The International Roundtable on Business Survey Frames
Business Registers, the central element of a system of integrated economic statistics – a proposed framework
Discussion paper for improving the relevance and visibility of the IR on BSF
Prepared by Andreas Lindner, OECD
Introduction
At the 19th Roundtable meeting in Cardiff there has been a quite considerable debate about how to foster the usefulness of this international group of experts and to make it better known to other relevant national and international statistical bodies, groups and meetings.
The background to this fruitful exchange of views was the recognition that, although the Roundtable did fulfil a useful purpose and globally met its objectives, relatively little is known about this group in national and international statistical fora. This fact is potentially dangerous in times of extreme budgetary limitations and need for savings.
A corollary of this identified problem is the acknowledged need to stay relevant and to develop a more programmatic, pro-active stance.
This paper from OECD is intended to stimulate discussion of the Steering Group and other members of the Roundtable. As promised in Cardiff, it concentrates more on strategic, systemic issues with particular emphasis on the international dimension.
The proposed framework
It is proposed to reflect together along three dimensions
o Time & Relevance
o Organisation
o Networking/public relations
All three would not only allow optimising the various inputs into the Roundtable work according to a consistent framework, but also facilitate the work over the longer term and ensure that other related constituencies know about our work and can -if they wish so - contribute to it.
1. Time and Relevance
a) Time
The future agenda of the Roundtable should be embedded in a longer-term structure which could take the following form
o This should guide the overall focus and thrust of work. A concrete example would be: Endorsement by the UNSC of the Roundtable Business Register Manual as world-wide guide
o Here, the focus is on partitioning the different goals by steps, phases etc. of a more detailed work plan.
Example:
o This concerns the individual work modules (e.g. a paper) to achieve the goals stated above.
b) Relevance
This “filter” would allow to rank activities according to their nature and importance. Acknowledging that the decision of what is important is a subjective notion, the proposed ranking aims at distinguishing broader strategic issues from technical or support issues. We would, thus, not only have a way of structuring all strands of Roundtable work according to one agreed scheme, but also have a system in place to select and group activities in a coherent way.
Such a pyramid of relevance could look like this:
2. Organisation
This is a problematic issue in the sense that it touches upon resources where there are no real or at least only very limited resources available on a voluntary basis. This is unlikely to change. The present modus operandi where the last and next meeting organisers take care of the bulk of work worked out quite well. The new Steering Group, which assists within tight limits of time to spend in a more “permanent” way, is the right step into the new direction.
Nevertheless, there seems to be a need for an elected Secretariat for a given number of years to provide steerage (helped by the Steering Group) and accountability. Different scenarios can be envisaged, such as a rotating Secretariat where 3 or more agencies assume this role in turns for two or three years.
It is proposed to look at the modus operandi of the other City Groups for determining if and to what extend a different way of work organisation is necessary.
Talking about City Groups: the Roundtable is one. But if one looks at the UNSD City Group Website…
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/citygroup/index.htm
…the Roundtable is the only one without a city name. The name “Roundtable” also suggests more an informal gathering of experts “around a table” what the Roundtable in reality clearly is not. Hence, and also as suggested by Steve Vale in his paper “Future Goals and Scope”, OECD would strongly support a re-naming.
For the start, a short name (like on the UNSD Web page) could be
“Wiesbaden group/Business Statistics” or “Wiesbaden group/Business Registers”
The longer title needs to be worked out to encompass besides “statistics” the function of BR, the economic and administrative dimension and so forth.
3. Networking/public relations
Everybody agrees probably that networking and public relations are an important element in professional working relations. Consultations with other groups, contributions and advice from these groups can only improve outcomes. Importantly, the connection with related subject matters and groups may also contribute to avoiding making mistakes or correcting misperceptions. Yet, nowadays comes another factor into play which should not be underestimated: the role and usefulness of a group as perceived by others. Right or wrong is not so much the issue. It is rather the image what counts.
Much can be done to improve the situation in this respect.
It is proposed to take a more systematic approach to informing other constituencies or the BR Roundtable work. This can be achieved through different means ranging from standard information, such as Newsletters sent to these, participation in relevant meetings and asking for contributions from these constituencies for forthcoming BR meetings. The chances for getting good input from others increase proportionally with the degree of being known to others and the reputation gained.
The international dimension prevails in this context.
A pragmatic way would be to make our work known to other international institutions, to contribute to the agenda of others (and to receive input from others).
A quick (non exhaustive) list:
o The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is the world-wide statistical body with many specialised sub-groups. A good forum for drawing attention to our BR Roundtable work would be the next ISI meeting which will be held in Lisbon 22-29 August 2007 and where business statistics are, of course, covered
http://www.isi2007.com.pt/isi2007/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
o The United Nations Statistics Division with renewed interest in business statistics (new manual under preparation)
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/industry/meetings/eg2005/ac105-2.asp
o The UN Committee on the Co-ordination of Statistical Activities CCSA:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/workpartner_ccsa.htm
o Relevant activities from other regional UN bodies, such as UNECE, ESCWA, ESCAP, ECLAC
o The OECD Statistics Directorate, where all Trade and SBS work is co-ordinated by the International Trade and Structural Business Statistics Section TASS:
Some examples of meeting events:
OECD Conference: Assessing the feasibility of micro-data access - Luxembourg 26 - 27 October 2006
http://www.oecd.org/document/27/0,2340,en_2649_33715_37502683_1_1_1_1,00.html
Structural Business Statistics (SBS) Expert Meeting: "Towards better Structural Business and SME Statistics", Paris, 3-4 November 2005
http://www.oecd.org/document/0/0,2340,en_2649_34233_35468864_1_1_1_1,00.html
The Bologna Process - Workshop on Improving Statistics on SME's and Entrepreneurship, Paris, 17-19 September 2003
http://www.oecd.org/document/38/0,2340,en_2649_37461_2789222_1_1_1_37461,00.html
The 2nd SBS Expert meeting will take place next year on 10-11 May 2007 at OECD.
The OECD Statistics Directorate also runs a separately funded activity on Entrepreneurship Indicators
The next Entrepreneurship Indicators Steering Group Meeting is planned for 5th and 6th of December 2006, followed by a joint ISTAT/OECD workshop:
http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,2340,en_2825_495649_37719559_1_1_1_1,00.html
The OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry also organises business statistics workshops and seminars with focus on globalisation, innovation and entrepreneurship analysis.
o Eurostat has two Directorates, B and G, which are very relevant for the work of the BR Roundtable group. Besides the Unit B-2 which organises the meetings of the Working Group on Business Registers and Statistical Units, Unit G-1 Organises a full range of meetings where also the work of the BR Roundtable group is touched upon. Theses include
o The Business Statistics Director Meeting BSDG
o The Steering Group on SBS
o The Business Demography meetings
o Etc etc.
o Specialised International Conferences, such as the Comparative Analysis of Enterprise (Micro) Data CAED also cover subjects of direct relevance to our work. The next meeting is planned to take place in late spring 2008 in Budapest.
http://webserver01.ces.census.gov/index.php/caed
o The National Statistical Offices (NSOs) often organise specialized meetings and seminars, some of which would be very relevant to the work of the BR Roundtable Group.
In sum, it is proposed to move towards the centre of intersections of activities organised by various relevant constituencies:
Conclusion: In defining the work programme in a pro-active way, well connected to other constituencies and according to a matrix of time and relevance, the new RT Group could make a recognized and important contribution to the international research agenda.
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