Linkages of trade and structural business statistics

1
Linkages of trade and structural business
statistics
Agenda Item 8a

• OECD progress report

2
Background

• In the context of a globalized world economy,
  the demand for detailed information about the
  characteristics of trade operators is gaining
  more and more importance.
• Trade data by size of enterprise, broken down by
  sector of activity, by export markets, and by
  location (e.g. region) would not only allow
  analyzing trade effects on employment and value
  added, but also identifying sectoral and/or
  regional performances.
• Such an analysis requires data from two
  different statistical sources business/industrial
  statistics and foreign trade statistics.

3
Background

• The usual key issue in this context is finding a
  common identifier between business and trade
  registers. While the EU Member States have shown
  a decent success in compiling sectoral trade
  statistics, the ability of Non-EU OECD member
  countries to perform a linkage exercise varies
  significantly between countries.
• However, the positive reactions to the OECD pilot
  questionnaire from April 2005 encouraged the
  secretariat to head for a similar data collection
  approach as Eurostat, to avoid any duplicate work
  and to ensure consistency across OECD countries.

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Introduction

• Upon invitation from Statistics Canada, the 1st
  Meeting of the Business Economic Statistics and
  Trade (BEST) Steering Group took place 19-21 June
  2006 at Statistics Canada, Ottawa.
• The 1st Steering Group meeting had very fruitful
  discussions and decided on the terms of
  reference, the name of the group, the general
  approach in terms of methodology and the
  installation of an electronic discussion group.
• The next meeting of the Steering Group is
  scheduled to take place end 2007.

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Introduction

• The project has been presented at the 2nd OECD
  Structural Business Statistics Expert Meeting
  (10-11 May 2007) and was supported by delegates.
• Also representatives from some Non-OECD countries
  showed interest in the project.
• Norway has already delivered results for 2003,
  according to OECD nomenclature.
• OECD would especially appreciate the
  participation from Non-EU OECD candidate
  countries in this exercise, but also other
  non-OECD countries are invited to join the
  project they wish so...

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Electronic Discussion Group B. E. S. T.

• A considerable number of methodological
  considerations and drawbacks have to be taken
  into account given the very different statistical
  systems in place in these countries. Therefore,
  the EDG B.E.S.T. will play a key role in enabling
  OECD and member countries to compile
  methodological recommendations.
• The EDG has the following categories for input
• Methodologies (this category is pre-condition for
  the category guidelines),
• Meetings (meeting documents and reports of
  meetings),
• Guidelines (the development of a manual, suitable
  for Non-EU countries of the OECD, would be the
  optimum),
• Globalisation (this category re-groups issues
  from the globalisation context which impact on
  the work of this group. For instance, intra-firm
  trade and multinationals),
• Data and Indicators (this category is intended to
  assemble the basic data and indicators which have
  been compiled through this work).

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Electronic Discussion Group B. E. S. T.
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Electronic Discussion Group B. E. S. T.
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The first OECD Linkage Table (2007)
This table gives an indication about the
statistical relevance / significance of the
results. The objective is, of course, to include
a maximum of trade operators.

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For a better interpretation of the resulting
sectoral trade-by-enterprise-size class tables,
background information about the general
structure of the enterprises in the respective
country is necessary (allocation of enterprises
by number of employees and sector).
The figures of these tables indicate the trade
values produced by enterprise size (in terms of
number of employees). The cross-tabulation by
ISIC classification allows distinguishing the
influence on external trade of the big / medium /
small enterprises by sectors.
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These tables help to identify the degree in which
the top enterprises (in terms of trade value)
determine the total trade / trade by sectors of
the respective country.
12
In contrary to the classic view of foreign
trade statistics (trade value by partner country)
these tables concentrate on the question of how
many enterprises (in which sectors) trade with
which countries. In other words, its a look at
the number of trade relations (by sectors)
instead of a look at the value of trade relations.
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STD/PASS/TAGS Trade and Globalisation Statistics
The classic view towards trade values by
partner countries, but broken-down by ISIC
sections of the traders.
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STD/PASS/TAGS Trade and Globalisation Statistics
These tables show the degrees of (geographic)
diversification by sectors in terms of number of
partner countries and number of enterprises.
These tables show the degrees of (geographic)
diversification by sectors in terms of number of
partner countries and value of trade.
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STD/PASS/TAGS Trade and Globalisation Statistics
Detailed cross-tabulation tables by CPC 1.0
(2-digit-level) and ISIC 3.1 (2-digit-level).
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Some results Norway
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Some results Norway
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Some results Norway
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The road ahead

• The process of building up a new database on
  trade by enterprise characteristics has been put
  into motion now with the sending out of the first
  version of the OECD Linkage Table.
• The next step consists in filling these out as
  much as possible by countries, identifying
  barriers to do so and clarifying concepts and
  definitions. This first stocktaking and initial
  combining of data is the obligatory first step
  before proceeding further. There is nothing OECD
  can do in this respect without the active
  participation of countries.
• OECD has created the Electronic Discussion Group
  B.E.S.T. to provide a one-stop-address for this
  work for collaborating countries. Both countries
  and OECD can now provide inputs this is the
  immediate task for preparing the next meeting.
  The first inputs (methodology, data collection
  tables) have been provided, and the EDG is in the
  process of being populated.

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The road ahead ctd

• Step-by-step, cleared concepts and definitions
  should be compiled in a pilot recommendations
  manual for adoption by countries. It seems
  advisable to make the recommendations
  sufficiently broad so that they can be also
  applied by other countries, for instance the Big
  5 Non-Member countries of OECD.
• After results from the first data collection will
  be available, OECD will set up (in close
  cooperation with Eurostat) a first set of OECD
  tables from the linkage exercise.
• A 2nd B.E.S.T. meeting is scheduled to take place
  towards end 2007 to allow the United States to
  sufficiently advance in their work. It will be
  important to assess best practice and core
  requirements to proceed further.
• A periodic review is planned to ensure that the
  project remains on track and is providing
  pertinent results.

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Delegates are invited to

• Comment on the project and -eventually- voice
  interest in active participation.
• Non-EU countries are invited to comment on their
  possibility to compile data according to the
  standard table framework provided and flag scope
  for co-operation with OECD.