientation. These additional comparisons show that the two groups of multinationals are quite similar, both with regards to the likelihood that they conduct some form of R&D and that they introduce innovations. These results indicate that it is as much the degree of globalization that the nationality of ownership that affects the degree of innovativeness.

Overall, the survey results suggest that foreign-owned firms make a significant contribution to technological progress and innovation in Canadian industry.

Description:

Using a comprehensive micro-database of Canadian firms in conjunction with industry-level data on commodity flows, we develop a profile of corporate diversification within the Canadian economy. Our analysis has two major objectives.

First, we decompose corporate diversification into horizontal and vertical components based on the degree to which industries are linked by inter-industry trade flows. Horizontal and vertical decompositions serve as useful proxies for the strategic factors that underlie diversification strategies.

Our second objective is to ascertain whether diversification patterns are closely associated with certain industry characteristics. Here we consider industry-level factors that are generally posited to affect the level of diversification (e.g., growth, concentration, knowledge-intensity) along with other variables designed to evaluate whether diversified ownership structures are associated with inter-industry commodity flows. Our regression analysis draws on three empirical measures of diversification: first, the amount of total entropy (i.e., diversification) within an industry; second, the average entropy per firm; and last, the percentage of firms within an industry that diversify.

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This report contains some basic answers to recurring questions that Statistics Canada receives on small business. It is also a reference to other Statistics Canada data sources and analytical products where more detailed information can be found.

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This on-line product Insights on... is a newsletter from Statistics Canada highlighting trends in business and trade statistics. Using information from the latest Statistics Canada surveys, Insights on... provides factual analysis of emerging trends in Canadian industry, documents what's new in Canadian business, and shows how businesses are responding to the challenges and opportunities posed by new types of business practices - globalization, new technologies, increasingly competitive markets, uncompromising standards of product quality, etc.

Each edition of Insights on... will deal with one or two topics. Non-technical analysis and user-friendly graphs will provide a complete and balanced interpretation of the facts - quickly, clearly and concisely.

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This article will examine how food service providers and food stores have competed for Canadians' food dollars in the 1990s, and then look at how this intense competition has affected both industries. Each industry has evolved with the objective of improving efficiency and gaining additional market share.

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This study uses data to study differences in labour productivity gains across domestic and foreign-controlled establishments in the manufacturing sector for the period 1973 to 1993. In doing so, it also examines the extent to which labour productivity differences exist between small and large establishments and across industry sectors and how they have been changing over time.

The analysis consists of three parts. In the first section, the connection between labour usage and output is examined. This analysis investigates differences in marginal labour propensities for the different subgroups in the short and long-run. Here volatility is seen to be lower for foreign-controlled establishments. The second section examines the difference between the growth in average labour productivity for the same groups. Here foreign-controlled establishments are seen to have the highest growth rates. The third section investigates whether any trend can be found in the rates of growth for large and small, domestic and foreign establishments and finds that these differences have been increasing over time.

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Foreign ownership in the Canadian telecommunications industry has always been an important policy issue, and recent events have further emphasized the significance of this topic.

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This study investigates the determinants of failure for new Canadian firms. It explores the role that certain factors play in conditioning the likelihood of survival - factors related to industry structure, firm demographics and macroeconomic cycles. It asks whether the determinants of failure are different for new start-ups than for firms that have reached adolescence, and if the magnitude of these differences is economically significant. It examines whether, after controlling for certain influences, failure rates differ across industries and provinces.

Two themes figure prominently in this analysis. The first is the impact that certain industry characteristics - such as average firm size and concentration - have on the entry/exit process, either through their influence on failure costs or on the intensity of competition. The second centres on how the dimensions of failure evolve over time as new firms gain market experience.

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This paper explores differences between innovative and non-innovative establishments in business service industries. It focuses on small establishments that supply core technical inputs to other firms: establishments in computer and related services, engineering, and other scientific and technical services.

The analysis begins by examining the incidence of innovation within the small firm population. Forty percent of small businesses report introducing new or improved products, processes or organizational forms. Among these businesses, product innovation dominates over process or organizational change. A majority of these establishments reveal an ongoing commitment to innovation programs by introducing innovations on a regular basis. By contrast, businesses that do not introduce new or improved products, processes or organizational methods reveal little supporting evidence of innovation activity.

The paper then investigates differences in strategic intensity between innovative and non-innovative businesses. Innovators attach greater importance to financial management and capital acquisition. Innovators also place more emphasis on recruiting skilled labour and on promoting incentive compensation. These distinctions are sensible - among small firms in R&D-intensive industries, financing and human resource competencies play a critical role in the innovation process.

A final section examines whether the obstacles to innovation differ between innovators and non-innovators. Innovators are more likely to report difficulties related to market success, imitation, and skill restrictions. Evidence of learning-by-doing is more apparent within a multivariate framework. The probability of encountering risk-related obstacles and input restrictions is higher among establishments that engage in R&D and use intellectual property rights, both key elements of the innovation process. Many obstacles to innovation are also more apparent for businesses that stress financing, marketing, production or human resource strategies.

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This paper looks at the number of business establishment starts in smaller and larger communities in Canada from 1993 to 1996.

Description: Credit unions are surveyed by a central organization within each province such as the department responsible for the administration of the credit Unions Acts or the central credit unions. These organizations, in turn, provide Statistics Canada either directly or through the central statistical department with quarterly aggregates on the financial activities of local credit unions under their jurisdiction.

Description: This annual survey provided aggregate balance sheet, income and expense, profit and retained earnings information for corporations classified by 182 industries.

Description: This annual survey provided statistics on corporate taxation including the provincial allocation of taxable income, reconciliation of book profit to taxable income, federal and provincial income taxes and selected capital cost allowances.

Description: These statistics are used in two broad ways. First they provide a measure of financial position and performance of incorporated businesses by industry aggregations. Second, they are used as the benchmark for the quarterly estimates of corporate profits in the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA).

Description: The data from this survey are useful in identifying long-term, industry trends in retail banking, corporate and institutional finance, electronic financial services, treasury and investment banking, and fiduciary services.

Description: Statistics Canada is conducting this survey to collect and to report aggregate information on the financing of businesses in Canada. The survey aims to measure flows of capital to business by industry and product line, as well as to observe biannual changes in credit conditions.

Description: This survey collects financial and operational data from the Canadian Level I and II air carriers.

Description: This survey collects financial and operational data from the Canadian Level I, II, III and IV air carriers.

Description: This survey collects quarterly financial and operating data for the statistical measurement and analysis of the telecommunications sub-sector. These data will be aggregated to produce national estimates of activity by industry.

Description: This survey collects financial and operating data for the statistical measurement and analysis of the telecommunications services sub-sector.