BOS Data Collection 2019

Reference period The survey was posted out in August 2019. We collected information for the latest financial year for which the business had data available when they completed the questionnaire. Consistency with other periods The Business Operations Survey is a modular survey that contains a repeating business operations module, an alternating information and communications technology (ICT) or innovation module, and a contracted module. The modular structure means the published content changes each year. Stats NZ works with other organisations to develop the content for this survey. Table 1 - Business Operations Survey: Module Contents -------- ------------ ---- ----- ----- 2005 Business operations Innovation Business practices N/A 2006 Business operations ICT Employment practices N/A 2007 Business operations Innovation International engagement N/A 2008 Business operations ICT Business strategy and skills N/A 2009 Business operations Innovation Business practices N/A 2010 Business operations ICT Price and wage setting Financing 2011 Business operations Innovation International engagement N/A 2012 Business operations ICT Impact of regulation N/A 2013 Business operations Innovation Business practices Skill needs and recruitment 2014 Business operations ICT Skills acquisition Finance 2015 Business operations Innovation International engagement N/A 2016 Business operations ICT Regulation Skills Acquisition 2017 Business operations Innovation Business Practices Health and Safety Practices 2018 Business operations ICT Changing Nature of Work Business Finance 2019 Business operations Innovation International engagement N/A In addition, each module in the survey has its own specific objectives. The modules included in the Business Operations Survey 2019 and their objectives are listed below. Module A: Business operations Provides a longitudinal series of information about business performance. This data helps develop models that investigate causal relationships. As well as traditional measures of performance such as turnover and profitability, there is also a need to collect information on such areas as export intensity. The purpose of collecting information is to analyse relationships between the environment in which a business operates and the results it achieves. Module B: Innovation The objective of the innovation module is to provide information on the characteristics of innovation in New Zealand's private-sector businesses. This information will allow policies to be developed to facilitate innovation, and understand the dynamics of innovative businesses. The innovation module runs every two years, and replaced Stats NZ's former Innovation Survey, last run in 2003. The module was designed in accordance with OECD guidelines to develop an understanding of the contribution of all aspects of innovation to the New Zealand economy by measuring: • levels of business innovation • how and why businesses collaborate with other businesses and institutions to innovate • factors affecting the ability of businesses to innovate • outcomes of innovation for businesses, including its effect on exports. Module C: International Engagement The module provides information on ways businesses engage internationally. The module collects information on practices and behaviours associated with current, past, or future international engagement that may affect a business's performance. This module has topics that measure: • overseas sales of goods and services • workforce and/or offices overseas • use of good and services sourced overseas • assistance with international engagement the business received. We made a few minor changes to the international engagement module for 2019. Some options in certain questions were expanded or collapsed as well as adding new ones. For example: • added 'assistance from NZ government agencies in NZ or offshore' and removed 'lower production costs due to economies of scale' on the key factors that helped businesses compete in overseas markets • website / online presence / social media’ split into ‘through our own website’, ‘through a third party online marketplace’, and ‘through other online advertising or social media’. Data presentation Find more data for Business Operations and Innovation modules on Infoshare. A machine-readable zipped csv file is available for International engagement. More data for International engagement 2019 can also be found on Infoshare. Sampling Procedure Sample selection The sample includes an oversample of Māori authorities. Responses from Māori authorities are used to help Stats NZ and other agencies learn what makes a business a Māori business. As the sample for the Business Operations Survey is a random sample survey, the information gathered from these Māori authorities is only included if the same businesses are selected through the random selection process. Table 2 - Business Operations Survey: 2019 sampling error by size or industry -------- ------------ ---- Business size 6-19 employees 0.6 20-49 employees 2.0 50-99 employees 7.6 100+ employees 8.4 Industry Agriculture, forestry & fishing 1.9 Mining 2.7 Manufacturing 1.3 Electricity, gas, water & waste services 1.9 Construction 2.1 Wholesale trade 2.2 Retail trade 2.7 Accommodation & food services 3.1 Transport, postal & warehousing 2.7 Information media & telecommunications 2.6 Financial & insurance services 2.0 Rental, hiring & real estate services 3.7 Professional, scientific & technical services 1.9 Administrative & support services 2.1 Education and training 3.1 Health care & social assistance 2.0 Arts & recreation services 3.7 Other services 3.5 Overall 0.7 How to use the sampling error Sampling errors can be measured. They quantify the variability that occurs by chance because a sample rather than an entire population is surveyed. For example, if the estimated number of businesses in the construction industry is 5,937 with a sampling error of 2.1 percent, this means there would be a 95 percent chance the true number of businesses in the construction industry lies between 5,812 and 6,062 businesses. The sampling error detailed in table 2 represents the variability for estimates published at ANZSIC06 level 1 or business size. We can provide sampling error for the ANZSIC06 level 2 on request. Response Rate The Business Operations Survey is a sample survey. For the 2019 survey, we selected a sample of 8,879 from a total population of 45,404 businesses. The response rate reached 78%, lower than the target response rate of 80%. en-NZ