The International Sourcing Survey was carried out between July and December 2012. It used the CSO eForms which allows respondents to complete the questionnaire via an internet portal. It was a census of all enterprises in Ireland with 100 or more employees in the Irish business economy (NACE Rev. 2 sectors B to N excluding K). Enterprises were identified using the CSO Central Business Register. The survey was issued to 1259 enterprises and the overall response rate was 44.3 per cent. Full details of the response rates for the main sectors are outlined in the table below.
International Sourcing Survey 2009-2011 – target population and response rates by sector. |
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Sector (NACE Rev. 2) |
Total number of enterprises with 100+ persons employed |
Number of responding enterprises |
Response rates |
Mining and quarrying (B) |
5 |
2 |
40.00% |
Manufacturing (C) |
338 |
161 |
47.60% |
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D) |
6 |
3 |
50.00% |
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E) |
12 |
4 |
33.30% |
Construction (F) |
51 |
16 |
31.40% |
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) |
283 |
132 |
46.60% |
Transportation and storage (H) |
65 |
36 |
55.40% |
Accommodation and food service activities (I) |
191 |
65 |
34.00% |
Information and communication (J) |
79 |
34 |
43.00% |
Real estate activities (L) |
10 |
4 |
40.00% |
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) |
83 |
49 |
59.00% |
Administrative and support service activities (N) |
136 |
52 |
38.20% |
All sectors |
1,259 |
558 |
44.30% |
Sourcing refers to the movement of business functions from an enterprise to another enterprise within or outside the enterprise group. The movement of business functions within Ireland is referred to as domestic sourcing and the movement of business functions outside Ireland (including previously domestically sourced functions) is referred to as international sourcing.
Please note that this survey enquired specifically about international sourcing of business functions during the period 2009-2011. Therefore, an enterprise was not counted as having engaged in international sourcing if the movement of the activity occurred previous to 2009.
An enterprise group is a set of enterprises controlled by the group head. It is an association of enterprises bound together by legal and/or financial links. A group of enterprises can have more than one decision-making centre, especially for policy on production, sales and profits. It may centralise certain aspects of financial management and taxation. It constitutes an economic entity which is empowered to make choices, particularly concerning the units which it comprises. The most extensive version of an enterprise group includes affiliates, sister enterprises, the parent enterprise and even joint ventures.
Control means the ability to determine the general policy of an enterprise by choosing appropriate directors, if necessary. In this context, enterprise A is deemed to be controlled by enterprise B, when B controls, whether directly or indirectly, more than half of the shareholders voting power or more than half of the shares in enterprise A.
Indirect control means than an enterprise may have control through another affiliate which has control over enterprise A.
Control can be exerted via effective minority control without owning more than half of the shareholders voting power or more than half of the shares.
The group head is a parent legal unit, which is not controlled either directly or indirectly by any other legal unit, controlling one or more enterprises. In the case of multinational enterprise groups global and domestic group heads can be identified. The global group head is the group head of the multinational enterprise group, the domestic group head is on the top of the truncated national part of the multinational enterprise group.
A subsidiary is a legal unit which is controlled either directly or indirectly by another legal unit in an enterprise group.
This function is the primary activity of the enterprise and will in most cases equate with the main activity of the enterprise. It includes production of final goods or services intended for the market/for third parties carried out by the enterprise and yielding income. The core business function equals in most cases the primary activity of the enterprise. It may also include other (secondary) activities if the enterprise considers these to comprise part of their core functions.
Support business functions (ancillary activities) are carried out in order to permit or facilitate production of goods or services intended for the market/for third parties by the enterprise. The outputs of the support business functions are not themselves intended directly for the market/for third parties.
The support business functions are divided into:
The geographical areas used in this survey are as follows:
NACE Rev.2 is the statistical classification of economic activities. NACE is an acronym for 'Nomenclature Généraile des Activities Économiques dams les Communautés Eurpéenes' (General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities withn the European Communities).
Industry (Sections B to E): |
|
Manufacturing (Section C): |
|
High-technology manufacturing: |
|
Division 21 |
Pharmaceuticals |
Division 26 |
Computers, electronic & optical products |
Group 30.3 |
Air spacecraft |
Medium-high-technology manufacturing: |
|
Division 20 |
Chemicals |
Group 25.4 |
Weapons & ammunition |
Division 27 |
Electrical equipment |
Division 28 |
Machinery |
Division 29 |
Motor vehicles |
Division 30_X_30.1_30.3 |
Transport equipment excluding ships, boats, excluding air & spacecraft |
Group 32.5 |
Medical & dental instruments |
Medium-low-technology manufacturing: |
|
Group 18.2 |
Reproduction recorded media |
Division 19 |
Coke and petroleum products |
Division 22 |
Rubber and plastic products |
Division 23 |
Other non-metallic mineral products |
Division 24 |
Basic metals |
Division 25_X_25.4 |
Fabricated metal products excluding machinery |
Group 30.1 |
Ships and boats |
Division 33 |
Repair & installation machinery |
Low-technology manufacturing: |
|
Division 10 |
Food |
Division 11 |
Beverages |
Division 12 |
Tobacco |
Division 13 |
Textiles |
Division 14 |
Clothing |
Division 15 |
Leather products |
Division 16 |
Wood products |
Division 17 |
Paper products |
Division 18.1 |
Printing |
Division 31 |
Furniture |
Division 32_X_32.5 |
Other manufacturing excluding medical and dental instruments |
Other industrial: |
|
Section B |
Mining and quarrying |
Section D |
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply |
Section E |
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation services |
Non-financial services (Sections F to N excluding K): |
|
Distribution: |
|
Section G |
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles |
Information & Communication: |
|
Section J |
Information and communication |
Professional, Scientific & Technical Services: |
|
Section M |
Professional, scientific and technical activities |
Other services: |
|
Section F |
Construction |
Section H |
Transportation and storage |
Section I |
Accommodation and food service activities |
Section L |
Real estate activities |
Section N |
Administrative and support service activities |