Methodological Notes

1. The data has been collected through a census survey of enterprises employing 50 employees or more during the reference period 2021 to 2023. Enterprises were divided into strata depending on the employment size class (50-249 and 250+ employees) and economic activity, in line with NACE Rev.2 classification (Sections B to N).

2. The final population for reference period 2021 to 2023 was 577 enterprises. The response rate for the Global Value Chains (GVC) survey was 71 per cent. Non-respondents were extrapolated based on the patterns from the observations collected.

3. The definitions are based on the classification of the Business functions manual as part of the GVCIS methodology, that can be accessed from here.

Sourcing: The total or partial movement of business functions (core or support business functions) currently performed in-house by a resident enterprise to either non-affiliated (external suppliers) or affiliated enterprises located domestically or abroad.

International sourcing: The total or partial movement of business functions (core or support business functions) currently performed in-house or domestically sourced by the resident enterprise to either non-affiliated (external suppliers) or affiliated enterprises located abroad. Sourcing does not include business expansion that takes place domestically or abroad. For example, a set-up of a new production line domestically or abroad without (i) the movement of business functions domestically or abroad (core or support business function) or (ii) the reduction of activity and/or jobs in the concerned enterprise.

Insourcing and outsourcing: The survey distinguishes between two types of international sourcing: insourcing, which refers to transferring activities to a foreign affiliate or subsidiary within the same multinational group, and outsourcing, which involves contracting those activities to external providers abroad.

Core business function: Production of final goods or services intended for the market/for third parties, carried out by the enterprise and yielding income. In most cases, the core business function corresponds to the enterprise’s primary activity. It may also include other (secondary) activities if the enterprise considers these to form part of their core functions.

Support business function (ancillary activities): Activities which are carried out in order to permit or facilitate the production of goods or services intended for the market/third parties. The outputs of the support business functions are not intrinsically or essentially intended directly for the market/third parties.

The business functions are divided into:

● Production of goods and materials for the market (Manufacturing; processing; assembly; refining; printing and binding; casting of metals; building of ships; Mining; extraction of gas and oil; stone quarrying; power generation (except trade of electricity); Development of building projects; civil engineering; specialised construction tasks, including demolition.

● Transportation and logistics (Road, water, rail and air transport activities; passenger and cargo transport; postal services), Warehousing and storage (Warehousing; storage; packaging).

● Marketing and after-sales services (Advertising and media representation; market research and public opinion polling; call centres), Sales (Retail and wholesale; trade of gas and electricity; sales agents and real-estate trading).

● Information and communication technology services (Software publishing, and computer consultancy activities; programming and broadcasting tasks; telecommunications tasks; data processing and hosting; web portals and related information service tasks; installation of mainframe computers; maintenance and repair of computers and communications systems), Software programming (Computer programming, consultancy and related tasks).

● Management (Financial services example banking, insurance, financial leasing, fund management; activities of head offices; HRM activities), Administration (Financial markets administration; legal tasks; bookkeeping, accounting and auditing; office administration and business support services; public administration services).

● Engineering and related technical services (Examples: Support tasks for raw material extraction; sound recording and video production; architectural and engineering tasks, and technical analysis).

● Research and development (Examples: Research and experimental development in the area of natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities).

● Other business functions, Facility management (Accommodation e.g. hotels and camps; food and beverage services e.g. cafes and restaurants; landscape services; libraries; museums; sports centres), Maintenance and repair services (Maintenance and repair of non-ICT electronic equipment, transportation vehicles, and personal and household goods), Other services (Water, waste collection and, sewerage; remediation services; professional services e.g. photography and translation; travel agency activities; rental and operational leasing activities; security; education; human health activities and residential care; social services; creative and arts activities; gambling and betting; sports activities excluding facility management).

Global Value Chains (GVC): This comprises the full range of cross-border activities required to bring a product or service from conception through the different production and delivery phases to final consumers.

Enterprise: The statistical unit of this survey is the enterprise. The enterprise is the smallest combination of legal units that is an organisational unit 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 but can also be part of an enterprise group. The head of an enterprise group can either be located in the same country as the enterprises or in another country.

Global group head: A group head which is not controlled either directly or indirectly by any other legal unit (not a local group head, which has a foreign parent).

Jobs lost: Jobs moved abroad as a result of international sourcing. This also includes jobs that have been moved abroad but the persons previously performing these functions are still employed in the company carrying out other tasks.

Jobs created: the number of new jobs added within an enterprise as a result of international sourcing activities.

4. The public sector and nonprofit organisations are excluded except for public corporations featuring in the non-financial business economy.

5. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.

6. In June 2022, Eurostat published the latest EU GVC survey results, covering the years 2018-2020 for 17 European countries participating in the GVC survey. Data is available in Eurobase: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/experimental-statistics/international-sourcing. Results for the period between 2021 until 2023 are planned to be released end of 2025.

7. A detailed news release calendar is available online.

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