Business services : an analysis of structural, foreign affiliates and business demography statistics : data 2001 : 2004 edition.
Date: 2004-12-06
Institutions: Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, business activity, business start-up, cessation of trading, provision of services, services company, tertiary sector

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Business services —
An analysis of structural,
foreign affiliates and 
business demography 
statistics

Data  2001

4

THEME 4
Industry,  
trade and  
services

E U R O P E A N
C O M M I S S I O N

 
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Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004

ISBN 92-894-6091-1

© European Communities, 2004

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 5

Background ........................................................................................................................................5

Objectives............................................................................................................................................5

Structure of the report.......................................................................................................................5

1. BUSINESS SERVICES................................................................................................... 8

Description of the sector ....................................................................................................................8

Importance of business services in the market economy................................................................9
Employment .....................................................................................................................................9
Value-added ...................................................................................................................................12
Turnover.........................................................................................................................................14

2. COMPUTER SERVICES AND OTHER BUSINESS ACTIVITIES ................................ 16

Structural profile..............................................................................................................................18
Value-added ...................................................................................................................................18
Number of enterprises....................................................................................................................20
Turnover.........................................................................................................................................22
Turnover broken down by products ...........................................................................................23
Residence of clients ...................................................................................................................30
Type of clients............................................................................................................................31
Product Specialisation................................................................................................................33
Client Specialisation ..................................................................................................................35

Labour and productivity .................................................................................................................36
Employment in business services ..................................................................................................36
Labour costs and productivity........................................................................................................38

3. FOREIGN AFFILIATES STATISTICS .......................................................................... 42

Background ......................................................................................................................................42

Foreign–controlled activities in the economies..............................................................................42

Breakdown of foreign controller ....................................................................................................44

Main controlling countries ..............................................................................................................45

4. BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHY......................................................................................... 47

Background ......................................................................................................................................47

Newly born enterprises....................................................................................................................47
Size-class break-down....................................................................................................................50
Legal form break-down..................................................................................................................51

3

Employment ...................................................................................................................................52

Surviving enterprises .......................................................................................................................53
Size-class break-down....................................................................................................................55

Enterprise deaths .............................................................................................................................56
Size-class break-down....................................................................................................................57

5. METHODOLOGICAL NOTES ...................................................................................... 59

Regulation on Structural Business Statistics .................................................................................59
Basic regulations ............................................................................................................................59
Implementing regulation ................................................................................................................59
Activity coverage ...........................................................................................................................59

Voluntary data collection ................................................................................................................60
Business Services...........................................................................................................................60
FATS..............................................................................................................................................60
Business Demography collection...................................................................................................60

Data characteristics of SBS .............................................................................................................61
Statistical Classification.................................................................................................................61
Economic Activity .........................................................................................................................61
Statistical Unit................................................................................................................................61

Economic indicators.........................................................................................................................62

Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................63

4

INTRODUCTION

Background

Interest  in  the  services  sector  is  relatively
new. The surge in attention is to a large extent
a  consequence  of  structural  change  in  the
economy.

The role of services in the economy and their
potential  for  growth  and  employment  creation
was  highlighted  at 
the  Lisbon  European
Council  in  March  2000.  During  this  meeting
the  European  Union  set  the  goal  to  become
by  2010  the  most  competitive  and  dynamic
knowledge-based  economy 
the  world,
capable  of  sustainable  economic  growth  with
more  and  better  jobs  and  greater  social
cohesion.

in 

is 

Other  more  recent  European  Commission
initiative to improve the statistical coverage of
the  services  sector 
the  Commission
Communication  on  business-related  services.
The  Communication  states  that  “Statistical
information has in recent years gained a more
prominent position in political decision making.
In  order  to  ensure  that  political  decision-
making is carried out based on a reliable and
sound  basis,  official  statistics  need  to  be
capable  of  meeting  the  growing  demand  for
supply  of  statistical  information.”  In  addition,
“The  European  Commission  finds  that  the
time has come to make a serious effort to put
the  economic  importance  and  potential  of
services  on  the  EU  policy  agenda  as  a  key
component  of  its  revisited  competitiveness
strategy.”  Further, 
the
knowledge  and  statistical  coverage  of  the
business-related  services 
important
action  in  order  to  better  understand  the  real
forces behind competitiveness.”

“Improvement  of 

is  an 

Already  in  mid-1999  Eurostat  together  with
initiated  a  project  on
DG  Enterprise 
methodological  development  and  harmonised
data  collection 
the
in  order 
statistical  coverage  of  the  business  services
sector.

improve 

to 

The  interest  in  business  services  (software
sector and several other sectors that produce

for 

inputs 

rates  and 

the  complexity  of 

other
knowledge-intensive 
industries)  was  triggered  by  the  sector’s  high
growth 
its
relationship  with  outsourcing,  innovation  and
the
productivity 
economy.  Moreover,  the  high  rate  of  human
capital input increased the interest in business
services.

tendencies  elsewhere 

in 

Eleven  Member  States  -  Denmark,  Spain,
France,  Ireland,  Italy,  Luxembourg,  Austria,
Portugal,  Finland,  Sweden  and  the  United
Kingdom  –  in  co-operation  with  Eurostat  and
DG  Enterprise  developed 
the  harmonised
methodology,  which  was  tested  and  used  in
the actual surveys by participating countries.

DG  Enterprise  provided  financial  support  in
the  form  of  grants  to  the  National  Statistical
Institutes  to  facilitate  development  in  this
priority area.

Objectives

for 

interest  of 

The main objective of this report is to present
the  results  of  the  development  project  on
the  participating
business  services 
countries.
The  centre  of 
the  above
development  project  relates  to  the  statistical
results  on  computer  services  (division  72  of
NACE  Rev.  1)  and  other  business  services
(part of division 74 of NACE Rev. 1).
In order to provide a more complete picture of
this  sector,  additional  statistical  analysis  on
foreign affiliates and on business demography
within business services will be carried out.

Structure of the report

The  figures  analysed  in  this  publication  come
mainly from voluntary data collection based on
a gentleman’s agreement. The other source of
data 
the  Structural  Business  Statistics
(SBS).  These  statistics  are  collected  on  an

is 

5

annual  basis  within  the  framework  of  Council
regulation  on  structural  business  statistics
(Regulation  (EC,  EURATOM)  No.  58/97  of
December 1996). The SBS are compiled from
data collected by National Statistical Institutes
from  enterprises  of  all  sizes.  At  present  they
cover  all  industries  and  services  classified  to
NACE  Rev.  1  sections  C 
though
to  K, 
excluding sector J (financial services).
 The  statistical  unit1  of  the  above  statistics  is
enterprise.

importance  of  business 

The  chapter  1  “Business  Services”  considers
the 
services,
especially  activities  covered  by  NACE  Rev.  1
Division  72  (software  and  computer  services)
and NACE Rev. 1 Division 74 (other business
activities),  in  different  parts  of  the  European
Union. This data was compared to the market
economy  as  a  whole  (NACE  Sections  C  to  K
except J).
The  economic  importance  of  industry  and
construction  (NACE  Sections  C  to  F)  and
services  (NACE  Sections  G  to  K  except  J)
was also analysed.
This study has been carried out using Member
States’ 2001 data available in the New Cronos
database  on  09/07/2004  (Theme  4:  Industry,
Trade  and  Services  –  Domain:  SBS 
-
Collection: 
enterprises
statistics  –  Tables:  enter_se,  enter_ma,
the
enter_tr  and  enter_co); 
statistics  of  Belgium,  Denmark,  Germany,
Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands,  Austria,  Portugal,  Finland,
Sweden and the United Kingdom.

in  particular, 

enterpr 

annual 

Chapter  2  “Software,  computer  services  and
other business activities” focuses on computer
services data - division 72 of NACE Rev 1 and
on  other  business  services  data;  classes
74.12 (accounting, book-keeping and auditing,
tax  consultancy),  74.13  (market  research  and
public  opinion  polling),  74.14  (business  and
management  consultancy  activities)  and
groups  74.2  (architectural  and  engineering
activities  and  related  technical  consultancy)
and 74.4 (advertising) of NACE Rev 1.
Statistics  relating  to  enterprise  turnover  by
product permitted analyses on each product’s
relative  impact  on  turnover,  consistency  of
product
statistics 
level 
product 
specialisation.  Similarly, 
on
enterprise turnover by client enabled analyses

information 

and 

on  type  and  location  of  client  and  client
specialisation.
Data  on  economic  variables  such  as  value-
added,  personnel  costs  and  number  of
persons employed, made it possible to extend
the analysis to productivity and personnel cost
issues.
This  analysis  has  been  carried  out  using
Member  States’  2001  data  extracted  on
21/07/2004  from  New  Cronos  database  -
Theme  4:  Industry,  Trade  and  Services  –
Domain:  SBS,  Collection:  Business  Service  –
Tables: bs1, bs2, bs3, bs4 and bs5.

(FATS) 

i.e.  statistics  on 

Chapter  3  deals  with  Foreign  Affiliates
Statistics 
the
foreign
presence  and  performance  of 
controlled  enterprises.  The  study  of  FATS
variables  such  as 
turnover,  employment,
number  of  enterprises,  value-added  with
geographical and activity breakdown, aimed to
analyse the effects of foreign control for policy
and analytical purposes.
Due to a limited availability of FATS data, this
study  has  been  carried  out  using  both  2001
(Spain,  France,  Portugal,  Finland  and
Sweden)  and  1999  data  (Denmark  and  the
United  Kingdom)  extracted  on  06/08/2004
from  New  Cronos  database  -  Theme  4:
Industry, Trade and Services – Domain: SBS,
Collection:  FATS  –  Tables  by  group  of
country.

to 

their 

Chapter  4  presents  business  demography
statistics,  which  aims  to  provide  statistical
information that tracks the number of genuine
enterprise  births  according 
initial
economic  activity.  The  analysis  of  this  data
was  also  focused  on  the  survival  rates  of
newly  born  enterprises  and  their  contribution
to  employment  as  well  as  the  number  of
genuine enterprises deaths.
The  business  demography  study  has  been
carried  out  using  Member  States’  2000  &
2001  data  available 
the  New  Cronos
database  on  15/09/2004  (Theme  4:  Industry,
Trade  and  Services  –  Domain:  SBS 
-
Collection:  bus_demo  –  Tables:  size_cl  and
l_form).  Nine  EU  countries  were  available:
Denmark,  Spain, 
the
Netherlands,  Portugal,  Finland,  Sweden  and
the United Kingdom.

Italy,  Luxembourg, 

in 

1 See chapter 5 – Methodological Notes

6

                                                
Chapter  5  explains  the  methodology  applied
to the Structural Business Statistics, Statistics

on  Business  Services,  Foreign  Affiliates  and
Business Demography.

Division of economic activity by NACE sector

The NACE Rev. 1 system (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 1) classified
economic activity into 17 NACE 1-digit sections, two of which (mining and quarrying and manufacturing) are divided into
16 sub-sections. The sections are comprised of 60 divisions (NACE 2-digit codes), each of which is divided into a
number of groups (NACE 3-digit codes) and classes (NACE 4-digit codes). The classification scheme is as follows:

Sections (1-digit) Codes A to Q
Sub-sections (2 letters)
Divisions (2-digit) Codes 01 to 99
Groups (3-digit) Codes 01.1 to 93.0 (Divisions 95 to 99 are not further divided)
Classes (4-digit) Codes 01.11 to 93.05

Code CA and CB and DA to DN

The SBS cover the following sections:
Mining and quarrying
C
Manufacturing
D
Electricity, gas and water supply
E
Construction
F
Wholesale and retail trade, sale and repair of motor vehicles
G
Hotels and restaurants
H
Transport
I
Real estate, renting and business activities
K

The focus in this report is on business services, mostly the divisions K72 (Computer and related activities) and K74
(Other business activities).

7

1. BUSINESS SERVICES

Description of the sector

of 

heterogeneous 

Services  have  traditionally  been  considered
as  residual  activities  of  the  economy,  that
which remains after classifying agriculture and
manufacturing.  This  approach,  combined  with
activities
a 
variety 
it
identifying 
difficult to define a strategy for addressing the
problems  and  needs  of  the  services  sector.
Given  the  growing  importance  of  services  for
a  knowledge-based  economy,  many  efforts
were  made  on  defining  and  qualifying  the
notion of services.

itself,  has  made 

the  sector 

The  main  characteristics  of  the  business
services  sector  are  as  follows:  its  intangible
output;  the  interaction  between  the  producer
and 
the  client  (based  on  so-called  “soft
technology”,  e.g.  qualification,  skills  and
expertise);  its  knowledge-intensive  services
which  provides  the  intangible  assets  (know-
how, software, organisational skills) and which
have  often  become  the  key  drivers  of  value
“business-
creation.  Therefore, 
term 
identify
to 
related  services”  was  adopted 
the
impact  on 
services  having  a  direct 
competitiveness of enterprises and it refers to
4  major  groups  of  activities  namely  business
services,  distributive  trades,  network  services
and financial services.

the 

the 

Business  services  focus  on  the  knowledge
intensive elements, due to their role as drivers
of  a  knowledge  based  economy,  and  they
technical,  professional  and
include 
to
operational  services  generally  supplied 
firms  or  administrations, 
to
than 
households, for the support of their production
processes or organisation.
Their main functions include management and
administration,  production  and  operations,
information  and  communication,  personnel,
and  marketing.  The  most  important  business
services are:

rather 

·   Accountancy and tax advice services;
·   Legal services;
·   Architectural and engineering services;

·   Computer, software and data services;
·   Technical testing and analysis;
·   Advertising and publicity;
·   Market research;
·   Labour recruitment services.

Outsourcing  or  externalisation  has  become
widespread  practice  for  industrial  and  service
enterprises.  Such  practices  have  often
resulted  in  enterprises  being  able  to  focus
more  closely  on  their  main  tasks,  where  they
themselves  have  expertise.  Other  tasks  have
been  contracted  out  to  independent  service
providers  that  in  turn  can  demonstrate  an
expertise,  and 
ideally  a  more  efficient,
intensive  use  of  resources.  Such  outsourcing
aims to increase flexibility, notably in terms of
resource  management  and  also
human 
efficient  gains  through  lower  costs  or  higher,
more specialised levels of service.

from 

the  value-added  of 

This  trend  towards  outsourcing  has  further
accelerated  the  migration  of  the  structure  of
the  European  economy 
industrial
activities 
towards  service  activities,  as
the
employment  and 
services  involved  has  been  credited  to  the
specialised  service  enterprises  rather  than
their  client  enterprises.  However,  it  would  be
misleading  to  credit  the  entire  expansion  of
business 
outsourcing
phenomena.  The  complexity  of  business
the  emergence  of  new
processes  and 
technologies  have  strengthened  demand  for
some  business  services,  for  example  training
and R & D services.

services 

the 

to 

As  a  result,  business  services  (defined  here
as  aggregate  of  NACE  Rev.  1  Sector  K  –
Divisions 72 and 74) have become one of the
most  important  sectors  in  the  EU2  economy
employing  almost  16  million  persons  in  2001,
or 16% of total employment in the EU market
economy (NACE C to K except J) - see Table
1.1.

2 Data available: BE, DK, DE, ES, FR, IE, IT, LU, NL, AT, PT,
FI, SE and UK.

8

                                                
Table 1.1

Main Indicators, 2001

Economic Activities

Employment 
(in 1000)

Value Added 
(EUR Billion)

Turnover   
(EUR Billion)

Market Economy

  Industry and construction

  Services

     Business Services (BS)

     BS (% of Market Economy)

97 362.1

39 485.3

57 876.8

15 964.3

16%

4 280.3

1 974.4

2 305.9

660.6

15%

16 116.4

6 969.4

9 147.0

1 281.3

8%

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except J; Industry and construction: NACE Sections 
C to F; Services: NACE Sections G to K except J; BS: NACE Section K - Divisions 72 and 74; 
Section E: DE: n.a. - IE: confidential; Turnover and value added not available for NL Section K; EU 
countries: BE, DK, DE, ES, FR, IE, IT, LU, NL, AT, PT, FI, SE and UK.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Importance of business services in the market economy

Employment

Based  on  Structural  Business  Statistics,  the
services sector (NACE Sections G to K except
J) employed nearly 58 million persons, or 59%
of  total  employment  in  the  EU14  market
industry  and
economy 
construction 
to  F)
accounted  for  the  remaining  41%  (see  Table
1.1 and Figure 1.1).

(NACE  Sections  C 

in  2001,  while 

The importance of the services sector (NACE
Sections  G  to  K  except  J)  as  a  source  of
employment  varied  significantly  between
Member States (Figure 1.1). Nevertheless, the
to
contribution 
employment  compared 
industry  and
construction  sectors  was  greater  in  all  of  EU
countries  analysed,  the  proportion  ranged
from 52% and 71%.

services  made 

that 

to 

Figure 1.1
Employment in industry & construction and services, 2001

7 5 %

6 0 %

4 5 %

3 0 %

15 %

0 %

BE

DK

DE

ES

FR

IE

IT

LU

NL

AT

P T

FI

SE

UK

EU(1)

Notes: (1): average of available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Industry &
construction -
NACE Sections
C to F

Services -
NACE Sections
G to K except J

9

NACE Rev. 1
72:
72.1:
72.2:
72.3:
72.4:
72.5:

Computer and related activities
Hardware consultancy
Software consultancy and supply
Data processing
Database activities
Maintenance  and  repair  of  office,  accounting
and computing machinery
Other computer related activities
Other business activities
Legal activities

book-keeping 

and 

auditing

72.6:
74:
74.11:
74.12: Accounting, 

activities; tax consultancy

74.13: Market research and public opinion polling
74.14: Business 
activities

and  management 

consultancy

74.15: Management activities of holding companies
74.20: Architectural  and  engineering  activities  and

related technical consultancy
Technical testing and analysis
Advertising
Labour recruitment and provision of personnel
Investigation and security activities
Industrial cleaning
Miscellaneous business activities n.e.c.

74.3:
74.4:
74.5:
74.6:
74.7:
74.8:
74.81: Photographic activities
74.82: Packaging activities
74.83: Secretarial and translation activities
74.84: Other business activities n.e.c

In  the  Netherlands  and  the  United  Kingdom,
services  made  up  approximately  71%  of  total
employment 
in  2001.  They  were  also
significant in Ireland and Luxembourg with an
employment  share  of  67%  and  65%
respectively. By contrast, in Finland, Portugal,
Germany  and  Italy  only  52-53%  of  total
employment was in services.

In  2001,  more  than  a  quarter  of  total  number
of those employed in services in the observed
Member States; Belgium, Denmark, Germany,
Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands,  Austria,  Portugal,  Finland,
Sweden  and  the  United  Kingdom,  worked  in
business  services 
(16  million  persons).
Therefore  software,  computer  services  and
other  business  activities  were  an  important
source of employment in these economies.
The number of persons employed in business
services  amounted  to  around  16.4%  of  total
employment  in  the  market  economy  (NACE
Section C to K except J). The proportion was
similar for most countries, varying from 12.7%
in  Finland  to  19.9%  in  the  United  Kingdom,
with  Austria  and  Portugal  (around  11.4%  and
9.6%, respectively) at the bottom end and the
Netherlands  at  the  top  (24.4%)  -  see  Table
1.2.

Table 1.2

Business Services (NACE Division 72 and 74)
Employment, 2001

Country

in 1000

% of EU 
Employment

% of Market 
Economy 
by Country

% of Services 
by Country

BE
DK
DE
ES
FR
IE
IT
LU
NL
AT
PT
FI
SE
UK
EU(1)

420.1
260.3
3 218.6
1 621.3
2 367.5
123.2
1 898.8
38.4
1 226.3
252.0
268.9
154.5
494.5
3 619.7
15 964.3

2.6
1.6
20.2
10.2
14.8
0.8
11.9
0.2
7.7
1.6
1.7
1.0
3.1
22.7
100.0

16.9
15.1
15.7
14.1
16.9
14.1
13.5
21.5
24.4
11.4
9.6
12.7
18.9
19.9
16.4

28.0
24.9
29.5
24.0
28.7
21.2
25.4
33.1
34.5
19.2
18.2
24.4
31.9
28.5
27.6

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except J; Services: NACE Sections G 
to K except J; (1): average of available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

10

   
The biggest productivity figures were reported
in  Ireland  (EUR  56 035  per  person),  the
United  Kingdom  (EUR  53 075),  Germany
(EUR  46 021)  and  Denmark  (EUR  43 813);
whilst  Italy  (EUR  35 607),  the  Netherlands
(EUR  30 956),  Spain  (EUR  23 604)  and
Portugal  (EUR  14 788)  were  below  average
(Figure 1.2).

Value-added  per  person  employed  and 
productivity

labour

In this report, labour productivity is measured by value-
added  per  person  employed.  This  is  a  less  satisfactory
measure of the value-added generated per unit of labour
input  because  it  makes  no  allowance  for  the  average
working  time  of  those  employed,  which  might  vary
between enterprises of different size.

Additionally,  the  concept  of  productivity  in  services  is
complicated to define within different sectors and various
countries;  notably,  business  services  are  often  tailored
to suit each customer’s specific needs. Therefore, as the
service  product  changes  over  time  between  and  within
sectors,  productivity  comparisons  become  more
arduous.

Business services were especially prevalent in
the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where they
constituted  respectively  24.4%  and  almost
21.5%  of  total  employment  in  the  EU3  market
economy in 2001, or around one third of total
employment in the services sector.
Additionally, employment in business services
represented  one  quarter  or  more  of  total
employment in services (NACE Sections G to
K  except  J)  in  9  out  of  14  EU  countries.  In
particular, 
this  share
represented  34.5%  while  it  was  close  to  30%
of  total  of  persons  employed  in  services  in
Germany and France.

the  Netherlands 

in 

the  United  Kingdom
In  absolute  values, 
accounted  for  the  biggest  number  of  persons
employed in business services with 3.6 million
persons,  ahead  of  Germany  (3.2  million),
France  (2.3  million),  Italy  (about  1.9  million),
Spain  (1.6  million)  and  the  Netherlands  (1.2
million) – Table 1.2.

labour  productivity  of 

the
The  apparent 
sectors covered by NACE Rev. 1 Divisions 72
and  74  was  estimated  at  EUR  41 400  per
person employed in 2001 in the reference EU
countries,  which  was  below  the  average  for
the market economy as a whole (44 000).

Figure 1.2
Productivity in Business Services, 2001

60 000

50 000

40 000

R
U
E

30 000

20 000

10 000

0

B E

DK

DE

ES

F R

IE

IT

LU

NL

AT

P T

F I

S E

UK

EU(1)

Notes: (1): average of available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

3 All countries except EL.

11

                                                
Value-added

The  contribution  that  services  made  to  value
added  within  the  14  EU  countries  was  not  as
great as that which it made to employment in
the  same  period.  In  the  EU  as  a  whole,
therefore,  services  accounted  for  54%  of
value-added  in  market  economy  in  2001  as
opposed 
to  59%  of  employment.  This
distribution  was  similar  in  all  EU  Member
States for which data was available.

Figure  1.3  shows  the  value-added  share  in
industry,  construction  and  services  generated
in  2001:  services  (NACE  Sections  G  to  K
except J) were more important in 10 countries
out of 14 EU reporting countries, especially in
Luxembourg  (63%  of  market  economy  value-
added),  the  United  Kingdom  (62%),  Denmark
and France (56%) and Sweden (55%).
The  value-added  share  of  services  in  2001,
ranged  between  40%  in  Ireland  and  63%  in
Luxembourg.

Figure 1.3
Value–added in industry & construction and services, 2001

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Industry &
construction -
NACE Sections
C  to F

Services -
NACE Sections
G  to K except J

BE

DK

DE

ES

FR

IE

IT

LU

NL

AT

P T

FI

SE

UK

EU(1)

Notes: (1): average of available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

According  to  SBS  data,  business  services
made  a  significant  contribution  to  the  value-
added  created  in  the  EU  market  economy
(15% – see Table 1.1).
Looking  at  Table  1.3,  computer  services
(NACE  Division  72)  and  other  business
activities  (NACE  Division  74)  generated  more
than  EUR  660  billion  of  value-added  in  the
fourteen  observed  countries  of  the  EU  in
2001,  approximately  15.4%  of  the  value-
added  produced 
the  market  economy
(NACE  Sections  C  to  K  except  J)  and  28.6%
of  that  created  in  the  services  sector  alone
(NACE Sections G to K except J).

in 

Two  countries  accounted  for  half  of  this  total:
the  United  Kingdom  with  EUR  192.1  billion

(29%)  and  Germany  with  EUR  148.1  billion
(22%). It is interesting to note the large value-
added  produced  by  computer  services  and
other  business  activities 
the  United
Kingdom  in  2001,  which  represented  5%  of
the  value-added  created  in  the  reference  EU
market  economy.  Furthermore, 
this  value
accounted  for  approximately  20%  of  the  UK
market  economy’s  value-added  or  for  33%  of
the UK services.

in 

Among  the  larger  economies  Italy  (EUR  67.6
billion)  and  Spain  (EUR  38.2  billion)  had  a
relatively small business services’ sector. This
contrasts  with 
the  Netherlands,  where
business  services  were  particularly  significant
they
with  EUR  37.9  billion  or 

rather 

12

constituted, respectively, 21.5% and 43.8% of
the  total  market  economy  and  total  services’
value-added (Table 1.3).

they  accounted 

In  relative  terms,  these  activities  covered  by
NACE  Divisions  72  and  74  were  of  particular
importance in France, Sweden, Germany and
for
Luxembourg  where 
roughly 15-16% of the value-added created in
the country’s market economy.
On  the  contrary,  in  2001,  computer  services
and  other  business  activities  were  relatively
less developed in Portugal with only EUR 3.9
billion  of  value-added  (7%  of  PT  market
economy  value-added)  and  in  Finland  where
they  accounted  for  EUR  6.3  billion  (9%  of  FI
market economy value-added).

Within  the  services  sector  (NACE  Sections  G
to  K  except  J)  of  each  Member  State,  the
share  of  business  services’  value-added

ranged between 13.5% in Portugal and 43.8%
in  the  Netherlands.  In  four  countries  this
percentage  was  greater  than  the  average  of
the  participating  countries  (28.8%),  notably  in
the Netherlands (43.8%), the United Kingdom
(33.2%),  Germany 
Ireland
(28.8%) – see Table 1.3.

(29.6%),  and 

the  other  hand, 

Although Ireland’s contribution to value-added
in business services was low compared to the
market economy (11.5%), it was significant in
national  services’ value-added (about 30%).
On 
in  France  and
Luxembourg,  computer  services  and  other
business  activities  generated  almost  15%  of
the  value–added  produced  in  the  market
economy 
i.e.  only  27.4%  and  23.3%
respectively  of  that  created  in  the  services
sector alone.

Table 1.3

Business Services (NACE Division 72 and 74)
Value added, 2001

Country

Mio EUR

% of EU
value added

% of Market 
Economy
by Country

% of Services 
by Country

BE
DK
DE
ES
FR
IE
IT
LU
NL
AT
PT
FI
SE
UK
EU(1)

17 118.4
11 406.4
148 126.0
38 267.4
99 444.7
6 904.8
67 610.2
1 494.3
37 961.5
10 648.7
3 976.6
6 320.4
19 161.2
192 116.4
660 557.0

2.6
1.7
22.4
5.8
15.1
1.0
10.2
0.2
5.7
1.6
0.6
1.0
2.9
29.1
100.0

13.6
12.8
15.0
10.7
15.4
11.5
12.9
14.7
21.5
9.9
7.0
9.2
15.2
20.4
15.4

25.8
22.8
29.6
20.1
27.4
28.8
26.5
23.3
43.8
19.1
13.5
21.2
27.7
33.2
28.6

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except J; Services: NACE Sections G 
to K except J; (1): average of available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

13

Turnover

On  the  basis  of  available  SBS  data,  market
economy (NACE Sections C to K except J) in
the  14  European  countries  recorded  turnover
of  EUR  16 116  billion  in  2001  of  which  43%
was produced in the industry and construction
sectors  (NACE  Sections  C  to  F)  and  57%
within services (NACE Sections G to K except
J), see Table 1.1 and Figure 1.4.

These  turnover  shares  were  similar  in  most
Member  States,  reflecting  the  growth  of  the
role  of  services  in  the  market  economy;  the
turnover  share  in  services  was  greater  than
that  recorded  in  industry  and  construction  in
11  out  of  14  EU  reporting  countries.  In
particular the largest shares were registered in
Luxembourg,  the  United  Kingdom,  Denmark
and Austria.

Figure 1.4
Turnover in industry & construction and services, 2001

75%

60%

45%

30%

15%

0%

Industry &
construction -
NACE Sections
C  to F

Services -
NACE Sections
G  to K except J

BE

DK

DE

ES

FR

IE

IT

LU

NL

AT

P T

FI

SE

UK

EU(1)

Notes: (1): average of available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

As  one  may  observe  in  Table  1.4,  computer
(NACE  Division  72)  and  other
services 
business  activities 
(NACE  Division  74)
generated  turnover  in  excess  of  EUR  1 281
billion, or approximately 8% of total turnover in
the EU14 market economy.

terms, 

the  United  Kingdom
In  absolute 
accounted  for  approximately  26.2%  of  the
total turnover generated by business services
within  the  14  EU  countries,  with  EUR  335.3
billion,  far  ahead  of  Germany  (EUR  255.1
billion),  France  (EUR  223.8  billion)  and  Italy
(EUR  134.1  billion)  and  more  than  four  times
the contribution of Spain (EUR 78 billion).

Looking  at  the  business  services  turnover
quota  of  market  economy  by  country  (see
Table 1.4), the United Kingdom accounted the
(almost  11%)  of 
turnover
largest  share 
generated 
in  2001,
in  business  services 
followed  by  the  Netherlands  (9.4%  with  EUR
79.4  billion),  Sweden  (9.2%  with  EUR  44.6
billion),  France  (8.2%  with  EUR  223.8  billion)
and Germany (7.6% with EUR 255.1 billion).

As  shown  in  the  last  column  of  Table  1.4,
computer  services  and  other  business
activities turnover share of the services sector
(NACE  Sections  G  to  K  except  J)  was  rather
similar  in  all  of  EU  countries  for  which  data
was  available,  it  ranged  between  7.3%  in
Portugal and 16.6% in the United Kingdom.

14

Table 1.4

Business Services (NACE Division 72 and 74)
Turnover, 2001

Country

Mio EUR

% of EU 
turnover

% of Market 
Economy
by Country

% of Services 
by Country

BE
DK
DE
ES
FR
IE
IT
LU
NL
AT
PT
FI
SE
UK
EU(1)

42 516.7
22 657.9
255 109.3
78 076.9
223 834.1
14 972.4
134 181.9
2 919.3
79 437.2
23 310.9
11 462.5
12 832.0
44 639.8
335 309.4
1 281 260.3

3.3
1.8
19.9
6.1
17.5
1.2
10.5
0.2
6.2
1.8
0.9
1.0
3.5
26.2
100.0

6.9
7.2
7.6
5.6
8.2
7.1
6.4
7.1
9.4
6.2
4.4
4.9
9.2
10.8
8.0

11.6
11.1
15.0
9.6
14.2
14.9
12.8
9.9
16.1
10.3
7.3
9.9
15.6
16.6
14.0

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except J; Services: NACE Sections G to 
K except J; (1): average of available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

15

2. COMPUTER SERVICES AND OTHER BUSINESS
ACTIVITIES

(NACE 74.14) were the largest activities within
the business services’5 sector.

and 

technical

chemical 

involving  civil  engineering,  hydraulic

to
engineering,  mining
engineering,  mechanical,

NACE  74.2  Architectural  and  engineering  activities
and related technical consultancy
This group includes:
- Consulting architectural activities:
  • Building design and drafting
  • Supervision of construction
  • Town and city planning and landscape architecture
- Machinery and industrial plan design
-  Engineering,  project  management  and 
activities:
  •  Projects 
engineering, traffic engineering
  •  Projects  elaboration  and  realization  relative 
electrical 
electronic 
engineering, 
industrial and systems engineering, safety engineering
-  Elaboration  of  projects  using  air-conditioning,
refrigerating,  sanitary  and  pollution  control  engineering,
acoustical engineering, etc.
- Geological and prospecting activities:
  •  Surface  measurements  and  observation  designed  to
yield 
the
information  on  subsurface  structure  and 
location of petroleum, natural gas and mineral deposits
and of ground water
- Weather forecasting activities
- Geodetic surveying activities:
  • Land surveying activities
  • Hydro graphic surveying activities
  • Subsurface surveying activities
  • Boundary surveying activities
  •  Cartographic  and  spatial 
including aerial photography thereof
  • Industrial and engineering surveying activities

information  activities,

This  chapter  includes  data  relating  to  NACE
Division  72  and  some  groups  and  classes  of
the
NACE  Division  74.  As  noted 
Introduction, 
is  collected  on  a
voluntary basis and the source is New Cronos
DB  –  Theme  4,  SBS  domain,  bus_serv
collection.

this  data 

in 

NACE  Division  72  covers  computer  and
related  activities,  which  includes  consultancy
(NACE  72.1)  or
for  hardware 
activities 
software 
(NACE  72.2),  data-processing
activities  (NACE  72.3),  database  activities
(NACE 72.4), maintenance and repair of office
and  IT  machinery  (NACE  72.5)  and  other
computer related activities (NACE 72.6).

NACE  Division  74  encompasses  a  variety  of
other business activities; in this section, NACE
74* includes the following activities:
- NACE 74.14

Accounting,  book-keeping  and  auditing,  tax
consultancy (74.12);
Market  research  and  public  opinion  polling
(74.13);
Business  and  management  consultancy
activities (74.14).

- NACE 74.2

Architectural  consulting  activities  (such  as
building  design  and  drafting,  supervision  of
construction,  town  and  city  planning  and
landscape 
various
engineering  and  technical  activities  related
to construction.

architecture) 

and 

- NACE 74.4

The  creation  and  placing  of  outdoor
advertising,  the  sale  of  advertisement  time
and space and the distribution or delivery of
advertising  material,  as  well  as  direct
marketing, 
sales
sponsorship 
promotions services.

and 

Software  consultancy  and  supply  (NACE
72.2),  architectural  and  engineering  activities
(NACE  74.2),  accounting,  book-keeping,
auditing activities (NACE 74.12) and business
services
and  management 

consultancy 

4 Legal activities and management of holding company
are not included (NACE 74.11).

5 Unless otherwise specified, business services are
hereafter defined as the aggregate of NACE Division 72
and 74*.

16

                                                
                                                
Table 2.1

Business Services: Computer services (NACE Division 72) and  Other business activities (NACE Division 74*)

DK

ES

FR

IE

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

Total

Main Indicators, 2001

Number of enterprises

Business Services

Computer services

- Hardware consultancy

- Software consultancy

- Data processing

- Database activities

- Repair office & computing machinery

- Other computer related activities

22 557

162 561

168 262

6 555

19 059

266

814

4 878

11 801

509

227

154

521

2 124

-

4 320

-

34 397

11 819

16 120

3 859

1 126

1 473

:

Other business activities

16 002

143 502

133 865

- Accounting, bookkeeping & auditing

4 006

38 114

17 616

- Market research

- Management consultancy

- Architectural & engineering activities

- Advertising

Value added (EUR Million)

Business Services

Computer services

- Hardware consultancy

- Software consultancy

- Data processing

- Database activities

- Repair office & computing machinery

- Other computer related activities

Other business activities

- Accounting, bookkeeping & auditing

- Market research

- Management consultancy

- Architectural & engineering activities

- Advertising

Turnover (EUR Million)

Business Services

Computer services

- Hardware consultancy

- Software consultancy

- Data processing

- Database activities

- Repair office & computing machinery

- Other computer related activities

161

4 447

4 992

2 396

6 633

2 628

: c

2 110

276

65

33

145

4 005

1 047

86

783

2 090

: c

3 320

9 447

77 288

15 333

3 020

40 277

55 340

17 612

21 085

60 709

6 166

21 800

303

4 708

720

-

435

-

7 624

9 823

3 310

326

717

:

14 919

38 909

3 618

567

1 554

5 898

3 282

7 092

1 308

8 595

15 194

6 720

15 909

52 110

122 255

5 874

13 172

93

487

4 632

10 433

572

171

85

320

1 365

-

887

-

40 052

13 058

17 788

6 631

851

1 724

:

Other business activities

10 035

38 939

82 203

- Accounting, bookkeeping & auditing

- Market research

- Management consultancy

- Architectural & engineering activities

- Advertising

1 390

145

1 648

4 538

2 314

5 746

1 066

2 630

12 162

17 336

9 988

2 417

15 029

33 331

21 438

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

86 219

86 219

1 573

34 899

27 681

561

4 927

16 578

:

:

:

:

:

:

15 523

15 523

192

9 200

3 969

215

649

1 298

:

:

:

:

:

:

9 290

5 874

148

37 617

37 617

449

5 400

22 402

:

:

26

299

3 416

1 000

131

:

1 660

625

7 183

548

1 988

5 045

:

:

:

:

:

:

7 984

7 984

24

4 846

2 760

94

201

59

:

:

:

:

:

:

2 167

2 167

3

1 355

722

25

54

9

:

:

:

:

:

:

5 210

5 210

7

3 184

1 786

51

161

21

:

:

:

:

:

:

18 474

22 089

102 287

298 631

889 064

2 309

169

1 115

425

20

360

220

3 901

23 726

129 555

313 705

280

1 018

9 446

25 409

2 873

21 088

63 424

161 044

249

263

236

:

694

192

350

384

3 285

3 107

1 775

48 518

41 586

5 590

13 796

66 280

16 165

18 188

78 561

169 076

575 359

6 504

4 296

13 873

27 119

111 528

:

3 210

4 110

2 341

2 481

597

45

362

118

3

24

45

128

4 645

6 416

2 703

4 659

2 004

15

1 256

614

95

24

:

1 884

2 655

432

62

491

1 269

400

9 683

3 829

39

461

:

549

527

346

6 812

1 354

76

818

272

9

67

113

5 458

723

0

1 379

1 379

1 978

526

2 688

9 843

26 477

25 671

12 014

69 162

157 665

57 656

231 473

12 451

64 850

13 783

111 847

238 887

6 006

41 263

98 154

71

1 199

5 175

25 409

9 452

59 398

15 489

1 471

3 088

9 256

5 245

672

1 046

7 691

70 585

140 733

15 631

29 653

1 842

19 741

23 226

10 145

3 971

33 441

51 430

22 238

515

71

107

68

7 776

1 372

106

1 729

3 225

1 344

33 251

205 849

497 985

14 089

74 511

201 580

242

1 805

16 403

2 629

11 994

44 541

123 821

949

160

54

0

1 213

9 199

29 169

165

282

193

978

2 017

2 933

7 290

15 973

21 965

5 853

19 162

131 338

296 405

698

110

1 102

2 470

1 473

2 268

21 133

42 945

257

5 262

6 751

4 623

3 392

7 518

31 862

58 912

41 679

103 970

33 272

83 059

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes K72.5+K72.6; DK: K72.1 & K74.4 turnover figures from bus_serv - table: bs2 (P1 & P14 
confidential data); '':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data; Total: sum of the available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs1)

17

Structural profile

Value-added

The  value-added  generated  by  computer
services 
(NACE  Division  72)  and  other
business activities (NACE Division 74*) in the
nine EU reporting countries6 was estimated at
EUR 238.8 billion in 2001, of which about 47%
was recorded in the United Kingdom with EUR
111.8  billion,  followed  by  France  with  EUR
60.7 billion (25%). The smallest contributors to
this total were Portugal and Finland with EUR
2.4  billion  and  EUR  4.6  billion  respectively
(Table 2.1).

the 

Italy  and  Austria), 
in 

Looking at the economic activity breakdown of
business  services’  sector  (Table  2.2),  of  the
EU countries for which data was available for
both  classifications  NACE  72  and  74*  (i.e.
largest
excluded 
activities, 
terms  of  value-added,  were
architectural,  engineering  activities  and
related  technical  consultancy  (NACE  Group
74.2)  and  software  consultancy  and  supply
(NACE Group 72.2). These groups accounted
for  more  than  45%  of  business  services  in
2001 
the  seven  EU  countries,  or
approximately  EUR  100.3  billion  of  value-
added.

in 

Table 2.2

Value added share of activity in Business Services, 2001

NACE

K72+K74*

  K72

    K72.1

    K72.2

    K72.3

    K72.4

    K72.5

    K72.6

  K74*

    K74.12

    K74.13

    K74.14

    K74.2

    K74.4

DK

100

39.6

: c

31.8

4.2

1.0

0.5

2.2

60.4

15.8

1.3

11.8

31.5

: c

ES

100

29.2

1.4

22.3

3.4

-

2.1

-

70.8

17.2

2.7

7.4

28.0

15.6

FR

PT

FI

100

35.9

12.6

16.2

5.5

0.5

1.2

:

64.1

11.7

2.2

14.2

25.0

11.1

100

100

24.1

43.0

1.8

14.6

4.8

0.1

0.9

1.8

75.9

18.6

:

22.1

21.2

14.0

0.3

27.0

13.2

2.0

0.5

:

57.0

9.3

1.3

10.5

27.2

8.6

SE

100

43.6

0.5

37.5

3.7

0.5

0.8

0.5

56.4

10.0

0.8

12.5

23.4

9.8

UK

Total

100

36.9

1.1

22.7

4.7

0.6

0.9

6.9

63.1

14.0

1.6

17.6

20.8

9.1

100

36.4

4.2

22.1

4.9

0.6

1.1

3.6

63.6

13.4

1.8

15.1

23.3

10.1

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes 
K72.5+K72.6; ':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data; Total: based on the 
sum of the available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

6 DK, ES, FR, IT and AT (only K72 detailed data), PT,
FI, SE and UK.

Software  consultancy  and  supply,  including
analysis, design and programming of systems
ready  to  use,  was  of  particular  importance  in
Sweden  where  roughly  38%  of  its  business
services’  value-added  was  generated  in  this
sector. 
the  other  Member
to 
States,  in  Portugal,  the  biggest  share  of
business  services’  value-added  was  recorded
within business and management consultancy
activities  (NACE  74.14);  22.1%  of  total  value-
added.

In  contrast 

Figure 2.1
Computer services (NACE Division 72)
Value-added, 2001 (Million EUR)

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

K72.1

K72.2

K72.3

K72.4

K72.5

K72.6

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Among  the  individual  activities,  computer  and
related  activities  accounted  for  EUR  98.1
billion  of  value-added  in  2001  (Table  2.1  –
Figure  2.1).  The  United  Kingdom  generated
more  than  40%  of  this  amount  (EUR  41.2
billion), ahead of France with EUR 21.8 billion
(22%)  and  Italy  with  EUR  15.5  billion  (16%).
The  smallest  contributor  was  Portugal  with
EUR 0.5 billion of value-added.

(Figure  2.2),
Within  NACE  Division  72 
(NACE
software  consultancy  and  supply 
Group  72.2)  was  the  largest  activity  in  all
analysed  EU  countries  with  a  share  ranging
from  45%  (France)  to  86%  (Sweden)  of  their
value-added.

Therefore,  this  sector  made  up  more  than
60% of value-added in 7 out of 9 EU reporting
countries;  notably  in  Portugal  (61%  with  EUR
0.4  billion),  the  United  Kingdom  (62%  with
EUR  25.4  billion),  Austria  (63%  with  EUR  1.3
billion),  Finland  (63%  with  EUR  1.2  billion),

18

                                                
Spain  (76%  with  EUR  4.7  billion),  Denmark
(80% with EUR 2.1 billion) and Sweden (86%
with EUR 5.1 billion).

Figure 2.2
Value-added  shares  of  different  economic  activities
(2001) – NACE Division 72

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

K72.1

K72.2

K72.3

K72.4

K72.5

K72.6

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Apart  from  France  and  the  United  Kingdom,
data  processing  (NACE  72.3)  was  the  next
largest  sub-sector  for  the  remaining  countries
for  which  data  was  available  (between  9%  in
Sweden  and  33%  in  Austria  of  the  value-
added).
Hardware  consultancy 
(NACE  72.1)  was
relatively  important  in  France:  it  represented
approximately 35% (EUR 7.6 billion) of value-
added produced in France in 2001 (Figure 2.1
& 2.2). In the United Kingdom, other computer
related  activities  (NACE  72.6)  represented
in
20%  of 
computer services in 2001.

total  value-added  generated 

Activities  covered  by  NACE  Group  72.4
(Database  activities)  and  72.5  (Maintenance
and repair of office, accounting and computer
machinery)  were  the  smallest  activities  with
less than EUR 5 billion of value-added.

As  shown  in  Tables  2.1  &  2.2,  professional
services  encompassed  by  NACE  Division  74*
generated  total  value-added  of  EUR  140.7
billion  in  seven  EU  countries7  in  2001  (nearly
64%  of  business  services  value-added).  The
largest  share  was  reported  by  the  United
Kingdom,  with  EUR  70.5  billion,  followed  by
France  (EUR  38.9  billion)  and  Spain  (EUR
14.9 billion).

7 DK, ES, FR, PT, FI, SE and UK.

Based  on  available  data,  architectural,
engineering  activities  and  related  technical
consultancy  (NACE  74.2)  were  by  far  the
largest activities within NACE 74* in Denmark
which  accounted  for  52%  of  the  value-added
(EUR 2 billion), ahead of Finland (48% – EUR
1.2  billion),  Sweden  (42%  –  EUR  3.2  billion)
and Spain (40% – EUR 5.8 billion), see Table
2.1 and Figure 2.3 & 2.4.

Figure 2.3
Other business activities (NACE Division 74*)
Value-added, 2001 (Million EUR)

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

K74.12+14

K74.13

K74.2

K74.4

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.4
Value-added  shares  of  different  economic  activities
(2001) – NACE Division 74*

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

K74.12+14

K74.13

K74.2

K74.4

Source: Eurostat, SBS

In  contrast  however,  accounting,  book-
keeping, 
tax
consultancy  (NACE  74.12),  business  and
management  consultancy  activities  (NACE

activities 

auditing 

and 

19

                                                
management  consultancy  activities  (NACE
74.14)  were  quite  significant 
in  Portugal,
where  they  accounted  for  54%  of  the  value-
added,  in  the  United  Kingdom  (50%)  and
France (40%).

74.12  Accounting,  book-keeping  and  auditing
activities; tax consultancy
This class also includes:
- Recording of commercial transactions from businesses
or others;
- Preparation of financial accounts, examination of such
accounts and certification of their accuracy;
-  Preparation  of  personal  and  business  income  tax
returns;
- Advisory activities and representation (other than legal
representation)  on  behalf  of  clients  before 
tax
authorities.

In  relative  terms,  the  activities  covered  by
NACE  74.14  were  of  particular  importance  in
Portugal, where, with EUR 0.5 billion of value-
added (2001), they accounted for around 30%
of 
the  other
business activities (NACE 74*), Table 2.1.

the  value-added  created 

in 

74.14  Business  and  management  consultancy
activities
This class includes:
- Provision of advice, guidance or operational assistance
to businesses and the public service:
  • Public relations and communication
  •  Design  of  accounting  systems,  cost-accounting
programmes, budgetary control procedures
  • Advice and help to businesses and public services in
planning, 
control,
management information, etc.
  •  Management  consultancy  such  as  by  agronomists
and agricultural economists to farms, etc.
  • Arbitration and conciliation between management and
labour.

organization, 

efficiency 

and 

the  contrary,  activities 

like  market,
On 
research  and  public  opinion  polling  (NACE
74.13),  were  relatively  less  significant  in  all
observed  EU  countries:  they  accounted  for
only  3%  (as  average)  of  other  business
activities’ value-added (total of NACE 74*).

Number of enterprises

In  2001,  there  were  more  than  889 000
enterprises  specialised  in  computer  services
and  other  business  activities  in  the  nine  EU
countries  for  which  data  was  available  (DK,
ES, FR, IT and AT, only NACE 72, PT, FI, SE
and  UK),  employing  almost  4  million  persons
and  generating  turnover  of  nearly  EUR  500
billion (see Table 2.22 & Table 2.1).

Examining the number of enterprises and their
distribution among the EU countries for which
data  was  available  (Table  2.3),  most  of  the
firms  were  operating 
in  other  business
activities.  In  particular,  47.5%  of  total  number
of  Spanish,  32.9%  of  French  and  29%  of
Finnish  enterprises  in  business  services  were
active 
in  architectural  and  engineering
activities and related technical consultancy.
In Sweden and in the United Kingdom, almost
25%  of  the  enterprises  operated  in  business
and  management 
consultancy  activities
(NACE  74.14);  whilst  in  Portugal  accounting,
tax
book-keeping,  auditing  activities  and 
consultancy (NACE 74.12) accounted for 35%
of  total  number  of  enterprises  in  business
services.

in  business 

Finally, it can be noted that around 20% of the
enterprises 
services  was
classified in software, consultancy and supply
(NACE  72.2)  in  Denmark,  Sweden  and  the
United Kingdom.

Table 2.3
Number of enterprises: 
share by activities in Business Services,  2001

NACE

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK Total

K72+K74*

  K72

    K72.1

    K72.2

    K72.3

    K72.4

    K72.5

    K72.6

  K74*

    K74.12

    K74.13

    K74.14

    K74.2

    K74.4

100

29.1

1.2

21.6

2.3

1.0

0.7

2.3

70.9

17.8

0.7

19.7

22.1

10.6

100

11.7

100

20.4

100

12.5

0.5

7.3

1.3

-

2.7

-

88.3

23.4

2.0

5.8

47.5

9.4

7.0

9.6

2.3

0.7

0.9

:

79.6

10.5

1.8

23.9

32.9

10.5

0.9

6.0

2.3

0.1

1.9

1.2

87.5

35.2

:

17.4

22.2

12.7

100

17.7

1.3

100

23.2

1.0

100

43.4

3.2

100

35.3

2.9

13.0

20.6

21.2

18.1

1.1

1.2

1.1

:

82.3

19.4

0.6

21.0

29.0

12.2

0.7

0.2

0.3

0.4

76.8

13.6

0.5

25.9

25.1

11.7

1.1

1.0

0.6

16.2

56.6

9.1

0.9

23.2

19.3

4.2

4.7

0.6

1.6

7.5

64.7

12.5

1.1

17.7

26.0

7.3

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes 
K72.5+K72.6; ':' : data not available; Total: based on the sum of the available 
countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

20

Figure 2.5
Enterprise  shares  of  different  economic  activities
(2001) – NACE Division 72

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

K72.1

K72.2

K72.3

K72.4

K72.5

K72.6

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.6
Enterprises  shares  of  different  economic  activities
(2001) – NACE Division 74*

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

K74.12+14

K74.13

K74.2

K74.4

Source: Eurostat, SBS

the 

supply 

dominated 

Looking  at  the  activity  breakdown  of  NACE
Division  72  in  2001  (Figure  2.5),  software
(NACE  72.2)
consultancy  and 
consistently 
individual
economies in the EU countries studied, with a
share  ranging  between  40%  in  France  and
89% in Sweden.
In  the  same  way,  in  all  but  one  of  the  EU
largest
countries 
proportion of enterprises within NACE Division
74*  were  found  in  accounting,  book-keeping,
auditing  activities,  business  and  management
consultancy  activities  (NACE  74.12+14),  see
Figure 2.6.
In  Spain,  54%  of  the  active  enterprises  were
related  to  architectural,  engineering  activities
technical  consultancy  (NACE
and  related 
74.2), about 77 300 enterprises.

(except  Spain), 

the 

72.2 Software consultancy and supply

the  user's  needs  and  problems,

- Analysis, design and programming of systems ready to
use:
  •  analysis  of 
consultancy on the best solution
  •  development,  production,  supply  and  documentation
of made-to-order software based on orders from specific
users
  •  development,  production,  supply  and  documentation
of ready-made (non-customized) software
  • writing of programs following directives of the user

21

Turnover

In 2001, ten EU countries (DK, ES, FR, IE, IT
and AT –only NACE 72–, PT, FI, SE and UK)
recorded  a  combined  turnover  in  business
services of EUR 497.9 billion, see Table 2.1.

As reported in Table 2.4, software consultancy
and 
supply  as  well  as  architectural,
engineering  activities  and  related  technical
consultancy,  accounted  for  the  largest  share
of  total  EU8  turnover:  activities  covered  by
NACE  72.2  varied  between  21.6%  of  total
turnover  in  the  United  Kingdom  (EUR  44.5
billion)  and  58.1%  in  Ireland  (EUR  5.4  billion)
while those of NACE 74.2 ranged from almost
18%  in  Ireland  (EUR  1.6  billion)  up  to  28.5%
in Denmark (EUR 4.5 billion).

Activities  covered  by  NACE  72.4  (including
database  development,  data  storage  and
database  availability)  were 
the  smallest
activities, with turnover of EUR 2.9 billion.

(NACE  74.14) 

74.12)  and  business  and  management
consultancy  activities 
in
Portugal  (38.5%),  Sweden  (39%)  and  the
United  Kingdom  (40%).  Architectural  and
engineering  activities  (NACE  74.2)  however,
were the biggest activities in Denmark (45% of
total  turnover  in  NACE  74*),  France  (40%),
Ireland (49%) and Finland (42%).

Figure 2.7
Turnover  shares  of  different  economic  activities
(2001) – NACE Division 72

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IE

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

K72.1

K72.2

K72.3

K72.4

K72.5

K72.6

UK

Total

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Table 2.4

Turnover share of activity in Business Services, 2001

NACE

K72+K74*

  K72

    K72.1

    K72.2

    K72.3

    K72.4

    K72.5

    K72.6

  K74*

    K74.12

    K74.13

    K74.14

    K74.2

    K74.4

DK

100

36.9

0.6

29.1

3.6

1.1

0.5

2.0

63.1

8.7

0.9

10.4

28.5

14.5

ES

100

25.3

0.9

20.0

2.6

-

1.7

-

74.7

11.0

2.0

5.0

23.3

33.3

FR

100

32.8

10.7

14.5

5.4

0.7

1.4

:

67.2

8.2

2.0

12.3

27.3

17.5

IE

100

63.2

1.6

58.1

:

:

0.3

3.2

36.8

10.8

1.4

:

17.9

6.7

PT

100

19.9

1.1

12.0

4.0

0.1

1.0

1.7

80.1

10.6

0.0

20.2

20.2

29.0

FI

100

39.5

0.4

27.1

9.8

1.7

0.6

0.0

SE

100

42.4

0.7

36.1

3.6

0.5

0.8

0.6

60.5

57.6

7.2

1.1

11.4

25.5

15.2

6.8

0.8

15.8

20.3

13.9

100

36.2

0.9

21.6

4.5

0.5

1.0

7.8

63.8

10.3

1.6

15.5

20.2

16.2

100

34.9

3.5

21.6

4.4

0.5

1.1

3.7

65.1

9.4

1.7

12.9

22.8

18.2

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes K72.5+K72.6; ':' : data not 
available; Total: based on the sum of the available countries; DK: K72.1 & K74.4 turnover figures from 
bus_serv - table: bs2 (P1 & P14 confidential data).

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

turnover 

In  2001,  see  Figure  2.7,  the  biggest  share  of
total 
in  software  and  computer
services (NACE Division 72) was attributed to
software  consultancy  and  supply 
(NACE
72.2).  This  situation  was  similar  among  the
Member  States  for  which  data  was  available,
varying from 44% in France to 92% in Ireland.

Looking  at  Figure  2.8,  data  broken  down  by
economic  activity,  results  revealed  that  the
highest turnover shares within NACE 74* were
found  within  accounting,  book-keeping  and
auditing  activities,  tax  consultancy  (NACE

8 DK, ES, FR, IE, PT, FI, SE and UK.

Figure 2.8
Turnover  shares  of  different  economic  activities
(2001) – NACE Division 74

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IE

PT

FI

SE

UK

K74.12+14

K74.13

K74.2

K74.4

Source: Eurostat, SBS

In Spain, almost 45% of total turnover in other
business  activities  (EUR  38.9  billion)  was
generated by advertising and direct marketing
enterprises  (NACE  74.4)  with  EUR  17.3
billion.  These  enterprises,  in  2001,  numbered
15 333  units  representing  only  11%  of  the

22

                                                
total  Spanish  enterprises  covered  by  NACE
74* (143 502 unit).

Turnover broken down by products

Given  the  flexibility  and  the  high  degree  of
dynamics within the business services sector,
a  reliable  understanding  of  market  forces
knowledge  both  of
requires  additional 
products  and  client  of  services.  Significantly,
becoming
services 
products 
increasing 
customised
non-standard, 
according to the client’s needs.

and 

are 

The  collection  of  information  broken  down  by
product,  therefore,  aims  to  identify  services
(and  goods)  produced  in  an  economy  and  to
make  product  comparisons  both  across  the
economy  and  internationally  (e.g.  production
and  trade  data).  It  also  aims  to  provide  links
(and
between 
industries as well).

products 

services 

and 

Figure 2.9
Turnover  shares  in  computer  and  related  activities
by product, 2001 (NACE Division 72)

Other computer 
services
22%

Resale
11%

Hardware 
consultancy 
services
10%

Other related 
products
10%

Software supply
47%

EU countries: DK, ES, FR, IE, IT, AT, PT, FI, SE and UK.
Source: Eurostat, SBS

Essentially,  turnover  data  by  product  allows
analysis on product worth in the total turnover,
product  specialisation  and  consistency  of
enterprise statistics. The combinations of main
product  and  economic  activity  are  considered
to be consistent if the main product generates
the  biggest  turnover  share  in  each  economic
activity.

Products
The product classification of computer services used in
this study follows the common basis for the classification
of product by activity within the EU: CPA.
Products  in  the  business  services  are  classified  as
follows:

P6:
P7:
P8:

P1:
Hardware consultancy services
Software supply
P2:
P3: Other computer services
P4:
P5:

rental  services  of  computing

Network and telecommunication services
Leasing  or 
machinery without operator
Resale
Architectural services
Engineering  design  services  including  integrated
engineering services for turnkey projects
P9:
Urban planning services
P10: Project management services
P11:  Other architectural and engineering services
P12:  Construction
P13: Sale or leasing of advertising space or time
P14: Planning,  creating  and  placement  services  of

advertising

P15: Other advertising related services
P16: Market research services
P17: Public opinion polling services
P18: Accounting,  book-keeping  and  auditing  services,

tax consultancy services

P19: Business and management consultancy services
P20: Training services
P21: Other additional products n.e.c.

Figure 2.10
Turnover  shares  in  other  business  activities  by
product, 2001 (NACE Division 74*)

Other related 
products
12%

Architectural 
services
5%

Business and 
management 
consultancy 
services
17%

Planning, creating 
and placement 
services of 
advertising
11%

Other additional 
products n.e.c.
12%

Engineering design 
services 
17%

Accounting, book-
keeping and auditing 
services
12%

Sale or leasing of 
advertising space or 
time
14%

EU countries: DK, ES, FR, IE, PT, FI, SE and UK.
Source: Eurostat, SBS

23

Table 2.5

Detailed turnover in computer services by product, 2001
(NACE Division 72 - Million EUR)

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

  IE 

  IT 

  AT 

  PT 

  FI 

  SE 

  UK 

Total

Hardware consultancy services

178

800

12 762

294

1 060

34

Software supply

2 744

6 924

14 790

4 373

15 634

2 260

Other computer services

1 723

3 697

8 685

Network and telecommunication services

347

244

Leasing or rental services of computing machinery 
without operator

4

11

22

10

Resale

599

888

2 394

Business and management consultancy services

Training services

Other related products*

23

93

0

0

112

0

Other additional products n.e.c.

162

495

182

457

22

728

439

200

9 354

2 127

1 021

199

8

486

16

293

182

24

0

61

6 042

463

:

:

:

:

36

46

0

30

24

400

245

22

0

350

149

14

0

151

66

624

3 718

19 560

2 148

10 319

34 825

94 416

921

101

13

1 800

13 525

42 515

237

1 902

4 295

87

36

671

387

558

9 688

21 661

75

42

0

76

93

76

0

3 167

3 907

494

1 357

0

22

296

7 594

9 594

Total

5 873

13 172

40 052

5 873

33 596

5 210

1 354

3 829

14 089

74 949 197 998

Notes: ':' : data not available; confidential data: DK: NACE72.1 P1- IE: NACE 72.3 & 72.4 - UK: NACE 72.3 P4&P5; *: group of products with a low turnover 
share; Total: sum of the available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Table 2.6

Turnover share in computer and related activities by product classification, 2001 (%)
(NACE Division 72)

Hardware consultancy services

Software supply

Other computer services

Network and telecommunication services

Leasing or rental services of computing machinery 
without operator

Resale

Business and management consultancy services

Training services

Other related products*

Other additional products n.e.c.

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

3.0

46.7

29.3

5.9

0.1

10.2

0.4

1.6

0.0

2.8

6.1

52.6

28.1

1.9

0.1

6.7

0.0

0.9

0.0

3.8

31.9

36.9

21.7

0.1

0.0

6.0

0.5

1.1

0.1

1.8

  IE 

5.0

74.5

7.5

3.4

0.1

5.0

3.1

0.4

0.0

1.0

  IT 

3.2

46.5

27.8

3.0

1.4

18.0

:

:

:

:

  AT 

  PT 

0.7

43.4

40.8

3.8

0.3

8.9

0.7

0.9

0.0

0.6

1.8

29.5

18.1

1.6

0.0

25.9

11.0

1.0

0.0

11.1

  FI 

1.7

56.1

24.0

2.6

0.3

10.1

2.0

1.1

0.0

2.0

  SE 

  UK 

Total

4.4

73.2

12.8

1.7

0.6

4.0

0.7

0.5

0.0

2.1

5.0

46.5

18.0

2.5

0.0

9.9

47.7

21.5

2.2

0.3

12.9

10.9

4.2

0.7

0.0

10.1

2.0

0.7

0.0

4.8

Total

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Notes: ':' : data not available; confidential data: DK: NACE72.1 P1- IE: NACE 72.3 & 72.4 - UK: NACE 72.3 P4&P5; *: group of products with a low turnover 
share; Total: based on the sum of the available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

According  to  data  reported  in  Figure  2.9  and
Table  2.5,  software  supply  was  the  largest
product, in terms of turnover, in computer and
related  activities  in  all  of  the  EU  Member
States9 for which data was available.
This  product  accounted  for  47%  of  total
turnover  in  the  EU  as  a  whole  (EUR  94.4
billion).

The  turnover  share  of  software  supply  was
greater than 45% of total turnover produced in
computer  services  (NACE  Division  72)  in

9 DK, ES, FR, IE, IT, AT, PT, FI, SE and UK.

seven  out  of  ten  EU  reporting  countries.  It  is
worthy to note that this product accounted for
approximately 75% (EUR 4.3 billion) and 73%
(EUR  10.3  billion)  of 
turnover
respectively in Ireland and Sweden.

total 

the 

terms  of  absolute  values, 

In 
largest
turnover  of  software  supply  was  generated  in
the  United  Kingdom  with  EUR  34.8  billion,
ahead of France with a turnover close to EUR
14.7 billion.

the 

In  2001,  at  least  75%  of  turnover  recorded  in
to
computer  services  could  be  attributed 

24

                                                
software  supply  and  other  computer  services
in the majority of the observed EU countries.
Noticeable  exceptions  were  in  France  and
Portugal  where  the  second  biggest  turnover
share was generated respectively in providing
hardware  consultancy  services  (EUR  12.7
billion,  32%  of  total  FR  turnover  in  computer
services)  and  in  resale  of  software,  hardware

and  equipment,  which  accounted  for  26%  of
total PT turnover (see Table 2.6).
In  contrast,  leasing  or  rental  services  of
computing  machinery  without  operator  were
relatively insignificant in all EU countries (less
than 1% of turnover).

Table 2.7

Detailed turnover in other business activities by product classification, 2001
(NACE Division 74* - Million EUR)

Architectural services

Engineering design services including integrated 
engineering services for turnkey projects

Project management services

Other architectural and engineering services

Construction

Sale or leasing of advertising space or time

Planning, creating and placement services of 
advertising

Other advertising related services

Market research services

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

530

2 634

4 502

1 413

3 904

23 842

751

772

80

857

1 900

2 616

142

1 455

1 804

76

6 198

11 232

0

10 650

9 921

181

104

355

878

18

2 005

Accounting, book-keeping and auditing services, 
tax consultancy services

1 246

5 480

9 725

Business and management consultancy services

1 252

2 504

13 609

Other related products*

Other additional products n.e.c.

684

1 036

698

979

1 547

2 468

  IE 

499

516

42

109

277

351

200

62

62

692

229

174

203

  PT 

399

683

169

76

5

814

921

223

1

822

1 236

64

46

  FI 

239

  SE 

  UK 

Total

779

4 061

13 642

1 698

3 389

13 433

48 880

128

117

51

728

576

102

103

639

974

264

235

750

1 238

82

3 377

2 466

2 783

8 571

9 198

3 496

2 377

18 516

41 073

1 629

9 647

33 544

328

301

1 538

1 765

2 808

5 219

2 201

14 526

35 330

4 872

26 399

51 074

479

738

3 340

7 251

29 058

34 762

Total

8 906

38 939

82 204

3 416

5 458

5 853

19 162

130 909

294 847

Notes: confidential data: DK: NACE 74.4 P14 - IE: NACE 74.14; *: group of products with a low turnover share; Total: sum of the available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Table 2.8

Turnover share in other business activities by product classification, 2001 (%)
(NACE Division 74*)

Architectural services

Engineering design services including integrated 
engineering services for turnkey projects

Project management services

Other architectural and engineering services

Construction

Sale or leasing of advertising space or time

Planning, creating and placement services of 
advertising

Other advertising related services

Market research services

Accounting, book-keeping and auditing services, 
tax consultancy services

Business and management consultancy services

Other related products*

Other additional products n.e.c.

Total

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

6.0

15.9

8.4

8.7

0.9

9.6

0.0

2.0

1.2

14.0

14.1

7.7

11.6

100

6.8

10.0

4.9

6.7

0.4

15.9

27.4

0.9

2.3

14.1

6.4

1.8

2.5

100

5.5

29.0

1.8

2.2

0.1

13.7

12.1

0.0

2.4

11.8

16.6

1.9

3.0

100

  IE 

14.6

15.1

1.2

3.2

8.1

10.3

5.9

1.8

1.8

20.3

6.7

5.1

5.9

100

  PT 

7.3

12.5

3.1

1.4

0.1

14.9

16.9

4.1

0.0

15.1

22.6

1.2

0.8

100

  SE 

  UK 

Total

  FI 

4.1

29.0

2.2

2.0

0.9

4.1

17.7

3.9

6.5

0.4

3.1

10.3

2.6

1.9

2.1

12.4

12.4

14.1

9.8

1.7

1.8

10.9

16.6

4.5

4.0

100

8.5

1.7

1.6

11.5

25.4

2.5

3.9

100

7.4

1.2

1.3

11.1

20.2

2.6

22.2

100

4.6

16.6

2.9

3.1

1.2

13.9

11.4

1.0

1.8

12.0

17.3

2.5

11.8

100

Notes: confidential data: DK: NACE 74.4 P14 - IE: NACE 74.14; *: group of products with a low turnover share; Total: based on the sum of the available 
countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

25

for 

design 

services 

services 

including 

Whilst  looking  at  Tables  2.7  &  2.8  relating  to
detailed  turnover  in  other  business  activities
(NACE  Division  74*)  in  2001,  we  may  note
that  there  was  no  leading  product  that  had  a
significant  turnover  share  in  all  EU  countries
for which data was available (DK, ES, FR, IE,
PT,  FI,  SE  and  UK).  Albeit,  engineering
design 
integrated
engineering  services  for  turnkey  project  (i.e.
engineering 
the
foundations  and  buildings
construction  of 
structure, 
for  mechanical  and  electrical
installations  for  buildings,  for  the  construction
of  civil  engineering  works, 
industrial
process  and  production)  were  significant  in
France  and  Finland.  They  generated  29%  of
total  turnover  in  activities  covered  by  NACE
74*, with EUR 23.8 billion and almost EUR 1.7
billion respectively.
Planning,  creating  and  placement  services  of
advertising (including full services advertising,
direct  marketing  and  advertising  design)  was
an  important  product  in  Spain  with  a  turnover
share  of  27.4%  (EUR  10.6  billion);  while
business  and  management 
consultancy
services generated the highest turnover share
in Sweden (25.4% with EUR 4.8 billion).

for 

to  note 

It  was  disturbing 
the  significant
turnover  share  of  “other  additional  products
n.e.c.”  in  2001  in  the  United  Kingdom  (more
than  22%).  It  may  be  the  case  that  this
heading  contains  products  which  enterprises
found  difficult  to  classify  under  the  named
headings.

Tables 2.9 to 2.14 display the turnover shares
of  the  different  economic  activities  by  product
in computer services (NACE Division 72).

computer 

consultancy 

In NACE 72.2, software product supply, which
includes  packaged  and  customised  software
and 
services,
generated  the  biggest  turnover  share  in  all
reporting  Member  States:  it  ranged  between
in  Sweden.
37% 
strong
Showing 
for
product/economic  activity  consistency 
software  consultancy  and  supply  services  in
all reporting countries (see Table 2.10).

in  Portugal  and  83% 
there  was 

that 

a 

and 

hardware servicing, repair and maintenance of
computing  machinery 
equipment,
generated  the  largest  turnover  share  in  the
majority  of  EU  countries  except  in  Finland.
for  data  processing  and  database
Thus, 
activities,  the  main  product  and  the  economic
activity  were  consistent 
reporting
countries  except  Finland  (see  Tables  2.11  &
2.12).  Software  supply,  on  the  other  hand,
was  the  most  important  product  in  2001  in
Finland with a turnover share of 51% in NACE
72.3 and 42% in NACE 72.4.

in  all 

total 

turnover 

than  75%  of 

In NACE 72.5 (Table 2.13) the most important
product  was  other  computer  services  in  7  out
of  10  EU  countries  (DK,  ES,  FR,  AT,  FI,  SE
and  UK).  In  particular,  this  product  generated
more 
in
maintenance  and  repair  services  in  Spain,
Austria  and  Sweden.  Leasing  or 
rental
services  of  computing  machinery  without
operator  generated  a  turnover  share  of  about
29% in Ireland. In Italy, in contrast, resale (i.e.
software,  not  own  developed,  hardware  and
equipment) 
total
turnover  in  NACE  72.5,  while  other  additional
products  n.e.c.  made  up  45.8%  of 
total
turnover in Portugal.
It is worthy of note that one of the reasons for
the  inconsistency  between  statistics  on  main
product  and  economic  activity,  could  be
the  national  business
misclassification  at 
register  level.  The  product  level  data,  thus,
provides  an  invaluable  check  for  the  national
business registers.

represented  40.5%  of 

In  Table  2.9,  the  largest  turnover  share  in
hardware  consultancy 
(NACE  72.1)  was
generated by two main products:
-  hardware  consultancy  services;  which
generated  the  largest  turnover  share  in
Spain 
(84%),  Austria
(50.8%) and Sweden (68.1%);
software  supply;  generating  the  biggest
turnover  share  in  Ireland  (42.1%),  Italy
(59.6%),  Portugal  (31%),  Finland  (49.5%)
and the United Kingdom (44.3%).

(86%),  France 

- 

Unlike in other EU countries, in Denmark, the
most important product was resale of software
(not 
and
developed), 
equipment, with a turnover share of 52.2%.

hardware 

own 

(NACE  72.3),  database
Data  processing 
activities  (NACE  72.4)  and  other  computer
services, computer facilities management and
database  processing,  database  services,
system  maintenance  services  and  computer

Share of turnover broken down by product, of
other  business  activities  (NACE  Division  74*)
is  reported  in  Tables  2.15  to  2.19.  Data  was

26

tax 

consultancy 

available  for  eight  EU  countries:  DK,  ES,  FR,
IE, PT, FI, SE and UK.
Accounting,  book-keeping,  auditing  services
and 
services  were
consistently  the  main  product  for  activities
covered  by  NACE  74.12.  They  generated
more than 65% of total turnover for this sector
in  all  reporting  Member  States.  Notably,  this
share was in excess of 90% in Spain (93.7%),
France  (96.9%)  and  Portugal  (92.2%),  see
Table 2.15.

ad-hoc 

quantitative 

The  main  product  within  NACE  74.13  was
market research services, including qualitative
surveys, 
and
continuous/regular  surveys.  The  share  of  this
product  ranged  between  43%  in  Ireland  and
91.8% in Sweden, Table 2.16.
In  Denmark  and  the  United  Kingdom,  the
residual  heading,  other  product  n.e.c.,  had  a
significant  turnover  share  in  2001  for  NACE
Class  74.13,  with  about  25.6%  and  34.1%
respectively.

For  architectural  and  engineering  activities
(NACE  74.2),  the  main  product  and  the
economic  activity  were  also  consistent  in  all
(see  Tables  2.19).
reporting  countries 
Engineering 
including
integrated  engineering  services  for  turnkey

services 

design 

projects  were,  therefore,  the  most  important
products in 2001 in all observed EU countries
with a turnover share which varied from 31.1%
in Denmark and Ireland to 71.3% in France.

Business  and  management  consultancy
services,  comprising  business  organisation
consultancy  services,  strategic  consultancy
financial  management  consulting
services, 
services  and  human  resources  management
consulting services, generated more than 60%
of total turnover in NACE 74.14 in all reporting
EU  countries  except  in  the  United  Kingdom
(56.4%) as Table 2.18 shows.

In  particular, 

In  NACE  74.4  (Table  2.17),  the  main  product
was  sale  or  leasing  of  advertising  space  or
time in 6 out of 8 EU countries (DK, FR, IE, FI,
SE  and  UK). 
this  product
generated  more  than  55%  of  total  turnover  in
the
advertising 
United Kingdom.
Planning,  creating  and  placement  services  of
advertising,  full  services  advertising,  direct
marketing and advertising design generated a
turnover  share  of  about  61.4%  in  Spain  and
46.6% in Portugal.

in  Denmark, 

Ireland  and 

27

Table 2.9

Table 2.12

Turnover share in hardware consultancy by product, 2001

Turnover share in database activities by product, 2001

(NACE Group 72.1)

(NACE Group 72.4)

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

  IE 

  IT 

  AT 

  PT 

  FI 

  SE 

  UK 

  DK 

  FR 

  IT 

  AT 

  PT 

  FI 

  SE 

  UK 

P1

P2

P3

P4

P6

P19

P20

P21

Other*

Total

: c

86.0

84.0

30.2

13.7

1.4

52.2

0.0

0.5

0.9

1.1

3.6

2.7

1.2

5.4

0.0

0.8

0.4

0.0

3.4

3.3

0.0

6.3

1.1

0.8

1.1

0.0

2.6

42.1

6.8

1.0

4.1

35.8

7.5

0.1

0.0

4.5

50.8

59.6

10.6

0.4

0.0

13.8

0.0

1.8

31.0

15.1

3.4

9.4

68.1

49.5

13.3

0.5

9.2

1.3

1.8

9.2

44.3

3.3

1.5

25.0

30.8

18.8

15.9

14.7

12.6

:

:

:

0.0

4.6

0.0

0.0

0.0

8.2

0.8

20.9

0.0

7.3

4.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.2

4.5

0.0

8.5

0.2

20.4

0.0

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

: c': confidential data; ':' : data not available; *: other related products.

P1

P2

P3

P4

P6

P19

P20

P21

Other*

Total

0.8

11.6

53.7

24.1

3.0

0.0

0.8

5.8

0.2

0.1

0.4

1.1

5.6

0.0

0.0

0.0

1.1

94.9

85.3 100.0

71.9

0.0

2.9

0.1

0.0

1.2

0.4

3.9

4.0

:

:

:

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

18.0

6.7

2.2

0.0

0.0

0.2

41.9

21.8

34.9

0.3

0.2

0.7

0.1

0.0

0.5

8.9

82.7

1.3

2.7

0.1

0.1

3.6

0.0

2.9

28.5

29.9

0.0

2.3

6.8

0.0

29.5

0.0

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

IE: confidential data; ES: data is included with K72.3; ':' : data not 
available; *: other related products.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Table 2.10

Table 2.13

Turnover share in software consultancy and supply by product, 2001

Turnover share in maintenance & repair of office, computing machinery 

(NACE Group 72.2)

by product, 2001 - (NACE Group 72.5)

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

  IE 

  IT 

  AT 

  PT 

  FI 

  SE 

  UK 

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

  IE 

  IT 

  AT 

  PT 

  FI 

  SE 

  UK 

P1

P2

P3

P4

P6

P19

P20

P21

Other*

Total

3.1

52.7

26.5

2.7

65.4

18.6

2.9

9.7

0.5

1.9

2.6

0.1

1.8

7.4

0.0

0.9

3.1

0.0

7.5

4.8

79.0

77.8

4.4

0.1

5.4

0.2

1.8

1.5

0.1

7.7

3.1

3.3

2.4

0.2

0.7

0.0

4.1

58.7

12.5

2.7

0.5

67.3

18.0

0.7

20.0

10.6

:

:

:

2.0

0.9

1.2

0.4

0.4

0.6

36.8

8.0

2.0

28.8

16.9

0.5

6.4

0.0

2.2

60.0

19.1

1.4

10.9

2.4

1.5

2.5

0.1

3.6

83.1

5.4

1.3

3.2

0.5

0.6

1.8

0.5

5.5

59.1

15.4

0.8

9.1

4.9

0.4

4.7

0.1

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P20

P21

Other*

Total

0.7

2.8

0.7

2.3

2.9

1.3

54.9

78.6

67.3

5.5

0.1

34.8

0.0

1.2

0.0

3.9

0.5

7.9

0.2

5.9

0.0

0.0

0.0

24.7

0.2

3.5

0.0

0.8

18.8

9.6

19.2

28.8

13.5

6.5

2.7

0.0

4.5

24.0

28.4

1.1

1.3

1.7

6.9

76.6

0.4

0.9

2.5

3.1

9.8

3.3

0.0

40.5

12.0

35.3

:

:

0.0

1.2

0.4

0.0

0.1

45.8

0.0

0.0

0.0

97.9

4.4

11.1

75.3

0.0

0.0

2.1

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.6

0.0

7.7

0.1

0.6

0.1

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

9.6

17.5

43.6

2.7

0.1

10.5

2.0

12.5

1.3

100

':': data not available; *: other related products.

ES: data includes K72.6; ':': data not available; *: other related products.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Table 2.11

Table 2.14

Turnover share in data processing by product, 2001

Turnover share in other computer related activities

(NACE Group 72.3)

by product, 2001 - (NACE Group 72.6)

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

  IT 

  AT 

  PT 

  FI 

  SE 

  UK 

0.8

31.5

53.6

6.8

4.5

6.0

3.9

76.4

83.2

1.1

0.0

9.7

0.1

0.1

3.1

1.4

0.4

1.4

0.0

0.8

8.5

0.2

0.0

2.3

0.0

0.5

3.8

0.3

10.6

83.4

2.3

0.1

3.3

:

:

:

0.7

5.7

77.2

9.8

0.1

5.8

0.3

0.3

0.1

5.5

18.7

52.6

0.0

0.0

14.5

1.4

0.3

7.0

0.4

51.2

34.3

0.7

19.8

63.2

0.8

1.1

9.8

1.0

0.1

1.2

4.2

1.3

5.4

1.7

0.3

3.3

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

2.8

11.9

48.3

: c

: c

4.1

0.7

0.7

31.6

100

P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P19

P20

P21

Total

P1

P2

P3

P4

P5

P6

P19

P20

P21

Total

  IT 

  AT 

  PT 

  SE 

  UK 

  DK 

8.1

22.2

11.2

49.9

0.0

2.8

0.4

1.3

4.0

  IE 

10.8

34.3

3.4

8.2

0.2

1.9

49.7

21.2

6.8

0.8

34.3

19.6

0.1

0.7

7.8

:

:

:

0.0

25.7

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.9

20.0

10.8

0.3

0.1

1.5

23.2

16.4

10.6

4.0

3.8

36.1

5.7

9.0

0.0

31.7

26.8

29.4

0.3

6.8

74.3

29.1

5.8

1.9

9.9

4.1

1.4

10.4

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

IE: confidential data; ES: data includes K74.4; ':' : data not available.

ES: data is included with K72.5; ':': data not available.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Products:

P1:
Hardware consultancy services
Software supply
P2:
P3: Other computer services
P4:
P5:

Network and telecommunication services
Leasing  or 
machinery without operator
Resale

P6:

rental  services  of  computing

P19: Business and management consultancy services
P20: Training services
P21: Other additional products n.e.c.

Other related products: group of related products with a
low turnover share

28

Table 2.15

Table 2.18

Turnover share in accounting, bookkeeping and auditing by product

Turnover share in business & management consultancy activities 

2001 - (NACE Group 74.12)

by product, 2001 - (NACE Group 74.14)

P18

P19

P20

P21

Other*

Total

  DK 

84.1

11.6

1.3

0.9

2.0

  ES 

93.7

  FR 

96.9

3.4

0.3

2.6

0.0

0.5

0.1

1.8

0.7

  IE 

69.2

21.6

7.3

1.9

0.0

  PT 

92.2

6.2

0.5

0.9

0.2

  FI 

89.5

3.5

0.3

5.4

1.2

  SE 

89.4

7.2

0.3

2.1

1.0

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

  UK 

67.3

19.3

0.1

11.8

1.5

100

 *: other related products.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

P1

P2

P3

P18

P19

P20

P21

Other*

Total

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

  PT 

  FI 

  SE 

  UK 

6.1

10.8

1.3

4.6

61.0

8.9

7.3

0.0
100

0.0

0.0

0.0

3.7

87.7

0.8

7.7

0.0
100

2.1

0.6

0.3

0.3

89.5

1.0

3.7

2.5
100

0.1

0.3

1.1

11.2

86.2

0.3

0.8

0.0
100

0.3

2.4

0.0

1.3

0.1

1.5

0.6

3.3

84.2

86.5

9.0

2.8

0.0
100

2.6

5.3

0.0
100

0.4

1.5

1.2

1.0

56.4

1.9

37.5

0.0
100

Table 2.16

IE: confidential data;  *: other related products.

Turnover share in market research & public opinion polling

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

product 2001 - (NACE Group 74.13)

P15

P16

P17
P19

P20

P21

Other*

Total

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

3.5

64.2

2.2
3.0

0.5

25.6

1.1
100

0.0

82.4

7.9
0.0

0.9

8.8

0.0
100

0.0

75.7

19.0
0.6

0.2

4.0

0.5
100

  IE 

11.2

43.0

29.5
5.3

7.8

3.2

0.0
100

  FI 

0.0

90.2

4.2
0.2

0.1

3.6

1.8
100

 *: other related products.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

Table 2.17

Turnover share in advertising by product, 2001

(NACE Group 74.4)

P13

P14

P15

P21

Other*

Total

  DK 

72.3

: c

14.9

6.8

6.0

100

  ES 

  FR 

35.8

61.4

2.0

0.8

0.0

52.4

45.8

0.1

1.7

0.1

  IE 

56.1

32.0

7.6

3.0

1.2

100

100

100

  PT 

41.1

46.6

11.3

0.7

0.3

100

: c' : confidential data;  *: other related products.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

  SE 

  UK 

Table 2.19

0.0

91.8

1.9
1.4

0.0

1.2

3.7
100

  FI 

49.4

39.1

6.9

3.4

1.2

1.0

47.5

6.2
10.6

0.3

34.1

0.3
100

Turnover share in architectural & engineering activities by product, 2001

(NACE Group 74.2)

  DK 

  ES 

  FR 

  SE 

  UK 

P7

P8

P9

P10

P11

P12

P19

P20
P21

Other*

Total

11.7

31.1

0.8

16.5

17.0

1.8

1.4

0.3
17.3

2.0

100

21.7

32.1

4.4

15.6

21.5

1.2

:

0.2
3.3

0.0

13.5

71.3

0.4

4.3

5.3

0.2

0.3

0.1
3.8

0.7

  IE 

30.0

31.1

1.9

2.5

6.6

16.7

0.3

1.2
9.7

0.0

  PT 

28.9

49.6

2.2

12.2

5.5

0.3

0.2

0.1
1.0

0.0

  FI 

9.7

68.7

3.5

5.2

4.7

2.1

0.6

0.2
4.5

0.8

11.5

50.2

0.9

11.1

18.3

1.2

0.5

0.5
4.7

1.0

9.9

32.6

:

8.2

6.0

6.8

8.6

0.2
25.5

2.3

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

  SE 

  UK 

 *: other related products.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs2)

51.3

35.2

7.1

1.9

4.4

55.6

29.0

4.5

8.8

2.1

100

100

100

Products:

Hardware consultancy services
P1:
P2:
Software supply
P3: Other computer services
P7:
P8:

Architectural services
Engineering  design  services  including  integrated
engineering services for turnkey projects
P9:
Urban planning services
P10: Project management services
P11:  Other architectural and engineering services
P12:  Construction
P13: Sale or leasing of advertising space or time

P14: Planning,  creating  and  placement  services  of

advertising

P15: Other advertising related services
P16: Market research services
P17: Public opinion polling services
P18: Accounting,  book-keeping  and  auditing  services,

tax consultancy services

P19: Business and management consultancy services
P20: Training services
P21: Other additional products n.e.c.

Other related products: group of related products with a
low turnover share

29

Residence of clients

Data  on 
residence  of  clients  provides
information  on  the  functioning  of  the  EU
internal  market 
In
addition,  data  on  non-resident  clients  gives
information  on  the  share  of  exports  in  the
business  services  turnover  i.e.  enterprises’
access to the EU market.

for  business  services. 

Figure 2.11
Turnover  share  of  resident  clients  in  business
services (NACE Division 72 & 74*), 2001

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

On the other hand, turnover share of resident
clients in computer services exceeded 90% in
6  countries  out  of  10  EU  countries,  most
significantly in Italy (97%) and Portugal (94%).
In this sector, the share of non-resident clients
was  also  relevant  in  Denmark  (24%)  and
Spain (18%).

Figure 2.12
Turnover  share  of  resident  clients  in  computer  and
related activities (NACE Division 72), 2001

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IE

PT

FI

SE

UK

Source: Eurostat, SBS

DK 

ES 

FR 

IE 

IT 

AT 

PT 

FI 

SE 

UK 

Resident

Non-resident

Resident

Non-resident

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.13
Turnover share of resident clients in other business
activities (NACE Division 74*), 2001

With  reference  to  the  residence  of  clients,
resident  enterprises  made  up  the  majority  of
business services clientele (NACE Division 72
&  74*)  in  2001  in  all  EU  countries10  for  which
data was available (Figure 2.11).
The  turnover  share  of  resident  clients  in
business  services  as  a  whole  varied  between
58% in Ireland and 93% in Portugal.
The  share  of  non-resident  clients  in  business
services was above 25% only in Denmark and
Ireland.  In  the  other  countries  this  share
ranged  between  7%  (Sweden)  and  12%  (the
United Kingdom).

Among the individual activities (NACE Division
72  and  NACE  Division  74*),  these  turnover
quotas  of 
resident  clients  did  not  vary
considerably  across  all  reporting  Member
States, except Ireland.
Non-resident  enterprises  were,  therefore,  the
most 
important  customers  of  computer
activities  (NACE  Division  72)  only  in  Ireland
with  a  turnover  share  of  approximately  61%,
Figure 2.12.

10 DK, ES, FR, IE, PT, FI, SE and UK.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IE

PT

FI

SE

UK

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Resident

Non-resident

The share of resident clients in other business
activities (NACE Division 74*) was above 85%
in  all  of  the  EU  reporting  countries,  except  in
Denmark where it was approximately 72%.
In Finland and in the United Kingdom, 13% of
the clientele was non-residents (Figure 2.13).

By  Looking  at  Table  2.20,  it  is  difficult  to
identify a link between the residence of clients
and employment size class. At the same time,
it  is  difficult  to  assume  that  the  size  of  an
enterprise is not a factor in the market access.

30

                                                
Size class distribution
The  classification  of  enterprises  into  size  classes  is
based on the number of employees and it is defined as
follows:
[1 – 9]
[10 – 49]
[50 – 249] medium
[250 – +]

micro
small

large

250 

than 

(more 

However,  Table  2.20  shows  that  the  large
persons
enterprises 
employed) reported the biggest turnover share
of non-resident clients in business services in
Denmark, Spain, France and Sweden.
In  Contrast,  non-resident  clientele  was  more
important  in  micro  business  services  (0-9
employees) in Italy and Portugal.

Micro  enterprises,  in  2001,  were  the  principal
resident  customers  of  business  services
sector  in  the  majority  of  the  observed  EU
countries.  Large  enterprises  were  also  quite
significant  in  Denmark,  Spain  and  the  United
Kingdom.

Table 2.20

Turnover share of residence of clients by size class in
business services (NACE 72&74*), 2001

1–9

10–49

50–249

250 and 
more

Resident
DK
ES
FR
IE
IT1
AT1
PT
FI
SE
UK

Non-resident
DK
ES
FR
IE
IT1
AT1
PT
FI
SE
UK

28.3
30.8
30.6
40.9
38.8
20.9
51.9
33.0
34.1
29.9

10.3
5.7
14.5
57.9
46.4
31.7
51.5
11.8
17.6
18.9

18.5
19.6
22.7
2.3
19.1
21.3
16.7
21.2
24.9
20.1

14.0
13.9
17.5
1.1
14.9
32.2
22.0
29.6
20.9
25.6

25.7
20.4
19.6
56.8
16.2
25.5
19.3
26.3
16.5
19.5

22.4
20.7
26.5
41.0
13.8
22.8
21.1
42.1
27.9
26.8

27.5
29.3
27.1
:
25.9
32.3
12.0
19.5
24.4
30.5

53.3
59.7
41.5
:
24.9
13.4
5.3
16.4
33.5
28.7

':' : data not available; '1': only NACE 72 data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs4)

Type of clients

they  provide 

The  importance  of  business  services  in  the
economy  is  clearly  not  just  derived  from  the
wealth that they generate and the employment
they provide, but also from the facilitating role
that 
to  other  sectors.  The
dynamic  relation  between  business  services
and  their  clients  in  other  sectors  of  the
economy  does  not  result  only  from  their
provision  of  non-industrial  services,  but  also
from  a  growing  involvement  in  the  production
process itself.

the  extent  and 

Data  regarding  the  type  of  clients,  in  addition
to  information  on  products,  is  useful  when
the  effect  of
assessing 
outsourcing  or  networking  in  an  economy.
Moreover,  given  the  business  services  are
characterised 
customised
services  according  to  specific  needs  (client
needs),  it  would  be  useful  to  know  the
economic  sector  of  the  client  enterprises  in
order to better understand of market forces.

providing 

by 

Type of clients
Within  this  study,  the  business  services  clients  are
classified in 3 categories:
- Enterprises
- Public Sector
- Households

Figure 2.14
Turnover  share  in  business  services  by  type  of
client, 2001 – (NACE Division 72&74*)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IE

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

Enterprises

Public Sector

Households

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Examining  Figure  2.14,  enterprises  were  by
far  the  most  important  group  of  clients  for
business  services  in  all  Member  States11  for
which data was available.

11 IT and AT only NACE 72 data was available.

31

                                                
Figure 2.15
Turnover share of enterprise clients by size class in
business services, 2001 – (NACE Division 72&74*)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

1–9

FR

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

10–49

50–249

250 and more

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.16
Turnover share of public sector clients by size class
in business services, 2001 – (NACE Division 72&74*)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

1–9

FR

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

10–49

50–249

250 and more

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.17
Turnover  share  of  households  clients  by  size  class
in business services, 2001 – (NACE Division 72&74*)

The  turnover  share  of  enterprise  clients  was
never  less  than  80%  except  in  Denmark
(73%).  In  Austria,  92%  of  clients  in  computer
services (NACE 72) were enterprises.

The public sector was an important client with
a  share  above  10% 
in  Denmark  (18%),
Finland (12%) and Sweden (12%).

Unlike  from  business  services  as  a  whole,
households  were  significant  clients 
for
computer and related activities sector in Spain
with a turnover share of 19%.
Looking at the turnover share of type of clients
by  size  class  (Figures  2.15,  2.16  and  2.17),
there  is  no  evidence  of  a  correlation  between
these variables.

However, it could be observed that the largest
turnover  shares  of  enterprise  and  public
sector  clients  were  to  be  found  within  two
employment  size  classes:  micro  and  large
enterprises.

Moreover,  in  Spain  and  France,  the  biggest
turnover  share  of  enterprise  clients  was
recorded by large enterprises (more than 250
employees)  and  that  of  public  sector  clients
was  recorded  by  micro  enterprises.  In  the
United  Kingdom,  however,  enterprises  and
public  sector  were  important  client  groups  for
micro and large enterprises.

In  Portugal,  Finland  and  Sweden  the  largest
turnover  shares  of  enterprise  and  public
recorded  by  micro
sector  clients  were 
enterprises.  In  Denmark  and  Austria,  large
enterprises  recorded 
turnover
share.

the  biggest 

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

1–9

FR

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

10–49

50–249

250 and more

Source: Eurostat, SBS

largest 

generated 

Turning  our  attention  to  household  clients,
they 
turnover
the 
percentage for micro enterprises (less than 10
employees),  this  share  ranged  between  35%
in Denmark and 81% in Portugal. Unlike in the
other EU countries, households were the most
significant  clients 
in
business  services  in  Spain  (about  58%  of
turnover to household clients).
Additionally,  in  France,  Portugal,  Finland  and
the  United  Kingdom  the  turnover  share  of
the
households’ 
enterprise size increased.

clients  decreased  as 

large  enterprises 

for 

32

Product Specialisation

Further  studies  on  business  services  (NACE
72  and  74*)  were  carried  out  by  analysing
turnover  data  broken  down  by  product
specialisation.  This  also  provides  evidence  of
the link between the size of an enterprise and
its product specialisation.

Product Specialisation
An enterprise has been considered product-specialised,
if  the  most  important  products  are  consistent  with  the
main activity of the enterprise and it comprises at least
75% of its total turnover.

variation/concentration 

From  the  economic  point  of  view,  interest
focuses  on  the  relationship  between  each
economic  activity  and  its  main  product  (level
of  dependency),  as  well  as  on  large  or  small
product 
and
consequently  how  enterprises  are  dependent
on the market evolution of each product.
For 
services
enterprises  have  been  defined  as  product-
specialised if more than 75% of their turnover
comes 
the
respective economic activity group.

the  main  products  of 

business 

purpose, 

from 

this 

Results,  as  shown  in  Figure  2.18,  displayed
that  business  services  (NACE  72&74*)  were
product-specialised 
in  all  EU  countries
examined  (DK,  ES,  FR,  PT,  FI,  SE  and  UK):
turnover  share  of  product-specialised
the 
enterprises varied between 54% (France) and
85% (Spain).
In  the  same  way,  other  business  activities
(NACE  74*)  were  product-specialised  in  all
countries other than France.
The  turnover  share  of  product-specialised
enterprises,  therefore,  ranged  from  69%  in
Denmark  and  the  United  Kingdom  to  94%  in
Spain. In France, on the basis of the available
data,  this  share  was  only  46%,  consequently,
a  majority  of  enterprises  in  other  business
activities  were  not  product-specialised  (see
Figure 2.20).

The  statistics  on  turnover  share  of  product-
specialised  enterprises  in  computer  services
(NACE 72) were different among the reporting
countries.

Figure 2.18
Turnover share of product-specialised enterprises in
business services, 2001 – (NACE Division 72&74*)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

Non specialised

Specialised

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.19
Turnover share of product-specialised enterprises in
computer and related activities, 2001
(NACE Division 72)

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

Non specialised

Specialised

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.20
Turnover share of product-specialised enterprises in
other business activities, 2001 – (NACE Division 74*)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

Non specialised

Specialised

Source: Eurostat, SBS

33

in  Denmark, 

Enterprises  in  computer  services  were  not
product-specialised  in  5  out  of  9  countries12.
Specifically 
Italy,  Portugal,
Finland  and  the  United  Kingdom  their  activity
in
depended  on  other 
addition to main ones (see Figure 2.19).
On  the  other  hand,  computer  services  were
product-specialised  in  France  with  a  turnover
share  of  69%,  in  Austria  (63%),  Sweden
(61%) and Spain (58%).

related  products 

Tables  2.21–22–23  show,  furthermore,  the
relationship  between  employment  size  class
and  product  specialisation 
in  business
services  as  a  whole,  computer  services  and
other business activities separately.

The enterprise size-class seems to be a factor
in  the  product-specialisation.  Indeed,  in  the
majority  of  the  reporting  countries,  more  than
50%  of  micro,  small  and  medium  enterprises
in business services were product-specialised
(see  Table  2.21).  In  particular,  the  turnover
share of micro product-specialised enterprises
in  total  turnover  of  micro  enterprises  (1  –  9
employees)  ranged  between  47%  in  France
and  92%  in  Spain;  this  share  within  small
enterprises  (10  –  49  employees)  varied  from
40% in Spain and 74% in Denmark, whilst for
medium  enterprises  (50  –  249  employees)  it
ranged  from  49%  in  Finland  and  87%  in
Spain.
Large  enterprises  in  business  services  were
product-specialised  only  in  France  (52%),
Sweden  (51%)  and 
the  United  Kingdom
(59%).

The  turnover  shares  of  product-specialised
enterprises  within  the  different  size-classes  in
other business activities were generally bigger
than  the  shares  in  computer  services.  Except
for  France  and,  within  small  enterprises,  in
Spain  and  Finland,  the  turnover  share  of
product-specialised enterprises was greater in
the activities covered by NACE 72.

Table 2.21
Turnover share of product-specialised enterprises 
in total enterprises by size class, 2001 (%)
(NACE Division 72&74*)

DK
ES
FR
PT
FI
SE
UK

Micro
68.5
91.8
46.4
77.2
82.3
84.0
53.9

Small 
74.1
39.9
51.2
52.6
58.5
54.2
57.2

Medium
74.2
87.1
51.5
85.9
48.5
50.4
69.3

Large
39.6
35.2
51.6
:
28.1
50.9
58.5

Notes: ':': data not available.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Table 2.22
Turnover share of product-specialised enterprises 
in total enterprises by size class, 2001 (%)
(NACE Division 72)

DK
ES
FR
IT
AT
PT
FI
SE
UK
Notes: ':': data not available.

Micro
51.0
63.7
71.0
30.7
35.9
10.1
48.3
58.6
36.0

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Small 
53.9
53.8
65.9
:
2.7
:
65.7
49.8
49.0

Medium
59.1
58.3
74.4
33.7
50.3
45.1
45.0
69.9
50.4

Large
12.8
54.7
67.3
:
:
:
18.8
59.0
39.0

Table 2.23
Turnover share of product-specialised enterprises 
in total enterprises by size class, 2001 (%)
(NACE Division 74)

DK
ES
FR
PT
FI
SE
UK

Micro
76.8
94.7
40.8
84.7
91.0
91.1
64.4

Small 
83.8
36.9
45.1
77.5
54.6
56.4
61.0

Medium
80.3
95.6
39.1
97.9
51.6
:
80.2

Large
59.0
19.0
37.0
:
100.0
:
70.7

Notes: ':': data not available.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

12 DK, ES, FR, IT, AT, PT, FI, SE and UK.

34

                                                
Client Specialisation

Figure 2.21
Turnover  share  of  client  specialisation  in  business
services, 2001 – (NACE Division 72&74*)

Client specialisation
Client  specialisation  is  defined  as  a  share  of  the  three
biggest clients in total turnover:
- Non-specialised:
- Medium specialised:
- Highly specialised:

[0% – 50%)
[50% – 75%)
[75% – 100%]

From the economic point of view, the analysis
of  client  specialisation  aims  to  evaluate  the
clients  of  an  enterprise  and  consequently  its
dependence  on  the  clients’  market  evolution
or economic situation.

in  computer  services 

The  turnover  share  of  non  client-specialised
enterprises 
(NACE
Division  72)  was  around  or  above  60%  in
Denmark,  Spain,  Austria,  Finland,  Sweden
and  the  United  Kingdom.  In  Italy  this  share
was  about  48%,  while  in  Portugal  67%  of
turnover  was  attributed 
to  highly  client-
specialised enterprises (Figure 2.22).

the 

In  the  activities  covered  by  NACE  Division
74*, 
turnover  share  of  non  client-
specialised enterprises was greater than 60%
in  all  countries.  Only  in  Sweden  and  the
United  Kingdom  the  turnover  share  of  highly
client-specialised  enterprises  exceeded  20%
(Figure 2.23).

In  general,  in  terms  of  turnover  by  client
specialisation in business services, non client-
specialised  seems  to  be  the  typical  profile  in
the reporting Member States.

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK
Non client-specialised

ES

PT

FI

SE

UK

Medium client-specialised

Highly client-specialised

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.22
Turnover  share  of  client  specialisation  in  computer
and related activities, 2001 - (NACE Division 72)

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES
Non client-specialised

IT

AT

PT

Medium client-specialised

FI

SE

UK
Highly client-specialised

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.23
Turnover  share  of  client  specialisation  in  other
business activities, 2001 – (NACE Division 74*)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK
Non client-specialised

ES

PT

FI

SE

UK

Medium client-specialised

Highly client-specialised

Source: Eurostat, SBS

35

Table 2.24

Turnover share of enterprises with different client
specialisation by size class in business services, 2001
(NACE 72&74*)

Non client 
specialised

Medium client 
specialised

Highly client 
specialised

Micro
1–9

Small
10–49

Medium
50–249

Large
250 and
more

DK
ES
PT
FI
SE
UK

DK
ES
PT
FI
SE
UK

DK
ES
PT
FI
SE
UK

DK
ES
PT
FI
SE
UK

56
47
61
58
44
28
70
54
100
62
70
57
79
65
77
58
79
76
73
78
100
87
76
83

18
22
15
22
12
18
18
25
:
17
17
24
10
17
11
20
11
13
12
13
:
7
5
9

26
31
24
20
43
54
12
21
:
21
13
19
12
18
12
22
9
10
15
9
:
6
19
8

Notes: '':' : data not available.
Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs5)

information  on 

client
Despite  merging 
specialisation  with  data  on  employment  size
classes  no  size  outcome  appeared  to  be
dominant. However, it should be noted that in
Denmark,  Spain,  Portugal,  Finland  and
Sweden,  non  client–specialised  enterprises
consistently  had  the  biggest  turnover  shares
in all size classes.
In  the  United  Kingdom,  the  largest  turnover
share  of  highly  client-specialised  enterprises
was  recorded  by  micro  enterprises,  about
54% (Table 2.24).

Labour and productivity

Employment in business services

According 
to  SBS  data,  approximately  4
million  persons  were  working  in  business
services  in  the  EU  countries13  for  which  data
was  available  in  2001.  About  40%  of  them
were  employed  in  the  United  Kingdom,  more
than  1.5  million  persons,  and  22%  in  France,
some  877 400  persons.  Spain  had  the  third
highest  number  of  persons  employed  for
business services, with 635 600 persons.

Employment  in  computer  services  (NACE
Division  72)  was  estimated,  in  2001,  to  be
around  1.6  million  of  the  population  in  the  9
Member  States  for  which  data  was  available.
total
represented  about  41%  of 
This 
in  business  services  (NACE
employment 
72&74*).  The  United  Kingdom 
alone
accounted  for  more  than  one  third  (35%)  of
the  total  employment  in  computer  services,
with  576 700  persons  in  2001,  ahead  of  Italy
(347 900  persons)  and  France 
(322 100
persons) – see Tables 2.25–26.

Other business activities (NACE Divisions 74*)
employed,  in  2001,  2.3  million  persons  in  the
EU  reporting  countries  (DK,  ES,  FR,  PT,  FI,
SE  and  UK),  or  59%  of  total  employment  in
business  services.  A  large  majority  of  them
worked 
the  United  Kingdom  (972 900
persons  employed),  France  (555 200)  and
Spain (470 100).

in 

located 

Despite the fact that, in absolute numbers, the
United  Kingdom  had  the  largest  number  of
persons employed in the bulk of the business
services,  approximately  76%  of  employment
in  hardware  consultancy  (NACE  Group  72.1)
was 
in  France  which  numbered
109 800 persons employed, while 40% of that
in  data  processing  (NACE  Group  72.3)  was
recorded in Italy (107 300 persons employed).
Employment in maintenance and repair office,
accounting  and  computing  machinery  (NACE
Group 72.5) was at similar level in the United
Kingdom, Spain, Italy and France.

13 DK, ES, FR, IT & AT (only NACE 72), PT, FI, SE
and UK.

36

                                                
Table 2.25

Business Services: Software and computer services (NACE Division 72) and

 Other Business Activities (NACE Division 74*)

Main Indicators, 2001

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

Employment (thousands)

K72+K74*

K72

K72.1

K72.2

K72.3

K72.4

K72.5

K72.6

K74*

K74.12

K74.13

K74.14

K74.2

K74.4

118

45

: c

36

4

2

1

2

73

19

5

14

35

: c

636

165

8

118

23

-

17

-

470

134

25

40

163

109

Personnel costs (EUR Million)

K72+K74*

K72

K72.1

K72.2

K72.3

K72.4

K72.5

K72.6

K74*

K74.12

K74.13

K74.14

K74.2

K74.4

5 276

2 309

: c

1 878

204

77

22

129

2 967

718

76

578

1 596

: c

13 301

4 906

240

3 764

602

-

300

-

8 396

2 207

425

1 045

2 544

2 175

877

322

110

140

50

7

15

:

555

118

25

96

214

103

44 219

17 388

6 110

7 956

2 405

314

603

:

26 831

5 240

994

5 589

10 554

4 454

348

348

4

173

107

4

16

43

:

:

:

:

:

:

8 526

8 526

97

5 231

1 974

112

303

810

:

:

:

:

:

:

39

39

0

26

11

0

2

0

:

:

:

:

:

:

1 534

1 534

2

1 040

414

13

61

4

:

:

:

:

:

:

95

17

1

10

3

0

1

1

77

29

:

15

21

11

1 745

443

39

282

67

3

16

36

1 302

323

:

397

396

187

FI

90

37

0

26

8

2

1

:

53

10

2

9

25

8

3 609

1 684

10

1 164

398

95

17

:

1 925

302

45

358

950

270

SE

UK

Total

228

1 550

97

2

82

8

1

2

1

131

21

3

30

53

24

12 235

5 841

77

5 046

459

73

107

78

6 393

1 040

120

1 658

2 524

1 053

577

18

325

54

12

17

151

973

226

50

247

348

101

65 618

28 070

578

18 147

3 275

412

642

5 015

37 548

8 705

1 071

9 153

13 152

5 469

3 980

1 647

144

936

268

29

71

199

2 333

557

110

451

859

355

156 062

70 699

7 153

44 508

9 797

1 100

2 070

6 072

85 363

18 534

2 730

18 776

31 715

13 608

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes K72.5+K72.6; ':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data; 
Total: sum of the available countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: bs1)

Table 2.26

Table 2.27

Employment share of activity in Business Services, 2001

Share of personnel costs by activity in Business Services, 2001

NACE

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

Total

NACE

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

Total

K72+K74*
  K72
    K72.1
    K72.2
    K72.3
    K72.4
    K72.5
    K72.6
  K74*
    K74.12+14
    K74.13
    K74.2
    K74.4

100
38.3
: c
30.6
3.4
1.6
0.6
2.1
61.7
27.8
4.2
29.6
: c

100
26.0
1.3
18.5
3.6
-
2.6
-
74.0
27.3
3.9
25.7
17.1

100
36.7
12.5
15.9
5.7
0.8
1.8
:
63.3
24.4
2.8
24.4
11.7

100
18.2
1.4
11.0
2.9
0.2
1.4
1.4
81.8
47.4
:
22.2
12.1

100
40.8
0.4
28.3
9.2
2.4
0.6
:
59.2
20.9
2.1
27.8
8.4

100
42.4
0.7
36.1
3.6
0.6
1.0
0.5
57.6
22.7
1.3
23.3
10.4

100
37.2
1.2
21.0
3.5
0.8
1.1
9.7
62.8
30.5
3.3
22.5
6.5

100
41.4
3.6
23.5
6.7
0.7
1.8
5.0
58.6
25.3
2.8
21.6
8.9

K72+K74*
  K72
    K72.1
    K72.2
    K72.3
    K72.4
    K72.5
    K72.6
  K74*
    K74.12+14
    K74.13
    K74.2
    K74.4

100
43.8
: c
35.6
3.9
1.5
0.4
2.4
56.2
24.6
1.4
30.3
: c

100
36.9
1.8
28.3
4.5
-
2.3
-
63.1
24.4
3.2
19.1
16.4

100
39.3
13.8
18.0
5.4
0.7
1.4
:
60.7
24.5
2.2
23.9
10.1

100
25.4
2.2
16.2
3.8
0.2
0.9
2.1
74.6
41.2
:
22.7
10.7

100
46.7
0.3
32.3
11.0
2.6
0.5
:
53.3
18.3
1.3
26.3
7.5

100
47.7
0.6
41.2
3.8
0.6
0.9
0.6
52.3
22.0
1.0
20.6
8.6

100
42.8
0.9
27.7
5.0
0.6
1.0
7.6
57.2
27.2
1.6
20.0
8.3

100
45.3
4.6
28.5
6.3
0.7
1.3
3.9
54.7
23.9
1.7
20.3
8.7

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes 
K72.5+K72.6; ':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data; Total: based on the sum 
of the available countries.

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes K72.5+K72.6; 
':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data; Total: based on the sum of the available 
countries.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

37

and 

Among  the  individual  activities  that  make  up
the  business  services’  sector  within  EU,  the
largest  employer  (as  with  value-added)  was
accounting,  book-keeping,  auditing  activities
(NACE  Class 
business
74.12) 
management  consultancy  activities  (NACE
Class  74.14),  which  alone  accounted 
for
approximately  one  quarter  of  employment  in
this sector.
The  second  largest  provider  of  employment
was  software  consultancy  and  supply  (NACE
Group 72.2), that accounted for about 23% of
employment (Table 2.26).

In particular, within individual countries, NACE
72.2  was  consistently  the  most  significant
contributor  to  computer  and  related  activities
(NACE  72)  employment;  Sweden  (36%  of
in  business  services),
total  employment 
Denmark (31%) and Finland (28%).
Whilst  the  largest  contributors  of  employment
to  professional  services  were  NACE  74.12
and NACE 74.14; this can be seen in Portugal
(47%  of 
in  business
services),  the  United  Kingdom  (almost  31%)
and  Spain  (27%).  In  France  about  214 000
persons, or almost 25% of total employment in
BS,  were 
architectural,
engineering  activities  and  related  technical
consultancy (NACE Group 74.2).

total  employment 

employed 

in 

Looking  at  Figure  2.24,  software  consultancy
and supply (NACE 72.2) had by far the largest
employment  share  in  computer  services  in  all
EU  countries  for  which  data  was  available.  It
also  contributed  not  less  than  60%  of  total
employment in computer services in 6 out of 9
EU  countries,  namely  Denmark,  Spain,
Austria, Portugal, Finland and Sweden.

Not  surprisingly  accounting,  book-keeping,
auditing  activities  (NACE  Class  74.12)  and
business  management  consultancy  activities
(NACE  Class  74.14)  were  also  the  largest
employer 
in  professional  services  (NACE
Division 74*) in Spain, Portugal and the United
Kingdom.  Architectural,  engineering  activities
and  related 
technical  consultancy  (NACE
Group  74.2)  employed  the  largest  number  in
Denmark  (34 800),  France  (214 000),  Finland
(25 100)  and  Sweden  (53 100),  –  see  Figure
2.25 and Table 2.25.

Figure 2.24
Employment 
(NACE Division 72), 2001 (%)

in  computer  and  related  activities

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK

K72.1

K72.2

K72.3

K72.4

K72.5

K72.6

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 2.25
Employment  in  other  business  activities  (NACE
Division 74*), 2001 (%)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

K74.12+14

K74.13

K74.2

K74.4

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Labour costs and productivity

Apparent labour productivity (value-added per
person  employed)  in  business  services  was
higher than in services as a whole.
Results  from  the  available  SBS  data  showed
the  EU14
that  each  person  employed 
generated,  on  average,  an  estimated  EUR
50 300 of value-added in business services in
2001,  some  EUR  10 400  more  than  the
average for services15 (NACE Sections G to K
except  J)  and  EUR  6 300  greater  than  the

in 

14 DK, ES, FR, IT & AT (only NACE 72), PT, FI, SE
and UK.
15 See chapter 1 – EU14 (EL data not available)

38

                                                
productivity 
economy12 (NACE Sections C to K except J).

the  whole  market

level  of 

This  figure  was  mainly  attributed  to  data
processing  (NACE  72.3)  and  business  and
management  consultancy  activities  (NACE
74.14). Indeed, on average, the productivity in
these activities was the largest in the EU as a
whole;  EUR  61 000  and  EUR  59 300
respectively (Table 2.28).

in 

Among  the  individual  activities,  the  greatest
the  United
productivity  was  generated 
Kingdom in 5 out of the 11 business services’
activities:  advertising  (NACE  74.4)  with  EUR
100 300, data processing (NACE 72.3 – EUR
96 700),  software  consultancy  and  supply
(NACE  72.2  –  EUR  78 200),  accounting,
book-keeping  and  auditing  activities  (NACE
74.12 – EUR 69 200) and maintenance, repair
computing
accounting 
of 
machinery (NACE 72.5 – EUR 62 600).

office, 

and 

than 

Compared  to  other  EU  countries,  France
reported  a  higher 
the  average
productivity  in  business  and  management
consultancy  activities  (NACE  74.14  –  EUR
89 500),  architectural,  engineering  activities
and related technical consultancy (NACE 74.2
– EUR 71 000), hardware consultancy (NACE
72.1 – EUR 69 400) and market research and
public  opinion  polling  (NACE  74.13  –  EUR
52 500).

in  database  activities
Labour  productivity 
(NACE 72.4) was significantly high in Italy with
EUR  58 800,  while  other  computer  related
activities  (NACE  72.6)  recorded  EUR  91 800
in
of  value-added  per  person  employed 
Austria in 2001.

the  EU, 

the  apparent 

Across 
labour
productivity  in  business  services  ranged  from
EUR 28 800 in Portugal, EUR 32 200 in Spain
up to EUR 63 500 in France and EUR 69 400
in the United Kingdom.

The  value-added  per  person  employed  in
maintenance,  repair  of  office,  accounting  and
computing  machinery 
(NACE  72.5)  and
market  research  and  public  opinion  polling
(NACE  74.13)  was  below  the  country  BS’
productivity  (average)  in  all  EU  countries  for
In  contrast,
which  data  was  available. 
consultancy
business  and  management 
activities’ 
(NACE  74.14)  productivity  was
above  that  of  BS  as  a  whole  in  all  observed
countries.
Data  processing  (NACE  72.3)  generated  the
largest productivity in Denmark (EUR 68 600),
Portugal (43 700) and Finland (EUR 74 200).
In  Spain,  software  consultancy  and  supply
(NACE  72.2)  produced  the  largest  value-
added per person employed with EUR 40 000.

Table 2.28

Productivity in Business Services (NACE Division 72&74*), 2001

NACE

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK Average

k721

k722

k723

k724

k725

k726

k7412

k7413

k7414

k742

k744

: c

37 361

69 445

44 712

40 000

33 836

45 427

46 711

66 135

47 953

58 654

39 992

70 297

53 067

52 876

34 863

49 128

62 980

78 191

55 561

68 588

31 345

66 502

36 983

67 978

43 658

74 220

62 917

96 663

60 984

33 558

-

44 048

58 777

51 572

19 186

43 564

53 729

56 676

45 139

46 058

26 078

46 435

41 058

28 717

17 590

46 512

49 105

62 635

40 465

59 319

-

:

29 863

91 753

33 013

:

57 966

50 994

53 818

54 747

27 083

60 284

17 315

22 728

52 467

57 419

39 143

89 482

60 040

36 149

70 992

: c

30 197

65 516

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

15 659

42 382

63 955

69 241

47 622

:

33 423

37 138

36 547

33 269

35 484

56 460

57 082

79 794

59 266

25 010

50 505

60 751

66 703

52 879

30 147

52 712

57 002 100 301

55 979

Average

50 633

32 231

63 547

44 077

55 483

28 845

49 433

55 394

69 444

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes K72.5+K72.6; 
':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

39

Average 
labour  costs  varied  considerably
between sectors and between countries within
business  services  (NACE  72&74*);  generally
between  EUR  20  900  and  EUR  52  400  per
employee, see Table 2.29.

Among the EU reporting countries, the lowest
personnel  costs  (as  for  the  productivity)  were
recorded  in  Portugal  in  accounting,  book-
keeping  and  auditing  activities  (NACE  74.12)
with  EUR  11 000  and 
the  biggest  were
recorded in Sweden with EUR 66 400 in other
computer related activities (NACE 72.6).
Average personnel costs in business services,
in  Sweden  and  France,  were  not  only  above
the  EU  average  for  each  sector  but  also  the
largest  labour  costs  per  employee.  The  only
exception  was  data  processing  (NACE  72.3)

Table 2.29

which  was  attributed  to  the  United  Kingdom.
Notably,  France  had  the  biggest  labour  costs
per  employee  in  activities  covered  by  NACE
(EUR
(EUR  55 700),  NACE  74.14 
72.1 
58 200)  and  NACE  74.2 
(EUR  49 300).
Sweden generally recorded the largest labour
costs  per  employee  within  business  services
in  market
varying  between  EUR  41 700 
research  and  public  opinion  polling  (NACE
74.13)  and  EUR  66 400  in  other  computer
related activities (NACE 72.6).

Unlikely,  Spain, 
Italy  and  Portugal  were
characterised  by  average  personnel  cost  per
employee  below  the  EU  average  in  all  BS
activities.

Labour costs per employee in Business Services (NACE Division 72&74*), 2001

NACE

DK

ES

FR

IT

AT

PT

FI

SE

UK Average

k721

k722

k723

k724

k725

k726

k7412

k7413

k7414

k742

k744

: c

29 576

55 655

22 531

28 571

29 390

29 878

50 921

31 863

34 798

52 201

31 976

56 936

30 173

40 565

27 157

45 521

61 421

55 844

44 644

50 646

26 193

48 319

18 391

38 978

24 594

48 126

56 156

60 352

41 306

40 041

-

42 427

30 576

28 092

18 023

43 610

55 327

34 791

36 611

30 014

17 955

39 052

19 156

32 582

11 901

32 558

49 059

38 460

30 082

52 750

-

:

18 641

38 144

26 662

:

66 441

33 253

39 315

37 563

16 521

44 542

15 290

17 045

39 872

42 376

26 313

58 187

45 840

15 590

49 312

: c

20 015

43 424

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

10 959

29 628

48 453

38 559

32 318

:

24 356

41 710

21 243

26 586

25 627

41 092

54 740

36 997

40 762

18 796

37 799

47 543

37 769

36 093

16 262

35 571

44 644

54 067

35 664

Average

40 747

22 354

47 773

23 244

34 489

20 937

36 814

52 401

40 291

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes K72.5+K72.6; 
':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

Combining the two indicators, apparent labour
productivity  and  average  personnel  costs,  the
resulting  wage  adjusted  labour  productivity
ratios in business services were relatively high
in  Italy  (190%  as  average)  and  in  the  United
Kingdom  (174%  as  average)  compared  to
other EU countries.

Spain  had  the  biggest  share  in  architectural,
engineering  activities  and  related  technical
consultancy (NACE 74.2), 232%.

labour  productivity  greater 

The  majority  of  countries  reported  wage
adjusted 
than
100% in 2001, with the exception of Sweden.
It was the only country where value-added did
not  cover  personnel  costs  in  4  sectors  of  BS:
hardware  consultancy  (NACE  72.1  –  92%),
database activities (NACE 72.4 – 97%), other
computer  related  activities  (NACE  72.6  –
87%) and market research and public opinion
polling (NACE 74.13 – 89%).

40

In  addition,  wage  adjusted  labour  productivity
was  below  the  EU  average  in  Denmark,

France  and  Sweden 
activities.

in  almost  all  BS’

Table 2.30

Simple wage adjusted labour productivity in Business Services, 2001 (%)

NACE

k721

k722

k723

k724

k725

k726

k7412

k7413

k7414

k742

k744

DK

: c

112

135

84

153

112

146

113

135

131

: c

ES

126

125

120

-

145

-

164

133

149

232

151

FR

125

123

138

104

119

:

135

132

154

144

151

IT

198

176

201

192

214

160

:

:

:

:

:

AT

140

130

174

184

88

241

:

:

:

:

:

Average

125

149

132

190

160

PT

115

128

178

106

148

124

143

:

138

133

185

140

FI

152

108

154

100

143

:

143

137

137

134

148

SE

92

103

112

97

100

87

132

89

104

128

128

UK Average

208

140

160

163

163

153

180

172

216

177

186

145

127

152

129

142

146

149

129

148

154

158

136

107

174

Notes: ES: NACE K72.3 includes K72.3+K72.4 and NACE K72.5 includes K72.5+K72.6; 
':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS (Collection: bus_serv; Table: BS1)

41

3. FOREIGN AFFILIATES STATISTICS

Background

For  several  years,  a  number  of  international
bodies  such  as 
the  WTO  (World  Trade
Organisation),  the  Organisation  for  Economic
Co-operation  and  Development  (OECD)  and
Eurostat  have  turned  their  attention  to  the
increasing  internationalisation  of  companies
(or globalisation) through the establishment of
foreign  affiliates,  notably 
the  services
sector.

in 

which 

transactions, 

In December 1993, the General Agreement on
Trade  in  Services  (GATS)  gave  a  strong
impetus  to  the  liberalisation  of  international
service 
includes
establishing  direct  affiliates  abroad.  For  a
variety of reasons, such as achieving benefits
from  geographic  diversification,  circumvent
trade  barriers,  increase  proximity  to  markets,
or  reduce  costs  of  labour,  transportation  or
other  inputs,  an  increasing  number  of  firms
have  expanded  their  operations  beyond  the
countries of their owners.
Foreign  Affiliates  Statistics 
(FATS)  were
developed  in  response  to  the  need  for  more
effective tools for measuring this phenomenon
and to monitor the performance of the foreign
affiliates  through  which  they  are  conducted.
These  statistics  measure 
the  activity  of
subsidiaries  of  foreign  (non-resident)  firms  on
domestic  territory  (inward)  as  well  as  that  of
subsidiaries  of  domestic  firms  located  abroad
(outward).

The objective of these statistics is to measure
the  structure  and  activity  of,  and  to  provide
indicators  for  the  presence  and  performance
of foreign-controlled enterprises.

When  data  on  the  activity  of  foreign  affiliates
was  first  collected,  the  focus  of  globalisation
issues  was  on 
the
commercial presence established to meet the
needs  of  the  consumer  abroad16.  In  the
has
meantime, 
the
resulted 

globalisation 
interest 

the  measurement  of 

increased 

increased 

in  an 

in 

16 See the Manual on Statistics in International Trade in
Services

statistics  on  the  economic  activity  of  foreign
affiliates  as  a  topic  in  its  own  right,  thus
extending  the  statistical  coverage  to  other
sectors  of  the  economy  beyond  services.
Indeed,  statistics  have  shown 
the
importance  of  foreign  affiliates  is  currently
higher in industries than in services.

that 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  concept  of  FATS
applies  to  all  sectors  of  the  economy  and
corresponds 
the
production and presence in the markets which
the  borders  of  national
extends  beyond 
economies.

to  an  organisation  of 

The statistics analysed in this section relate to
inward FATS. They take the perspective of the
affiliate and analyse the economic activities of
the foreign affiliates in the reporting economy.
As  foreign  affiliates  constitute  a  subset  of  all
enterprises in an economy, the way the FATS
data  presented  here  was  collected 
is  a
breakdown  of  SBS  by  the  country  where  the
enterprises  exercising  the  foreign  control  is
resident.

Foreign–controlled activities
in the economies

Inward  FATS  describe  the  overall  activity  of
enterprises  which  are  under  foreign  control.
Inward FATS collected by Eurostat have been
based  on  majority  ownership  (more  than
50%). This criterion represents the key role in
determining  the  subset  of  foreign  affiliates.
However  some  enterprises  may  have  more
than  one  owner,  each  with  a  share  of  the
enterprise  (joint  ventures  or  multiple  minority
ownership).  For  the  purpose  of  the  FATS
study it was decided to identify one, and only
one,  FATS  owner  to  each  enterprise  and  to
allocate 100% of all relevant economic values
of the enterprise to the controller.

It  should  be  noted  that  the  coincidence  of
several  non-residents 
the  same
country  does  not  lead  to  their  share  in  the
same  enterprise  being  merged  unless  they
are  known  to  act  together;  if  no  proof  of
concerted  action  can  be  found  they  are

living 

in 

42

                                                
as 

entities. 

separate 

Some
treated 
participating  Member  States  do  however
assign  control  to  a  country  where  the  total
ownership  of  all  entities 
that  country
exceeds 50%. Alternatively in cases where no
single  entity  owns  more 
the
enterprise  would  be  regarded  as  nationally
controlled  even  in  cases  where  100%  of
ownership is known to be in the hands of non-
residents.

than  50%, 

in 

The control over an enterprise is defined as the ability
to  determine  the  general  policy  of  an  enterprise  by
choosing  appropriate  directors, 
if  necessary.  An
enterprise  is  deemed  to  be  controlled  by  another
enterprise,  when  this  enterprise  controls  directly  or
indirectly  more  than  half  of  the  shareholders’  voting
power  or  more  than  half  of  the  shares  (majority-
ownership).  Foreign  control  shall  mean 
the
enterprise is resident in a different country from the one
where the enterprise on which it has control is resident.

that 

The  Tables  3.1  to  3.4  show  the  impact  of
the  services  and
foreign  affiliates  within 
business  services  sectors  in  seven  Member
foreign-controlled
States. 
general, 
In 
enterprises  accounted 
for  a  significant
turnover  and  value-added  share  and  a  less
important  share  in  the  number  of  enterprises.
Furthermore,  the  lowest  shares  of  foreign-
controlled enterprises in terms of turnover and
value-added  were  reported  in  the  United
Kingdom.

Although  the  share  of  foreign  affiliates  in
services was less than 1% of the total number
of enterprises in services in the majority of the
EU  countries  analysed  (except  Finland  and
Sweden), the turnover share exceed 10% in 6
Member  States.  The  biggest  turnover  and
foreign-controlled
value-added  shares  of 
enterprises 
in
Sweden in 2001 with respectively 25% of total
turnover and almost 19% of total value-added,
see Table 3.1.

in  services  were  recorded 

Measured  in  terms  of  turnover  and  value-
added,  the  highest  percentages  of  foreign-
controlled  enterprises  in  real  estate,  renting
and  business  activities  (NACE  Section  K)
were  recorded  in  France  (17.3%  of  total
total  value-added),
turnover  and  20%  of 
ahead of Sweden and Finland.

Table 3.1

Contribution of foreign-controlled enterprises
to services, (%)

Number of 
enterprises

Turnover

Value-added

DK

ES
FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

0.4

0.4
0.9

0.2

1.1

1.5

0.8

10.0

12.7
17.4

14.6

18.9

25.0

5.8

7.0

7.6
14.6

13.9

14.3

18.9

3.5

2001: FR, PT, FI and SE; 1999: DK, ES and UK.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Table 3.2

Contribution of foreign-controlled enterprises 
to renting & business activities (NACE K), (%)

Number of 
enterprises

Turnover

Value-added

DK

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE
UK

0.3

0.4

1.0

0.4

1.0

1.3
0.8

6.5

5.7

17.3

8.8

13.7

16.5
1.6

5.5

6.4

20.0

11.8

12.9

15.8
1.3

2001: FR, PT, FI and SE; 1999: DK, ES and UK.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

of 

contribution 

The 
foreign-controlled
enterprises  was  more  significant  in  computer
services  (NACE  Division  72)  than  in  other
business  services  (NACE  Division  74).  The
share of foreign affiliates in computer services
was  over  2%  in  France  (2.1%)  and  Finland
(2.9%),  whilst  the  turnover  share  exceeded
15%  in  the  majority  of  the  EU  countries  and
the  value-added  ranged  between  29.7%  in
Sweden  and  19,2  %  in  Finland  (except  the
United  Kingdom,  with  1.3%  of  total  value-
added)  see Table 3.3.

43

Turnover

Value-added

ES

FR

PT

FI

SE

UK

EXTRA–EU

INTRA–EU

Table 3.3

Contribution of foreign-controlled enterprises
 to computer services (NACE 72), (%)

Number of 
enterprises

Turnover

Value-added

0.7

2.1

2.9

1.9

0.5

19.7

22.0

19.9

28.6

1.5

21.5

19.8

19.2

29.7

1.3

DK

FR

FI

SE

UK

2001: FR, FI and SE; 1999: DK and UK; ':' : data n.a.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Table 3.4

Contribution of foreign-controlled enterprises
 to other business services (NACE 74), (%)

Number of 
enterprises

0.2

0.3

1.1

0.8

1.0

0.9

DK

ES

FR

FI

SE

UK

5.3

8.0

18.8

: c

17.4

1.3

3.3

7.1

23.0

: c

16.3

1.0

2001: FR, FI and SE; 1999: DK, ES and UK;': c': confidential data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

The  share  of  value-added,  generated  by
foreign-controlled  enterprises 
in  activities
covered by NACE Division 74, varied between
7%  in  Spain  and  23%  in  France.  The  lowest
value-added  shares  were  in  Denmark  (3.3%)
and in the United Kingdom (1%).
The biggest shares of foreign affiliates in other
business  services  were  recorded  in  France
with  1.1%  of  total  number  of  enterprises,
18.8% of total turnover and 23% of total value-
added (see Table 3.4).

Breakdown of foreign
controller

Figure 3.1
Breakdown  of  value  added  by  foreign–controlled
enterprises in business activities
(NACE Section K) - (%)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2001: FR, PT, FI and SE; 1999: ES and UK.
Source: Eurostat, SBS

in  business  activities 

Figure  3.1  shows  the  breakdown  of  foreign-
(NACE  K)
control 
between  intra  and  extra-EU  partners.  The
biggest share of intra-EU control was found in
Spain  (87%),  followed  by  Portugal  (79%)  and
control
Finland 
accounted for the largest share of total foreign
control  in  the  United  Kingdom  (73%)  and
France (55%).

(60%).  The 

extra-EU 

This  breakdown  of  intra  and  extra-EU  control
was  different  when  the  individual  activities
(NACE 72 & 74) were analysed (Figures 3.2 &
3.3). In particular, extra-EU control was higher
in  computer  services  in  the  majority  of  the
Member  States  for  which  data  was  available,
except in France.
Whilst  for  other  business  activities,  France
and  the  United  Kingdom  were  the  countries
with  the  biggest  share  of  extra-EU  control,
Spain  had  the  highest  share  of  intra-EU
control (80%).

It  was  interesting  to  note  that  the  extra-EU
control in the United Kingdom was higher in all
sectors,  business  activities  (73%),  computer
services  (77%)  and  other  business  activities
(71%).

44

Figure 3.2
Breakdown  of  value  added  by  foreign–controlled
enterprises in computer services
(NACE Division 72) - (%)

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

FR

EXTRA–EU

SE

UK

INTRA–EU

1999: DK and UK; 2001: FR and SE.
Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 3.3
Breakdown  of  value  added  by  foreign–controlled
enterprises in other business services
(NACE Division 74) - (%)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

ES

FR

UK

EXTRA–EU

INTRA–EU

1999: ES and UK; 2001: FR.
Source: Eurostat, SBS

Main controlling countries

in 

in  services 

The  ultimate  controller  of  foreign-controlled
four
enterprises  operating 
observed  Member  States  (Spain,  France,
Sweden and the United Kingdom) comes from
the  United  States,  the  United  Kingdom,  the
Netherlands  and  Germany.  The  ranking  was
also  characterised  by  countries  neighbouring
where  the  enterprises  were  located;  thus,
Sweden  and  France  were  respectively  the

important  partners 

for  Finland  and

most 
Spain.

For business activities, the United States was
the  top  foreign  controller  in  most  of  the  EU
countries for which data was available, almost
always ahead of the most significant bordering
country,  The  only  exception  was  to  be  found
in Finland where in 2001, Swedish companies
were 
the
activities  covered  by  NACE  Section  K  (see
Table 3.5).

the  biggest  controllers  within 

Enterprises  from  the  United  States  were  by
far,  in  terms  of  value-added,  the  biggest
foreign  controllers 
in  computer  services
(NACE  72),  occupying  the  first  place  in  4
Member  States  (Denmark,  France,  Sweden
and 
third
position  in  Finland,  –  see  Table  3.6.  The
value-added  share  of  American  companies
ranged  between  20.1%  in  Finland  and  62.4%
in Denmark.

the  United  Kingdom)  and 

the 

The  share  of  Japanese  and  American
enterprises  in  computer  services  was  also
significant in Finland where they accounted for
almost  50%  of  total  value-added.  Whilst  in
Portugal,  French  enterprises  generated  30%
of  total  value–added  produced  by  foreign
controllers in 2001.
Additionally, more than four-fifths of the value-
foreign-controlled
by 
added 
enterprises 
services  was
computer 
generated by the top five controlling countries
(from  87.7%  in  Sweden  to  almost  100%  in
Denmark).

generated 
in 

Looking  at  Table  3.7,  the  top  ranking  foreign
controller  in  other  business  services  (NACE
74)  was  shared  by  the  enterprises  from  the
Netherlands,  the  United  Kingdom  and  the
United States.
Swiss companies were also relevant in France
in  2001  where  they  accounted  for  28.5%  of
total  value-added  generated  by 
foreign
affiliates.
The  top  five  foreign  controllers,  moreover,
generated  at  least  three–quarters  of  total
value-added  in  other  business  services  in  all
observed EU countries.

45

Table 3.5

Top five controlling countries based on the value-added

Denmark

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

Sweden

Germany

United States

: c

: c

Germany

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

s
e
c
i
v
r
e
S

s
s
e
n
i
s
u
B

s
e
i
t
i
v
i
t
c
A

r
e
t
u
p
m
o
C

s
e
c
i
v
r
e
S

s
s
e
n
i
s
u
B
r
e
h
t
O

s
e
i
t
i
v
i
t
c
A

France

Portugal

Spain

France

United States

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Netherlands

Switzerland

Germany

Germany

: c

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

United States

Netherlands

Switzerland

Finland

Sweden

: c

: c

: c

: c

Sweden

United Kingdom

: c

United States

United Kingdom

Japan

: c

Germany

Denmark

: c

Netherlands

: c

Sweden

United States

United States

United States

United Kingdom

Netherlands

France

Netherlands

France

Denmark

Denmark

United Kingdom

United States

United Kingdom

: c

Netherlands

Netherlands

France

Germany

Germany

:

:

:

:

:

Spain

: c

United States

United Kingdom

France

Netherlands

Germany

Luxembourg

United Kingdom

: c

Netherlands

Switzerland

Netherlands

United States

Netherlands

France

Germany

United Kingdom

Belgium

: c

: c

: c

France

United States

United States

United Kingdom

: c

Japan

France

: c

France

Netherlands

Ireland

United States

France

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Norway

France

: c

Switzerland

Japan

: c

Sweden

Germany

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

United States

: c

Netherlands

Finland

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data
2001: FR, PT, FI and SE; 1999: DK, ES and UK.
Source: Eurostat, SBS

Table 3.6

Top five controlling countries in computer services (NACE 72) - % of value–added

Denmark

France

Portugal

Finland

Sweden

1

2

3

4

5

United States

62.4%

: c

: c

Germany

6.7%

: c

United States

33.1% United Kingdom 15.6% Netherlands

14.6% Germany

13.8% Luxembourg

6.5%

: c

: c

France

Sweden

30.3%

: c

: c

: c

28.2% United States

20.1% Netherlands

10.1% Germany

5.1%

c :

Sum of 
top 5

99.9%

83.5%

97.1%

United States

44.2% United Kingdom 13.0%

: c

Finland

12.2%

: c

87.7%

United Kingdom

United States

48.9%

: c

France

6.0% Netherlands

4.8% Ireland

4.5%

: c

':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data
2001: FR, PT, FI and SE; 1999: DK and UK; ES: data not available
Source: Eurostat, SBS

Table 3.7
Top five controlling countries in other business services (NACE 74)  - % of value–added

Denmark

Spain

France

Portugal

Finland

Sweden

1

: c

2

: c

3

: c

4

: c

5

: c

United Kingdom 24.4% Netherlands

21.1% United States

18.7% France

15.3% Germany

: c

: c

: c

: c

Switzeland

28.5% Netherlands

18.0% United Kingdom 5.5% Belgium

Netherlands

15.7%

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

: c

United Kingdom 12.1% Norway

7.7% France

United Kingdom

United States

38.7% France

8.6% Netherlands

8.1%

: c

Switzerland

Sum of 
top 5

85.9%

87.0%

88.3%

77.0%

87.2%

78.1%

: c

7.4%

3.0%

7.2%

4.5%

':' : data not available; ': c' : confidential data
2001: FR, PT and SE; 1999: DK, ES and UK.
Source: Eurostat, SBS

46

 
 
 
 
4. BUSINESS DEMOGRAPHY

Background

The  user  needs 
for  data  on  business
demography  stem  from  policy  intended  to
facilitate  entrepreneurship.  This  aim 
is
accomplished  in  two  ways;  by  developing
conditions  that  facilitate  the  creation  of  new
companies and enhancing the possibilities for
growth of the existing companies
.
It  is  believe  that  newly  born  enterprises  are
more  likely  to  succeed  and  would  contribute
towards improving productivity and expanding
the  number  of  jobs.  As  a  result,  enterprise
creation  policies  are  increasingly  focused  on
the creation of economic conditions that foster
entrepreneurship  and  innovation,  particularly
in  high  technology  and  knowledge-intensive
industries.

The  Council  of  Lisbon  in  2000,  set  the
strategic  and  ambitious  goal  of  transforming
the European Union into “the most competitive
and  dynamic  knowledge-based  economy  in
the world”.
Business  demography  indicators,  therefore,
are  included  in  the  list  of  structural  indicators
used  to  assess  the  progress  being  made
towards fulfilling the Lisbon objectives.
The  term  ‘business  demography’  covers  a
range  of  indicators  that  describe  the  dynamic
aspects of the business population. Enterprise
demography  is  principally  the  assessment  of
enterprise  births,  deaths  and  survival  rates,
which  together  contribute  to  the  number  of
active  enterprises  in  each  economy,  country
and  activity.  In  other  words,  demography
indicators measure the existing stock of active
enterprises  and  the  transformation  of  each
cohort of newly born enterprises.

interest 

to  high  user 

As  a  response 
in
business  demography  statistics,  the  national
statistical institutes of Member States, Norway
and  Switzerland  together  with  Eurostat  have
invested  greatly  during  the  last  few  years  in
the  development  of  more  comprehensive  and
comparable  European  statistics  on  business
demography.

Business demography
Business  demography  covers  events,  like  births  and
other creations of units, deaths and other cessations of
units, and their ratio to the business population. It covers
the  follow-up  of  units  using  the  time  dimension,  thus
gaining  information  on  their  survival  or  discontinuity.  It
time  dimension
also  covers  development 
according 
thus
like  size, 
gaining information on the growth of units, or a cohort of
units, by type of activity.

the 
to  certain  characteristics 

in 

Demographic information can, in principle, be produced
by any statistical unit; however, enterprise demography
is of clear political interest in Europe. The demography
of  enterprises  can  be  assessed  by  studying  enterprise
births  and  enterprise  deaths  and  by  examining  the
change in the number of enterprises by type of activity,
i.e. by examining the flows and stocks to get a complete
picture of enterprise dynamism17.

Newly born enterprises

factor 

is  an
in  economic  growth  and

The  creation  of  new  enterprises 
important 
competitiveness in a modern economy.
Business creation depends on several factors.
The expectation of profit making is one of the
main  reasons  of  the  birth  of  an  enterprise.
Enterprise  births,  therefore,  are  most  likely  to
occur in activities where profits are consistent
and high, whilst deaths will be relatively more
frequent in consistently loss making activities.

From  a  rational,  economic  standpoint,  newly
born  enterprises  are  likely  to  be  created  in
activities  which  have  a  relatively  high  degree
of domestic demand, where close proximity to
consumers is a competitive advantage, where
niche  markets  exist  at  local  or  regional  levels
and  where  a 
level  of
relatively 
concentration  exists.  These  characteristics
may  be  described  as  market-pull  factors  and
they  tend  to  be  more  prevalent  within  service
sectors  of  the  economy.  This  may  be  even
more pertinent where there are low barriers to
entry  in  terms  of  capital  investments,  skills  or

low 

17 Business Demography Recommendations Manual.

47

                                                
special market knowledge. Entrepreneurs may
also  be  pushed  to  start  their  own  businesses
when,  for  example,  there  are  little  or  no
alternative employment opportunities, or when

Table 4.1

Number of enterprise births (unit), 2001

business grants and loans exist to help people
start a new business.

Economic Activities

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

PT(1)

FI

SE

UK(2)

Market economy

24 275

241 270

294 866

2 805

52 053

18 198

16 902

34 326

154 630

Industry

Services

4 554

63 401

78 779

236

11 704

5 069

4 748

6 581

30 930

19 721

177 869

216 087

  Business activities

10 613

61 375

94 534

     Computer services

     Other business services

2635

5987

4 674

11 996

38 299

69 110

2 569

1 126

189

599

40 349

13 129

12 154

27 745

123 700

20 031

3 926

13 613

4 207

379

2 498

5 673

16 531

61 270

903

2 710

17 535

3 583

11 241

36 135

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except K74.15; Industry: NACE Sections C to F; Services: NACE Sections G to K except K74.15;
Business Activities: NACE Section K except K74.15; Computer services: NACE 72; Other business services: NACE 74 except K74.15; 
(1): sole proprietors not covered; (2): UK: 2000 data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

The  importance  of  the  services  sector  in
enterprise  creation  is  clearly  displayed  in
Table  4.1.  The  highest  shares  of  newly  born
enterprises  were  recorded  within  the  services
sector,  varying  between  72% 
in  Finland
(12 154 units) and 92% in Luxembourg (2 569
units).  On  the  other  hand,  the  number  of
newly  born  enterprises  was  consistently  the
lowest 
industry  and  construction,
especially in Luxembourg (less than 10%).

the 

in 

Business  activities  (referred  to  hereafter  as
NACE Section K except K74.15) and business
services  (NACE  72  –  computer  services  and
NACE  74  –  other  business  services,  K74.15
excluded) 
a
significant  proportion  of  enterprise  births  in
2001, in all EU countries.

consequently 

represented 

to 

Enterprise  births18  are  defined  as  ‘a  count  of  the
number  of  births  of  enterprises  registered 
the
population concerned in the business register corrected
for  errors.  A  birth  amounts  to  the  creation  of  a
combination of production factors with the restriction that
no other enterprises are involved in the event. Births do
not  include  entries  into  the  population  due  to  mergers,
restructuring  of  a  set  of
break-ups,  split-off  or 
enterprises.  It  does  not  include  entries  into  a  sub-
population resulting only from a change of activity’.

Looking  at  Figure  4.1,  Sweden  and  Denmark
reported  the  highest  concentration  of  newly
born  enterprises  in  business  activities  where
they  accounted  for  48%  and  44%  of  total
enterprise  births  in  the  market  economy.  On
average,  one  out  of  every  3  newly  born
enterprises  in  2001  in  the  market  economy
was  found  to  be  operating  in  the  business
activities sector.

Figure 4.1
Enterprise births in business activities – % of market
economy, 2001

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

PT(1)

FI

SE

UK(2)

EU(3)

Business activities

Computer services

Other business services

Notes:  Business  Activities:  NACE  Section  K  except  K74.15;
Computer  services:  NACE  72;  Other  business  services:  NACE
74  except  K74.15;  (1):  sole  proprietors  not  covered;  (2)  UK:
2000 data; (3): DK, ES, IT, LU, NL, FI and SE data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

regard 

the
With 
proportion  of  enterprise  births  in  activities

to  business  services, 

18 Business Demography Glossary.

19 Business Demography Glossary.

48

                                                
                                                
particular,  the  highest  share  was  recorded  in
Sweden - 33% of total newly born enterprises
i.e.  more  than  11 200  units.  Whilst  the  share
of  enterprise  births  in  computer  services  was
over  10%  in  only  Denmark  and  the  United
Kingdom.

Birth rate
Measures  the  proportion  of  newly  born  enterprises  in
relation to the population of active enterprises.

interest 

in  a  given  activity  by
The 
entrepreneurs is shown in Table 4.2. The birth
rate as the share of active enterprises was, on
average,  more  than  8%  of  the  stock  of  active
enterprises  in  the  EU  market  economy  in
2001.  Luxembourg  and 
the  Netherlands
recorded  the  highest  birth  rates,  12.2%  and
9.6%  respectively,  while  Sweden  and  Finland
reported the lowest shares (6.6% and 7.2%).
In contrast, the average birth rate in business
activities  in  2001,  in  the  European  countries
for  which  data  was  available,  was  10.8%  of
total active enterprises, 2.5 percentage points
more  than  the  average  birth  rate  within  the
market economy.

to 

Looking at the business services break-down,
the  highest  birth  rates  were  recorded  within
computer  services,  whilst  the  lowest  rates
were  to  be  found  in  activities  covered  by
NACE  74  (other  business  services).  This
could  be  partly 
the  greater
linked 
technology element involved as well as to the
innovation  activity 
in  computer  services.
the  proportion  of  newly  born
Moreover, 
enterprises  in  computer  services  in  2001
represented  more  than  15%  of  the  total
number of active enterprises in 6 out of 9 EU
observed countries. The largest birth rate was
recorded  in  Luxembourg  (22.4%)  ahead  of
Denmark 
the  Netherlands
(19.5%). In contrast, the enterprise birth rates
in  other  business  services  in  2001  varied
between  9.1%  in  Sweden  and  14.7%  in
Luxembourg.

(21.3%)  and 

The lowest birth rates were generally recorded
in  Sweden  whilst  the  biggest  rates  in  all
economic  sectors  analysed  were  found  in
Luxembourg.

Table 4.2

Enterprise birth rates, 2001

Market 
economy

Business 
activities

Computer 
services

Other 
business 
services

9.3

9.1

7.7

12.2

9.6

7.5

7.2

6.6

8.9

8.3

11.7

11.4

10.7

15.7

13.1

10.4

8.9

8.0

10.3

10.8

21.3

18.5

13.9

22.4

19.5

15.9

15.2

10.3

12.1

15.3

13.0

10.3

11.0

14.7

12.7

10.1

9.5

9.1

10.2

10.8

Denmark

Spain

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands
Portugal(1)

Finland

Sweden
United Kingdom(2)
EU(3)

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except K74.15; Business 
Activities: NACE Section K except K74.15; Computer services: NACE 72;  
Other business services: NACE 74 except K74.15; (1): sole proprietors not 
covered; (2) UK: 2000 data; (3): DK, ES, IT, LU, NL, FI and SE data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 4.2
Difference between birth rates for business services
and birth rates for business activities (%), 2001

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

PT(1)

FI

SE

UK(2)

EU(3)

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

Com p uter s ervices

Other busines s  s e rvices

Notes: (1): sole proprietors not covered; (2) UK: 2000 data; (3):
DK, ES, IT, LU, NL, FI and SE data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Additionally, the difference between enterprise
birth  rates  for  computer  services  (NACE  72)
and  birth  rates  for  business  activities  (NACE
Section K) was bigger than 25% in most of the
EU  countries  for  which  data  was  available,
ranging  from  28%  in  Sweden  up  to  82%  in
Denmark  (see  Figure  4.2).  This  trend  means
in
that  birth  rates 

in  2001  were  higher 

49

than  within  business
computer  services 
activities.  Whilst 
the  birth  rates  of  other
business  services  (NACE  74  except  74.15)
compared 
those  of  business  activities
(NACE  Section  K)  varied  among  the  Member
States.
The  discrepancy  was  of  roughly  +/-  15%;  in
particular  it  was  negative  in  Spain  (-10%),

to 

Luxembourg (-6.7%), the Netherlands (-3.7%),
Portugal  (-2.8%)  and  the  United  Kingdom  (-
1.5%).  We  may  infer  that  the  country  specific
factors  were  an  important  and  determining
element  of  newly  born  enterprises  within
activities covered by NACE 74.

Table 4.3

Proportion of enterprise births broken-down by size-class (%), 2001

Economic Activities

Market economy

Business activities

Computer services

Other business services

Size-
class*

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

0

1–4

5–9

10–19
20+

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

DK

ES

IT

81.6

16.2

1.4

0.6

0.1

87.1

11.4

0.9

0.5
0.1

85.0

13.0

1.1

0.8

0.2

87.9

10.7

0.9

0.5

70.2

24.0

4.0

1.5

0.3

78.7

18.2

2.1

0.8
0.1

76.7

18.7

3.2

1.0

0.3

81.5

15.2

2.1

1.1

90.1

8.3

1.1

0.4

0.1

95.0

4.2

0.5

0.2
0.1

91.7

7.1

0.8

0.4

0.1

95.2

3.8

0.5

0.2

LU

62.1

32.7

3.4

1.4

0.5

73.0

24.0

2.0

0.6
0.4

58.2

:

:

:

:

74.0

22.7

2.0

0.7

NL

PT(1)

FI

SE

UK(2)

EU(3)

62.8

32.0

2.5

2.3

0.4

64.4

31.0

2.4

1.8
0.4

66.4

29.9

2.0

1.4

0.3

65.5

29.6

2.5

1.9

1.9

78.4

12.9

4.9

1.8

4.5

86.3

5.7

2.4
1.0

1.3

85.8

9.2

2.6

1.1

4.8

84.4

6.4

3.0

88.2

11.0

0.6

0.2

0.0

90.3

9.0

0.5

0.2
0.0

88.8

9.7

1.0

0.4

:

90.6

8.8

0.4

0.2

82.0

16.1

1.4

0.3

0.2

84.2

14.1

1.2

0.3
0.1

79.7

17.5

2.3

0.4

0.1

85.7

12.9

0.9

0.3

28.0

63.4

6.0

2.2

0.4

21.2

72.2

4.5

1.7
0.4

10.2

83.8

4.1

1.7

0.2

26.0

67.3

4.5

1.6

79.9

16.7

2.3

0.9

0.2

85.8

12.2

1.2

0.6
0.1

83.2

:

:

:

0.2

87.4

10.6

1.2

0.6

0.2
Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except K74.15; Business Activities: NACE Section K except K74.15; Computer services: NACE K72; Other 
business services: NACE 74 except K74.15;  *: number of employees;
(1): sole proprietors not covered; (2) UK: 2000 data; (3): DK, ES, IT, LU, NL, FI and SE data.

20+

0.1

0.7

0.1

0.2

0.1

0.5

1.4

0.1

0.6

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Size-class break-down

The  break-down  by  employee  size-class
reported in Table 4.3, shows that the majority
of  the  newly  born  enterprises  in  2001  were
created  with  no  employees.  Only  in  Portugal
and  in  the  United  Kingdom  (2000  data)  the
biggest  share  was  recorded  within  the  class
1–4.  The  trend  seen  in  this  figure  may  reflect
the  entrepreneurs’  attempts  to  control  their
costs by limiting labour to a minimum.

In  all  countries  for  which  data  was  available,
more  than  90%  of  newly  born  enterprises  in
business services (NACE 72 & 74) accounted
for less than 5 employees.

In 2001, on average20, four fifths of newly born
enterprises 
in  computer  services  had  no
employees. In the Netherlands, the size class
with 1 to 4 employees was significant (almost
30% of total enterprise births).
The  share  of  enterprise  births  with  no
employees  in  activities  covered  by  NACE  74
was  equal  or  bigger  than  that  in  computer
the
services, 
Netherlands  to  95.2%  in  Italy.  Around  a
quarter  of  all  new  enterprises  were  created
with  1  to  4  employees  in  Luxembourg  and  in
the  Netherlands;  whilst  the  1-4  size  class
represented the highest share in Portugal and
the United Kingdom (2000 data).

from  65.5% 

ranging 

in 

20 See Table 4.3 EU aggregate.

50

                                                
Legal form break-down

Sole proprietors: enterprises that are personally owned
with no limit to personal responsibility.
Limited liability companies: private or publicly quoted
joint  stock  companies  with  limited  liability  for  those
owning shares.
Partnerships  and  other  legal  forms:  include  both
unlimited  and  limited  liability  partnerships  owned  by
more  than  one  natural  person  as  well  as  co-operatives
and associations.

This  detailed  data  is  part  of  the  second
harmonised  data  collection  on  Business
Demography  and  it  refers  to  several  types  of
legal  forms  to  be  chosen  when  setting-up  an
enterprise.

Data  for  EU  aggregate  based  on  7  countries
shows  that  almost  65%  of  all  newly  born
enterprises  in  the  market  economy  were  sole
proprietors,  25%  were 
liability
enterprises 
10%  were
partnerships and other legal forms, see Figure
4.3.  The  opposite  may  be  seen 
in
Luxembourg,  where  three  quarters  of  newly
born  enterprises  in  2001  were  set  up  with  a
limited liability form.

around 

limited 

and 

Figure 4.3
Share  of  enterprise  births 
broken-down by legal forms, 2001
(NACE C to K except K74.15)

in  market  economy

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

PT(1)

FI

SE

EU(2)

Limited liability companies

Partnerships & other legal forms

Sole proprietors

Notes: (1): sole proprietors not covered; (2): DK, ES, IT, LU, NL,
FI and SE data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

limited 
outnumbered 
except in Luxembourg.

liability  companies,

in 

Italy,  whilst 

Looking at Figure 4.4, the share of newly born
in  computer
sole  proprietor  enterprises 
services  was  bigger  than  60%  in  Denmark
and 
the  Netherlands  and
Finland  this  percentage  was  about  50%.  In
Spain,  however,  the  proportion  of  newly  born
limited  liability  companies  (45%)  was  close  to
that  of  sole  proprietors  (49%).  In  contrast  to
the  other  EU  countries,  in  Luxembourg  more
than  80%  of  new  enterprises  in  computer
services were limited liability companies.

Figure 4.4
Share  of  enterprise  births  in  computer  services
broken-down by legal forms, 2001
(NACE 72)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

PT(1)

FI

Limited liability companies

Partnerships & other legal forms

Sole proprietors

Notes: (1): sole proprietors not covered.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 4.5
Share of enterprise births in other business services
broken-down by legal forms, 2001
(NACE 74 except K74.15)
100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

PT(1)

FI

SE

EU(2)

A similar distribution was also observed within
the business services sector (NACE 72 & 74)
i.e.  newly  created  sole  proprietor  entities

Limited liability companies

Partnerships & other legal forms

Sole proprietors

Notes: (1): sole proprietors not covered; (2): DK, ES, IT, LU, NL,
FI and SE data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

51

When  considering  enterprise  births  within
other  business  services  (see  Figure  4.5),  the
most  common  legal  form  in  2001  was  sole
proprietor  which  accounted  for  between  56%
in  the  Netherlands  and  80%  in  Italy.  In
Luxembourg,  this  legal  form  represented  one
third  of  the  new  enterprises.  The  highest
proportions  of  limited  liability  enterprises  in
(K74.15
activities  covered  by  NACE  74 
excluded) were found in Luxembourg (65%).

Employment

is  an 

Enterprise  creation 
indicator  of
competitiveness,  economic  growth  as  well  as
of  job  creation.  Employment  and  its  effect  on
the  economy  is  therefore  one  of  the  most
important 
enterprise
demography analysed by policy makers.

elements 

the 

of 

Looking  at  the  distribution  of  employment
across  the  economic  activities  covered  by
NACE K in all reporting countries (Table 4.4),
it is noticeable that the employment created in
the  business
in 
newly  born  enterprises 
represented  a  significant  share
activities 
compared 
the  market
that  created 
to 
economy  as  a  whole  (NACE  Section  C  to  K
except K74.15). Indeed, the employment from
newly  born  enterprises  in  business  activities,
as a percentage of total employment in newly
born  enterprises  in  the  market  economy,
ranged from a high of 44.5% in Sweden down
to 17.4% in Portugal.

in 

jobs  created 

Analogous  to  the  distribution  of  newly  born
enterprises  in  business  services  in  2001,  the
majority  of 
in  newly  born
enterprises was within other business services
(NACE  74  except  K74.15).  The  proportion  of
the  persons  employed  in  this  sector  of  total
employment  in  newly  born  enterprises  in  the
market  economy,  was  over  18% 
in  all
observed  EU  countries,  except  for  Portugal
and  Spain  where  it  accounted  for  roughly
12%.
Employment  in  computer  services  (NACE  72)
did  not  exceed  10%  of  total  employment
within  newly  born  enterprises  in  the  market

economy  in  all  EU  countries  for  which  data
was available.

Table 4.4
Share of employment among newly born enterprises 
in business activities – % of market economy, 2001

Business 
activities

Computer 
services

Other 
business 
services

36.4

18.8

27.7

34.1

34.6

17.4

28.9

44.5

25.6

10.4

1.7

3.7

5.9

6.4

1.5

5.3

8.6

3.5

21.0

12.7

20.6

22.6

24.7

11.9

18.0

30.6

18.1

Denmark

Spain

Italy

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Portugal (1)

Finland

Sweden

EU(2)

Notes: Business Activities: NACE Section K except K74.15; Computer 
services: NACE K72; Other business services: NACE 74 except 
K74.15; (1): proprietors not covered; (2): DK, ES, IT, LU, NL, FI and 
SE.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

In  2001,  furthermore,  the  highest  shares  of
employment  in  newly  born  enterprises  in
business  services  were  recorded  in  Sweden
(39%) and Denmark (31%).

The  proportion  of  people  employed 
in
business  services,  on  the  other  hand,  was
above  one  third  of  total  employment  of  newly
born  enterprises  within  services 
(NACE
Section K) in 6 out of 8 EU countries. Notably
in  Sweden  and  the  Netherlands,  this  share
reached  49%  and  39%  respectively  (see
Figure 4.6).

The  contribution  of  newly  born  enterprises  to
employment  was  generally  bigger  in  other
business services than computer services. As
displayed  in  Figure  4.6,  employment  in  other
business  services  varied  between  21%  in
Spain and 38% in Sweden.

52

Figure 4.6
Share of the employment of newly born enterprises in business services - % of services, 2001

t

e
g
a
n
e
c
r
e
P

40

30

20

10

0

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

PT(1)

FI

SE

EU(2)

NACE 72

NACE 74

Notes: (1): sole proprietors not covered; (2): DK, ES, IT, LU, NL, FI and SE data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Surviving enterprises

An  important  factor  that  influences  the  life
cycle  of  newly  born  enterprises  is  likely  to  be
the  profile  (socio-economic  characteristics)  of
the  entrepreneur(s)  responsible  for  starting
the  business.  Other  factors  that  may  play  a
role  in  influencing  the  survival  chances  of
newly  born  enterprises  are  the  timing  of
starting  the  new  business,  social,  fiscal  and
labour  market 
legislation,  as  well  as
administrative  burdens.  The  competitive
environment of the economic sector chosen to
launch 
the  new  enterprise  may  also  be
important,  as  there  is  a  correlation  between
high  birth  rates,  low  survival  rates  and  high
death rates in specific economic activities.

It should be considered that a low survival rate
does  not  necessarily  have  only  a  negative
effect on the competitiveness of an economy:
newly  born  enterprises  may  cause  active
enterprises to increase their efficiency or they
may  drive  down  prices,  even  if  they  fail  to
survive.  On  the  other  hand,  innovative  or
technological  advances  made  by  newly  born
enterprises that fail to survive could be taken-

up  or  built  upon  at  a  later  date  by  other
enterprises within the same economic activity,
thus possibly increasing competitiveness.

Within  the  Business  Demography  context,  survival
occurs if an enterprise is active in terms of employment
and/or  turnover  in  the  year  of  birth  and  the  following
year(s).
Two types of survival can be distinguished:
1) An enterprise born in year xx is considered to have
survived  in  year  xx+1  if  it  is  active  in  terms  of
turnover  and/or  employment  in  any  part  of  year
xx+1 (= survival without changes).

2) An enterprise is also considered to have survived if
the linked legal unit(s) have ceased to be active, but
their  activity  has  been  taken  over  by  a  new  legal
unit  set  up  specifically  to  take  over  the  factors  of
production  of  that  enterprise  (=  survival  by  take-
over).

In  this  section,  the  survival  rate  of  the  newly
born enterprise over a two-year period will be
analysed,  i.e.  the  proportion  of  enterprises
which were born in 1999 and were survived in
2001.

As  reported  in  Table  4.5,  it  is  visible  that
enterprises  operating  within 
industry  and
construction  (NACE  Sections  C  to  F)  have
more  chance  of  surviving  2  years  than  those

53

the 

of  services  sector.  For  enterprises  born  in
1999, 
two-year  survival  rates  within
industry  and  construction  ranged  between
68%  in  Denmark  and  91%  in  Sweden.  In
2001,  the  survival  rate  within  industry  and
construction  of  the  7  EU  countries  for  which
data  was  available  was  equal  to  77%  (on
average), while that within the services sector
and the business activities was about 72%.

In  more  detail,  the  proportion  of  the  1999
cohort  of  newly  born  enterprises  in  business
services that survived to 2001 was lower than
that  recorded  in  market  economy  as  a  whole
and in industry and construction as well (Table
4.5 and Figure 4.7 & 4.8). This means that the
life  cycle  of  a  new  enterprise  operating  in

Table 4.5

two-year  survival  rate 

business  services  will  be,  likely,  shorter  than
the  life  cycle  of  a  new  enterprise  within
another  economic  sector.  Except  in  Sweden,
where 
in  business
services  (91%)  was  almost  the  same  as  the
survival  rate  in  market  economy,  in  industry
and construction and business services.
It would appear that newly born enterprises in
Denmark  and  Spain,  generally,  have  a  lower
chance  of  surviving  2  years  than  newly  born
enterprises in other countries.
Indeed,  among 
the  seven  EU  countries,
two-year
Denmark 
lowest 
survival rates in both computer services (56%)
and  in  other  business  services  (almost  60%),
ahead of Spain (64%).

reported 

the 

Two-year survival rates (proportion of enterprises born in 1999 & survived in 2001) - %

Economic Activities

Market economy

Industry

Services

  Business activities

     Computer services

     Other business services

DK

61.9

68.1

60.6

62.2

56.2

59.7

ES

70.1

73.6

69.3

67.5

64.3

64.2

IT

76.7

79.4

75.6

75.0

73.8

74.7

LU

77.2

84.7

76.5

78.7

:

:

NL

71.0

76.8

69.4

70.7

69.2

71.3

FI

70.6

75.0

69.0

70.0

64.6

69.9

SE

89.3

91.0

88.9

91.4

90.9

91.2

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except K74.15; Industry: NACE Sections C to F; Services: NACE 
Sections G to K except K74.15; Business Activities: NACE Section K except K74.15; Computer services: NACE K72; 
Other business services: NACE 74 except K74.15. 

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure 4.7
Difference  between 
business services and in market economy
(%), 2001

two-year  survival  rates 

in

Figure 4.8
Difference  between 
in
business  services  and  in  industry  &  construction
(%), 2001

two-year  survival  rates 

DK

ES

IT

NL

FI

SE

DK

ES

IT

NL

FI

SE

4

2

0

-2

-4

-6

-8

-10

2

-2

-6

-10

-14

-18

Computer services

Other business services

Computer services

Other business services

Notes: Computer services: NACE 72; Other business services:
NACE 74 except K74.15

Notes: Computer services: NACE 72; Other business services:
NACE 74 except K74.15

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Source: Eurostat, SBS

54

Size-class break-down

It is important to note that within each cohort,
classified
surviving 
according  to  their  original  size-class  of  their
birth year.

enterprises 

remain 

Looking  at  Table  4.6,  there  is  evidence  that
the lowest two-year survival rates were among
enterprises  with  no  employees.  On  the  other
hand, 
reported  higher
chance  of  surviving.  It  should  be  also  noticed
that  relatively  few  enterprises  were  created
with 20 or more employees.

larger  enterprises 

The  size  class  break  down  for  business
services  shows  that  enterprises  with  5  to  9
employees from the 1999 cohort of newly born
enterprises  reported 
two-year
survival rates. Especially in Denmark, Finland
and Sweden, 100% of enterprises operating in
computer services survived to 2001.

the  highest 

For  the  cohort  of  enterprises  working  in  other
business  services  within  the  class-size  5-9,
the  range  of  survival  rates  was  between
68.6% 
in
Finland.  While  among  enterprises  with  1  to  4
employees the survival rates varied from 74.3
in the Netherlands and 94% in Sweden.

the  Netherlands  and  100% 

in 

Table 4.6

Two-year survival rates broken-down by size-class (%), 2001

Economic Activities

Market economy

Size-
class*

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

Business activities

Computer services

DK

ES

IT

LU

NL

FI

SE

89.0

:

:

93.8

75.0

89.3

91.1

95.3

91.7

96.6

75.0

59.0

77.2

89.7

88.1

90.7

65.8

79.0

:

:

:

75.1

90.7

91.7

93.1

89.5

76.0

77.2

89.5

90.4

94.4

70.6

71.3

77.3

74.2

75.4

68.3

85.9

89.3

90.8

:

TOTAL

61.9

70.1

76.7

77.2

71.0

70.6

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

60.4

77.5

92.5

87.8

80.0

63.3

82.9

85.3

86.7

91.1

74.0

91.2

92.7

94.2

85.4

TOTAL

62.2

67.5

75.0

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

TOTAL

58.4

80.8

90.9

91.7

94.4

72.2

91.4

:

98.7

:

64.3

73.8

77.7

80.0

100.0

94.1

100.0

78.7

76.9

81.0

:

:

:

:

69.0

74.0

73.9

70.4

74.0

67.7

88.4

100.0

89.3

:

70.7

70.0

91.4

64.9

75.7

85.7

85.0

71.4

61.1

87.4

90.1

98.1

100.0

100.0

85.7

96.4

:

:

69.2

64.6

90.9

Other business services 0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

60.1

82.8

83.7

86.4

89.3

73.7

91.0

95.1

92.9

87.9

78.1

80.0

:

:

100.0

70.0

74.3

68.6

67.3

76.8

67.6

89.9

100.0

94.4

:

91.1

94.0

89.5

95.9

75.0

TOTAL

59.7

64.2

74.7

:

71.3

69.9

91.2

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except K74.15; Business Activities: NACE Section K 
except K74.15; Computer services: NACE K72; Other business services: NACE 74 except K74.15; * : 
number of employees.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

55

53.3

80.4

100.0

90.9

100.0

56.2

57.7

76.7

88.5

82.0

60.0

Enterprise deaths

Table 4.7
Number of enterprise deaths (unit), 2000

Economic Activities

DK(1)

ES

IT(1)

LU

NL(1)

FI(1)

SE

UK

Market economy

25 506

188 257

263 458

2 044

54 762

17 132

28 142

182 995

Industry

Services

4 538

40 884

65 452

20 968

147 373

198 006

  Business activities

9 718

35 630

66 825

     Computer services

     Other business services

2018

5430

2 360

6 628

23 910

49 226

366

12 209

173

1 871

626

:

9 077

45 685

17 610

2 555

4 482

5 537

39 470

12 650

22 605

143 525

5 053

618

2 987

9 345

1 425

6 039

66 785

20 940

38 820

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except K74.15; Industry: NACE Sections C to F; Services: NACE Sections G to K 
except K74.15; Business Activities: NACE Section K except K74.15; Computer services: NACE K72; Other business services: 
NACE 74 except K74.15.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Enterprise deaths21 are defined as follows: ‘a count of
the  number  of  deaths  of  enterprises  registered  to  the
population concerned in the business register corrected
for  errors.  A  death  amounts  to  the  dissolution  of  a
combination  of  production  factors  with  the  restriction
that  no  other  enterprises  are  involved  in  the  event.
Deaths do not include exits from the population due to
mergers, take-overs, break-ups or restructuring of a set
of  enterprises.  It  does  not  include  exits  from  a  sub-
population resulting only from a change of activity’.

from 

failure  resulting 

Death of existing enterprises, like the birth of
new  enterprises,  is  a  part  of  the  process  of
enterprise  demography.  The  death  of  an
enterprise is usually a combination of factors
such  as  poor  management  or  business  plan,
insufficient
financial 
start-up funds, a lack of demand for products
or 
from
counter 
competitors,  a  lack  of  training  or  a  lack  of
qualified  staff.  An  enterprise  death  does  not
necessarily  only  mean  that  the  enterprise
failed  e.g. 
the
discontinuation  of  activities  due  to  a  sole
in  another
finding  employment 
proprietor 
enterprise.

reactions 

services, 

it  may 

result 

from 

The  number  of  enterprise  deaths  as  well  as
the death rates (expressed as a portion of the

21 Business Demography Glossary.

total  number  of  active  enterprises)  are
analysed hereafter for the period 2000.

Table 4.7 provides an overview of the number
of  enterprise  deaths  that  took  place  in  2000
within  the  market  economy  (as  a  whole),
industry  and  construction,  and  services  as
well as within business services. As expected
the highest number of deaths in the reporting
recorded
EU  countries  was  consistently 
within the service sector (NACE Section G to
K except K74.15).

Table 4.8

Enterprise deaths in business activities – 
% of market economy, 2000

Business 
activities

Computer 
services

Other 
business 
services

DK(1)
ES
IT(1)

LU
NL(1)
FI(1)

SE

UK

38.1

18.9

25.4

30.6

32.2

29.5

33.2

36.5

7.9

1.3

2.5

:

4.7

3.6

5.1

11.4

21.3

12.7

18.7

17.9

22.3

17.4

21.5

21.2

Notes: Business Activities: NACE Section K except 
K74.15; Computer services: NACE K72; Other business 
services: NACE 74 except K74.15;  (1):provisional data.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

56

                                                
In  particular  the  largest  deaths  rates  were
found in activities covered by NACE 72 in all
EU  countries  for  which  data  was  available,
varying  from  17.5%  in  Denmark  to  5.8%  in
Sweden.
Similar  enterprise  death  rates  were  recorded
in  2000  in  market  economy  and  business
services  in  Italy  (close  to  8%)  and  Sweden
(about 5.5%).

Size-class break-down

From  Table  4.9  it  is  clear  that  the  size-class
of  no  employees  reported  the  highest  death
rates  within  all  economic  activities  analysed.
This result is consistent with the fact that the
majority  of  active  enterprises  have  no
employees.
Looking at business services figures, in 2000,
the  death 
rates  of  computer  services
enterprises  with  no  employees  were  the
largest,  ranging  between  11.1%  in  Italy  to
23.3% 
the  United  Kingdom.  Whilst
enterprises  death  rates  in  other  business
services  varied  from  6.7%  in  Sweden  to
15.6% in the Netherlands.

in 

In general, death rates were lower within the
larger  size-classes,  except  for  the  size-class
10-19  for  which  the  death  rates  were  bigger
than 
to  4
those 
employees.

in  enterprises  with  1 

The  proportion  of  business  activity  deaths
(see  Table  4.8)  was  above  a  quarter  of  total
deaths  in  the  market  economy  in  7  out  of  8
EU  countries,  Denmark  reported  the  highest
share (38.1%) while Spain and Italy recorded
the 
(18.9%  and  25.4%
respectively).  Among  business  services,  the
largest  enterprise  death  rates  in  2000  were
found within other business services, ranging
from a high of 22.3% in the Netherlands down
to 12.7% in Spain.

lowest  shares 

Figure 4.9
Death rates (%), 2000

17.5

12.0

9.7

20

15

10

5

0

9.5

9.2

10.3

7.2
6.7

8.5

8.3

7.0

14.1

11.8

10.3

10.8

8.1
7.3

5.8

5.6
5.3

14.4

10.9

10.6

8.0
7.3

DK(1)

ES

IT(1)

LU

NL(1)

FI(1)

SE

UK

EU(1,2)

Market economy

Computer services

Other business services

Notes:  Market  Economy:  NACE  Sections  C  to  K  except
K74.15;  Computer  services:  NACE  72;  Other  business
services:  NACE  74  except  K74.15;  (1):  provisional  data;  (2):
DK, ES, IT, LU, NL, FI and SE.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

Figure  4.9  shows  that  enterprise  death  rates
were  generally  higher  in  business  service
than  the  rates  registered  within  the  market
economy.

57

Table 4.9

Death rates broken-down by size-class (%), 2000

Economic Activities

Market economy

Business activities

Computer services

Size-
class*

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

TOTAL

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

TOTAL

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

TOTAL

Other business services

0

1–4

5–9

10–19

20+

TOTAL

DK(1)

13.7

5.0

1.4

1.9

0.3

9.7

13.0

5.1

2.7

2.7

0.8

11.0

21.1

7.1

3.9

4.8

1.5

17.5

14.9

5.1

2.3

2.4

0.6

12.0

ES

9.2

5.7

2.7

3.4

0.8

7.2

8.4

4.6

2.7

2.8

1.0

6.9

13.7

6.5

1.9

2.0

0.9

10.3

7.9

4.4

2.7

3.1

1.3

6.7

IT(1)

9.0

2.2

0.7

1.0

0.3

7.0

9.5

1.8

1.0

1.2

0.7

8.1

11.1

1.5

0.4

0.5

0.6

8.3

9.9

1.9

1.3

1.4

0.7

8.5

LU

13.9

8.7

1.8

2.9

0.5

9.2

12.7

6.2

1.4

:

:

9.4

:

:

:

:

:

:

13.9

:

:

2.4

:

9.5

NL(1)

14.9

8.7

4.4

4.4

2.4

10.3

16.1

9.1

6.2

6.2

3.3

12.1

19.5

9.6

6.2

8.1

4.9

14.1

15.6

8.9

6.1

6.6

3.0

11.8

FI(1)

11.1

2.5

0.8

1.0

0.1

7.3

11.7

2.1

1.1

0.8

0.0

8.1

16.7

2.0

0.5

1.3

0.0

10.8

11.9

2.1

1.5

0.7

0.0

8.1

SE

UK

7.6

2.7

1.3

1.7

0.9

5.6

6.1

1.9

1.6

1.7

1.1

4.8

:

:

1.6

1.3

0.7

5.8

6.7

2.0

:

:

:

12.3

11.4

6.2

7.1

3.2

10.6

12.9

11.8

6.1

6.6

3.1

11.2

23.3

14.0

9.2

9.8

3.8

14.4

11.8

11.8

6.0

6.5

3.3

5.3

10.9

Notes: Market Economy: NACE Sections C to K except K74.15; Business Activities: NACE Section K except K74.15; Computer 
services: NACE K72; Other business services: NACE 74 except K74.15; * : number of employees.

Source: Eurostat, SBS

58

5. Methodological Notes

Regulation on Structural
Business Statistics

Structural  Business  Statistics  (SBS)  describe
the  economy 
through  via  observation  of
activity  of  units  engaged  in  an  economy
activity.  EU  Structural  Business  Statistics  are
governed  by  two  Council  Regulations  and  a
Regulation of the Parliament and the Council,
as  basic  regulations,  and  11  Commission
the  Council
Regulations 
implementing 
Regulations.  This 
framework  will
continue to be extended into more sectors and
variables.

legal 

Basic regulations

1.  Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No
58/97  of  20  December  1996  concerning
structural business statistics.

This  is  the  basic  regulation  for  Structural
Business  Statistics.  It  covers  at  this  stage  all
market activities i.e. sections C to K and M to
O  of  the  statistical  classification  of  economic
activities  in  the  European  Community  (NACE
Rev. 1). There are 4 modules or annexes:
-  Annex  1,  a  common  module  for  annual
in

(all  activities 

structural  statistics 
Sections C to K, and M to O).

-  Annex  2,  a  detailed  module  for  structural

statistics in industry.

-  Annex  3,  a  detailed  module  for  structural

statistics in distributive trades.

-  Annex  4,  a  detailed  module  for  structural

statistics in construction.

2.  Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No
410/98  of  16  February  1998  amending
Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No
58/97.

This  Council  Regulation  adds  one  detailed
module  for  structural  statistics  in  insurance
services  defined  in  Annex  5.  The  module  on
insurance  services  covers  all  activities  within
the  scope  of  NACE  Rev  1  division  66
(Insurance  and  pension 
funding,  except
compulsory  social  security)  except  for  class
66.02 (pension funding).

3.  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No  2056/2002
of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the
Council  of  5  November  2002  amending
Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No
58/97.

funds,  other 

As  developments  in  Community  monetary,
economic  and  social  integration  require  the
extension  of  the  common  framework  to  credit
financial
institutions,  pension 
intermediation  and  activities  auxiliary 
to
financial  intermediation,  this  Regulation  adds
two detailed modules as follows:
-  Annex  6,  a  detailed  module  on  credit
institutions  which  covers  all  activities
within  the  scope  of  NACE  Rev  1  classes
65.12  (including  monetary  intermediation
of  monetary  institutions  other  than  central
banks; postal giro and postal savings bank
activities) 
credit
granting).

(other 

65.22 

and 

-  Annex  7,  a  module  on  pension  funds
which covers all activities within the scope
of  NACE  Rev  1  class  66.02(Pension
funding).

Implementing regulation

1.  Commission Regulation No 2699/98 of 17
collections:
SIZCLASS,

REGION, 

1998; 

SBS 

December 
ENTERPR, 
DTPROD

This  Regulation  concerns 
the  detailed
for  structural
to  be  granted 
derogation 
business statistics. Derogation may apply until
reference year 1998.

2.   Commission Regulation No 2700/98 of 17
collections:
SIZCLASS,

REGION, 

1998; 

SBS 

December 
ENTERPR, 
DTPROD.

3.   Commission Regulation No 1225/99 of 27
May 1999; SBS collections: STATONIS.

4.  Commission Regulation No 1226/99 of 27
May 1999; SBS collections: STATONIS.

Activity coverage

The  Structural  Business  Statistics  covers  all
market  activities  except  agriculture  and

59

fishing. In terms of NACE Rev.1, the sections
covered are:
Section  C,  D  &  E:  Mining,  Manufacturing  and
Energy (SBS Regulation annex 2);
Section  F:  Construction  (SBS  Regulation
annex 4);
Section  G:  Distributive 
Regulation annex 3);
Section  H,  I  &  K:  Services  (SBS  Regulation
annex 1);
Section  J:  Financial 
Regulation annex 5, 6 & 7)22;
Section  M,  N  &  O: 
Regulation but no data is available yet.

Included  within 

intermediation 

trades 

(SBS

(SBS

the

Voluntary data collection

to 

This 

In  parallel 
the  collection  of  data  via
mandatory  legal  declarations,  several  data
sets are requested on a voluntary basis.
Several  major  projects 
to  develop  SBS
statistics  have  been  running  for  many  years.
Investments  have  taken  place  to  develop
comparable  methodologies. 
data
delivered  on  a  voluntary  basis  on  Business
Services,  Business  Demography  and  FATS
are  part  of  the  statistics  presented  in  this
publication.
Quality  may  be 
that  of  data
inferior 
collected on a legal basis, as the collection is
not yet completely stabilised and harmonised.
Most  of  these  projects  are  likely  to  be  part  of
SBS  regulation  in  the  near  future,  due  to
policy interest and the increasing need for this
data. The main projects are as follows:

to 

Business Services

The  Business  Services  domain  (BUS_SERV
collection)  covers  NACE  Division  72  –
Computer  and  related  activities  –  and  NACE
Division 74 – Other business activities.
The  collection  on  business  services  presents
results  from  the  first  harmonised  survey  on
business  services  in  11  Member  States  that
have  participated 
the  voluntary  data
in 
collection.  This  domain  makes  information
available  on  turnover  data  broken  down  by
product  and  client  as  well  as  on  personnel

22  « Other financial intermediation » (NACE 65.2) &
« Financial auxiliaries » (NACE 67) are covered by
Annex 1. This data is not disseminated yet.

costs,  number  of  persons  employed  and
value-added.

FATS

FATS is a project on Foreign Affiliate Statistics
and  concerns  the  commercial  presence  and
performance in the territory of another country
as  a  mode  of  supply  within  the  General
Agreement  on  Trade  in  Services  (GATS)  and
of  the  introduction  of  the  Single  Market.  The
statistics  compiled  by  Eurostat  FATS  project
relate to inward FATS, i.e. they are based on
the  country  where  the  ultimate  controller  is
resident; namely the first person in the chain,
beginning  with  and  including  the  first  foreign
entity, that is not controlled by another person
(UBO – Ultimate Beneficial Owner).
This  ensures  that  the  affiliate  is  attributed  to
the  country  of  residence  of  the  entities  that
ultimately  control  the  affiliates  and  therefore
derive benefits from this control.

Business Demography collection

The 
collection  of  data  on  business
demography is foreseen in Council Regulation
(EC,  EURATOM)  No  58/97  of  20  December
1996 concerning structural business statistics.
Basic  variables  such  as 
the  number  of
enterprise  births  and  deaths  have  already
been  defined  in  Commission  Regulation  (EC)
No  2700/98  of  17  December  1998,  however,
this 
is  only  requested  within
annexes  2  (industry)  and  4  (construction)  of
the  Regulation,  and  hence  service  activities
are not covered.

information 

Due to the unavailability of comparable data, a
major project to develop comparable statistics
on  business  demography  was  launched  in
2000.  The  statistics  presented  are  the  results
of these voluntary data collections based on a
harmonised methodology.

individual  countries  have 

Data  was  supplied  in  all  cases  by  national
statistical  institutions.  Generally  speaking  the
data  was  drawn  from  business  registers;
integrated
some 
other  sources  into  data  provided.  Business
register  data 
from
administrative  sources,  such  as  tax,  value
(VAT)  and  social  security
added 
declaration, as well as statistical surveys.

is  generally  compiled 

tax 

60

                                                
Data characteristics of SBS

observation  and  analysis  of  the  production
system in the Community and Eurostat.

Statistical Classification

transmitted  under 
is  broken-down  according 

the  SBS
The  data 
Regulation 
to
NACE Rev. 1 for reference year 2002 it will be
Rev.  1.1  –  Council  Regulation  (EEC),  No.
3037/90  of  9  October  1990  on  the  statistical
standard  classification  of  economic  activities
of EC (OJ L 293 of 24.10.90 p.1), as amended
by  Commission  Regulation  (EEC)  No.  761/93
of 24 March 1993 (OJ L 83 of 3.4.93).
NACE23 is the acronym used to designate the
various  statistical  classifications  of  economic
activities  developed  since  1970  by 
the
European  Union;  it  is  designed  to  categorise
data relating to “statistical units”, in this case a
unit of activity, for example an individual plant
or  group  of  plants  constituting  an  economic
entity such as an enterprise.

NACE  Rev.  1  replaced  NACE  1970;  it  was
adopted  in  order  to  establish  a  common
statistical  classification  of  economic  activities
within the European Community and to ensure
and
between 
comparability 
community  classifications  and  hence  national
and community statistics.

national 

Economic Activity

to 

techniques, 

take  place  when
An  activity 
is  said 
labour,
resources  such  as  equipment, 
information
manufacturing 
networks or products are combined, leading to
the  creation  of  specific  goods  or  services.  An
activity 
input  of
is  characterised  by  an 
products  (goods  or  services),  a  production
process  and  an  output  of  products  –  NACE
Rev.  1,  Statistical  Classification  of  Economic
Activities 
the  European  Community,
Introduction,  Eurostat,  May  1996,  P.  14-15,
European  Union,  Council  Regulation  (EEC)
No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical
units  for  the  observation  and  analysis  of  the
production  system  in  the  Community  (Official
Journal  of  the  European  Communities  No  L
076, 30/03/1993, p. 1), Section IV B1 and B4
of  15.03.1993  on  the  statistical  units  for  the

in 

23  Nomenclature  statistique  des  Activités  économiques
dans 
-  Statistical
classification  of  economic  activities  in  the  European
Community

la  Communauté  Européenne" 

In  practice  the  majority  of  units  carry  on
activities  of  a  mixed  character.  One  can
distinguish  between  three  types  of  economic
activity:
-  Principal  activity:  The  principal  activity  is
identified  by  the  ‘top  down’  method  as  the
activity  which  contributes  most  to  the  total
value added of the entity under consideration.
The  principal  activity  so  identified  does  not
necessarily  account  for  50%  or  more  of  the
entity's total value added.
-  Secondary  activity:  A  secondary  activity  is
any  other  activity  of  the  entity  that  produces
goods or services.
-  Ancillary  activity:  Principal  and  secondary
activities  are  generally  carried  out  with  the
support  of  a  number  of  "ancillary  activities",
such  as  accounting,  transportation,  storage,
purchasing,  sales  promotion, 
repair  and
maintenance  etc.  Thus  ancillary  activities  are
those  that  exist  solely  to  support  the  main
productive  activities  of  an  entity  by  providing
non-durable  goods  or  services  for  the  use  of
that entity.

Statistical Unit

According  to  SBS  Regulation,  the  statistical
unit  used  within  Business  Services’,  FATS
business  demography  data  is  the  enterprise;
European  Union,  Council  Regulation  (EEC)
No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical
units  for  the  observation  and  analysis  of  the
production  system  in  the  Community  (Official
Journal  of  the  European  Communities  No  L
076,  30/03/1993,  p.  1),  Section  III  A  of
15.03.1993  on  the  statistical  units  for  the
observation  and  analysis  of  the  production
system in the Community.
The  enterprise  is  the  smallest  combination  of
is  an  organisational  unit
legal  units 
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  enterprise  thus  defined  is  an  economic
entity  which  can 
therefore,  under  certain
circumstances,  correspond  to  a  grouping  of
several legal units. Certain legal units, in fact,
perform  activities  exclusively  for  other  legal

that 

61

                                                
their  existence  can  only  be
units  and 
explained  by  administrative  factors  (e.  g.  tax
reasons), without them being of any economic
significance.  A  large  proportion  of  the  legal
units  with  no  persons  employed  also  belongs
to  this  category.  In  many  cases,  the  activities
of  these  legal  units  should  be  seen  as
ancillary activities of the parent legal unit they
serve, to which they belong and to which they
must  be  attached  to  form  an  enterprise  used
for economic analysis.

the  whole  production  of 

When the enterprise is the statistical unit, it is
classified  in  a  single  NACE  Rev.1  class  "A"
according  to  its  main  activity.  The  whole
turnover, 
this
enterprise  will  be  counted  as  class  "A",  even
though  part  of  this  turnover  and  production
were created in other activities "B" and "C" of
the  enterprise.  This  means  that  in  the  final
figure  that  will  be  calculated  for  class  "A",
some  classes  "B"  and  "C"  activities  will  be
included.
Example:  a  garage  is  selling  cars  (NACE
Rev.1 501), repairing cars (NACE Rev.1 502)
and  also  renting  cars  (NACE  Rev.1  711).  Its
main  activity  (activity  with  highest  value
added) is selling cars, so it is registered as an
enterprise  in  NACE  Rev.1  501.  All  indicators
collected for this garage will thus be recorded
in  activity  501  (including  the  turnover,  value
added,  etc.  made  on  repairing  and  renting
cars).

Economic indicators

Number of enterprises
A  count  of 
enterprises 
concerned in the business statistics register.

the  non-dormant  number  of
the  population

registered 

to 

Turnover
Turnover comprises the totals invoiced by the
observed  unit  during  the  reference  period,
which correspond to market sales of goods or
services  supplied  to  third  parties.  It  includes
all duties and taxes on the goods and services
invoiced by the unit, with the exception of the
its
VAT 
customers  and  other  similar  deductible  taxes
directly linked to turnover.

the  unit  vis-à-vis 

invoiced  by 

Value-added
Value-added measured at factor cost, which is
the  gross  income  from  operating  activities
after  adjusting  for  operating  subsidies  and
indirect  taxes  (including  value-added  tax),  or
total  revenue  from  sales  and  other  activities
less  goods  and  services  purchased,  other
labour  and  capital
than 
employed by the business.
Value added at the factor cost is calculated as
follows:  Value  added  at  basic  prices  +
Operating  subsidies  linked  to  production  –
Duties and taxes linked to production.

the  services  of 

Labour or Personnel costs
Personnel  costs  are  defined  as  the  total
remuneration,  in  cash  or  in  kind,  payable  by
an employer to an employee in return for work
done by the latter during the reference period.
taxes  and
Personnel  costs  also 
employees' 
contributions
retained by the unit as well as the employer's
compulsory and voluntary social contributions.
Personnel costs can be calculated as follows:
Wages and salaries + Social security costs.

security 

include 

social 

Number of persons employed – employment
The  total  number  of  persons  who  work  in  the
observation  unit  (i.e.  an  enterprise  or  local
including  working  proprietors  and
unit), 
partners  working  regularly  in  the  unit  and
unpaid 
those
family  helpers,  as  well  as 
working  outside  who  belong  to  the  unit  and
are  paid  by  it  (e.g.  sales  representatives,
delivery  personnel,  repair  and  maintenance
teams).  It  includes  part-time  and  seasonal
workers,  apprentices  and  home  workers  who
are on the payroll.

Apparent labour productivity
Value added at factor cost/number of persons
the
employed;  care  should  be 
interpretation  of  this  ratio  between  different
activities and countries because of the use of
a  simple  head  count  for  the  labour  input
measure,  as  a  proxy  for  the  volume  of  work
done.

taken 

in 

Simple wage adjusted labour productivity
Value  added  at  factor  cost/personnel  costs
*100 (expressed as a percentage).

62

Abbreviations

BE
DK
DE
EL
ES
FR
IE
IT
LU
NL
AT
PT
FI
SE
UK

Belgium
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Spain
France
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Austria
Portugal
Finland
Sweden
United Kingdom

EU

European Union

EUR Euro

SBS Structural Business Statistics
BS
Business Services
FATS Foreign Affiliates Statistics

NACE  Rev.  1:  statistical  classification  of
economic activities in the EU (revision 1)

NACE  74*:  aggregate  of  NACE  74  classes
74.12, 74.13, 74.14, 74.2 and 74.4

“:” in the tables means data not available
“: c” in the tables means confidential data

63