OSLO MANUAL: GUIDELINES FOR COLLECTING AND INTERPRETING INNOVATION DATA
235. Some cases require greater clarification. These include: i) enterprise groups; ii) large enterprises that may have several areas of activity and iii) multinational enterprises and groups. 236. An enterprise group is an association of enterprises bound together by legal and/or financial links. For such groups, the question of whether innovation data should be compiled at the group level or for each individual enterprise depends on the level at which decisions on innovation activity are made. If each individual enterprise unit has decision-making autonomy concerning innovation, it is preferable to collect and compile data at the enterprise level as opposed to the group level. 237. Large enterprises may have a number of different productive activities. For the largest, decision making on innovation activity will likely not be made at the highest level of the organisation, but undertaken for each productive activity or division. In this case, it may be preferable, where possible, to collect and compile data at the level of the kind of activity unit (KAU), defined as “an enterprise or part of an enterprise which engages in one kind of economic activity without being restricted to the geographic area in which that activity is carried out”.4 This means that the KAU may consist of one or more legal units, or a part of a legal unit. 238. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) present a number of challenges, given that many activities may take place across national borders. For example, innovation activities in MNEs may be undertaken jointly by units in more than one country, and many activities may be segmented, with development activities in one country and production and sales in another. Given that innovation surveys are national surveys, data will be limited to domestic unit(s) of the MNE. However, it can be very useful to obtain as much information as possible on connections between the domestic unit’s innovation activities and those of units abroad. The following guidelines are suggested for treating MNEs: ●
The domestic part of the multinational enterprise alone represents the statistical unit to be included, regardless of the location of the enterprise’s headquarters. Data may be collected on whether observation units are part of MNEs (see below).
●
Foreign units of an MNE should be regarded as a separate entities (not part of the statistical unit, though belonging to the same enterprise group): ❖ Joint innovation activities between the domestic and foreign units of the MNE should be considered as innovation co-operation between two enterprises in the same enterprise group. Exchanges of information or purchases of knowledge and technology should also be treated as transfers between two separate enterprises.
66
ISBN 92-64-01308-3 – © OECD/EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 2005