BOS Data Appendix from Mok et al

Owned by Philip Stevens
Last updated: Aug 03, 2021
8 min read

To aid researchers new to the Business Operations Survey, we include here the data appendix from A Good Worker is Hard to Find: Skills Shortages in New Zealand Firms, by Penny Thaiyoong Mok, Geoff Mason, Philip Andrew Stevens & Jason Timmins, as it describes how they created their variables with explicit reference to the BOS questions and data items. As an extra help, we have cut and pasted the relevant items from the questionnaire itself (Note the data item codes in light blue type - this is how they will be coded in the data),

Module A (2005 – 2008)

Data items for questions for Module A relate to the 2008 survey. Because of changes to questions, these may differ slightly in earlier years.

Exporting (Export)

This variable relates to question 11 of Module A: ‘Estimate from question 8 the percentage of sales that came from exports’. Data Item A1101. The variable Export takes the value of 1 if the firm reports a non-zero percentage of sales as coming from exports, zero otherwise.

Research and Development (R&D)

This variable relates to question 23 of Module A. Data item (A2300). The question is: ‘For the last financial year, did this business undertake or fund any research and development (R&D) activities?’ The respondents are asked to include: ‘any activity characterised by originality: it should have investigation as its primary objective, and an outcome of gaining new knowledge, new or improved materials, products, services or process’; or ‘the buying abroad of technical knowledge or information’. They were asked to not include: ‘market research’; ‘efficiency studies’; or ‘style changes to existing products’. The variable R&D takes the value of 1 if the response is yes, zero otherwise.

Ownership of overseas businesses (ODI)

This variable relates to question 25 of Module A. Data item (A2500). The question asked is ‘As at the end of the last financial year, did this business hold any ownership interest or shareholding in an overseas located business (including its own branch, subsidiary or sales office)? The variable ODI takes the value of 1 if the response is yes, zero otherwise.

Recruitment difficulties (RecDif)

This variable relates to question 33 of Module A: ‘Over the last financial year, to what extent did this business experience difficulty in recruiting new staff for any of the

following occupational groups?: managers and professionals; technicians and associate professionals; tradespersons and related workers (including apprenticeships); all other occupations’ (Data Items A3301 to A3304). The variable RecDif takes the value of 1 if the respondent reports a severe difficulty in any of the three occupations, zero otherwise. For more on this variable, including an examination of its persistence and a comparison with the hard-to-fill vacancy variable from Module C of BOS 2008, see the discussion in section 3.3 and Appendix A2.

Collective agreements (union)

This variable relates to question 36 of Module A: ‘As at the end of the last financial year, what percentage of this business’s employees were covered by a collective employment agreement?’ (Data item A3600.) The variable union takes the value of 1 if the respondent reports any value above zero and zero otherwise.

Innovation (innovate)

This variable relates to question 42 of Module A. Data item (A4200). The question is: ‘In the last financial year, did this business develop or introduce any new or significantly improved: goods or services; operational processes; organisational/managerial processes; marketing methods?’ The variable innovate takes the value of 1 if the response is yes, zero otherwise.

Competition (monopoly)

Competition is measured through binary variable monopoly. These variables relate to question 47 of Module A. Data item (A4700). The respondents were asked ‘How would you describe this business’s competition?’ The variable monopoly takes the value of 1 if the response is yes, zero otherwise.

6.1.2. Module B – Innovation (2007)

Product innovation (Prod_Innov07)

This variable relates to question 3 of Module B: ‘During the last 2 financial years, did this business introduce onto the market any new or significantly improved goods or services?’ Data Item B0300. Respondents are asked to exclude the selling of new goods or services wholly produced and developed by other businesses. The variable Prod_Innov07 takes the value of 1 if the firm has innovated, zero otherwise.

Operational process innovation (Proc_Innov07)

This variable relates to question 7 of Module B: ‘During the last 2 financial years, did this business implement any new or significantly improved operational processes (i.e. methods of producing or distributing goods or services)?’ Data Item B0700. The variable Proc_Innov07 takes the value of 1 if the firm has innovated, zero otherwise.

Organisational/managerial process innovation (Org_Innov07)

This variable relates to question 10 of Module B: ‘During the last 2 financial years, did this business implement any new or significantly improved organisational/managerial processes (i.e. significant changes in this business’s strategies, structures or routines)?’ Data Item B1000. The variable Org_Innov07 takes the value of 1 if the firm has innovated, zero otherwise.

Marketing innovation (Mark_Innov07)

This variable relates to question 12 of Module B: ‘During the last 2 financial years, did this business implement any new or significantly improved sales or marketing methods which were intended: to increase the appeal of goods or services for specific market segments; to gain entry to new markets’ Data Item B1200. The variable Mark_Innov07 takes the value of 1 if the firm has innovated, zero otherwise.

6.1.3. Module C – Employment Practices (2006)

Training (train06)

This variable relates to question 13 of Module C. Data item (C1300). Respondents were asked: ‘Over the last financial year, have employees in this business received training of any type?’ The variable train06 takes the value of 1 if the response is yes, zero otherwise.

6.1.4. Module C – Business Strategy and Skills

Market focus (mark_int)

This variable relates to question 2 of Module C: ‘In the last 2 financial years, what market accounted for the largest proportion of this business’s total sales of goods or services?’ Data item (C0200). Respondents could answer one of either ‘local’, ‘national’ or ‘international’. The variable mark_int takes the value of 1 if the respondent indicates that their market focus is ‘international’ and zero otherwise.

Customisation (Customise)

This variable relates to question 6 of Module C: ‘Which of the following best describes this business’s goods or services?’ Data item C0600. Respondents answer from one of the following four options: ‘standard range of goods or services’, ‘minor differences in goods or services according to customer requirements’, ‘substantial differences in goods or services according to customer requirements’, or ‘don’t know’. The variable Customise takes the value 1 if the respondent answers ‘substantial differences in goods or services according to customer requirements’, zero otherwise.

Price leadership (Price_Leader)

This variable relates to question 8 of Module C: ‘How often is this business able to obtain a higher price than competitors for its main goods or services?’ Data item C0800. The variable Price_Leader takes the value 1 if the respondent answers ‘always’, zero otherwise.

Occupational vacancy rates (Vman, Vprof, Vtech, Vtrade, Vproftechtra)

These variables relate to the question 15 from Module C: ‘During the last financial year, how many vacancies has this business had for the following roles? managers; professionals; technicians and associate professionals; tradespersons and related workers; clerical, sales and services workers; labourers, production transport or other workers’. Data items C1501 to C1506. Each variable relates to the proportion of vacancies that are made up of the respective occupations as a proportion of all vacancies. For example, that for Vman equals the following data items: C1501/( C1501+ C1502+ C1503+ C1504+ C1505+ C1506).

Internal skill gaps (ISG)

This variable relates to question 20 from Module C: ‘How many of this business’s existing staff have the skills required to do their job?’ Data items C2000 to C2006. There are four response categories: ‘less than half’, ‘half or more’, ‘all staff’ or ‘no staff of this type’. The variable ISG is a binary variable, taking the value of one if the respondent answers that ‘less than half’ for any of the occupations, zero otherwise.

Training

This variable relates to question 24 of Module C. Data item (C2400). Respondents were asked: ‘During the last financial year, have the staff of this business received training of any type?’ The variable train takes the value of 1 if the response is yes, zero otherwise.

Occupational breakdown of staff

This variable relates to questions 10-13 of Module C. Note that every year in Module A, businesses are asked to provide a breakdown of their staff by four occupations (A3201-A3204). Respondents are asked to copy the totals from Module A into boxes in Module C. They are then asked to provide a further breakdown of two of these (‘Managers and professionals’ and ‘all other occupations’). We calculate the proportion of the workforce in each of the occupations, with ‘labourers, production, transport or other workers’ as the baseline category.