BOS Data Collection 2018

Reference period The survey was posted out in August 2018. 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 In addition, each module in the survey has its own specific objectives. The modules included in the Business Operations Survey 2018 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: Information and communications technology (ICT) Module B alternates between innovation, in odd years, and information and communication technology (ICT), in even years. The purpose of this module is to provide comprehensive, official statistics on: • computers, ICT services, and security • impact of ICT • internet use and connection • purchases and sales of goods and services via the internet • web presence • computer networks • cellphone use. Module C: Changing Nature of Work This module collects data on business activities related to the changes in the work force environment. This includes: • Employment arrangements • Changing employment practices • Changing business practices • Automation Module D: Business Finance This module covers data previously collected in the 2014 Business Operations Surveys about recent financing arrangements. These have been included to gain a better understanding of the current financing situation of businesses. The module collected information on: • recent financing experiences • equity finance, including reasons and barriers to equity finance • debt finance, including reasons and barriers to debt finance. Data presentation Find more data for Business Operations and ICT modules on Infoshare. A machine-readable zipped csv file is available for Changing Nature of Work and Business Finance for 2018. For previous data for Business Finance use NZ.Stat. 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: 2018 sampling error by size or industry ------------------------- -------------------------- Business size - 6-19 employees 0.6 20-49 employees 2.2 50-99 employees 8.0 100+ employees 7.8 Industry - Agriculture, forestry & fishing 2.2 Mining 3.1 Manufacturing 1.3 Electricity, gas, water & waste services 2.3 Construction 2.5 Wholesale trade 2.2 Retail trade 2.9 Accommodation & food services 3.5 Transport, postal & warehousing 2.9 Information media & telecommunications 2.7 Financial & insurance services 2.0 Rental, hiring & real estate services 4.0 Professional, scientific & technical services 1.9 Administrative & support services 2.4 Education and training 3.4 Health care & social assistance 2.3 Arts & recreation services 4.1 Other services 3.9 Overall 0.8 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 5,604 with a sampling error of 2.5 percent, this means there would be a 95 percent chance the true number of businesses in the construction industry lies between 5,464 and 5,744 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 2018 survey, we selected a sample of 8,537 from a total population of 44,253 businesses. The response rate reached 80%, same as the target response rate of 80%. en-NZ