Archive:Industry and services statistics introduced
The European Commission’s enterprise policies aim to create a favourable environment for enterprises and businesses to thrive within Europe, thus creating the higher productivity, economic growth, jobs and wealth that are necessary to achieve the objectives set by the revised Lisbon Strategy.
While competitiveness as a macro-economic concept is understood to mean increased standards of living and employment opportunities for those who wish to work, at the level of individual enterprises or industrial sectors, competitiveness is more concerned with the issue of productivity growth. Enterprises have a variety of options to improve their performance, such as tangible investment or spending on human capital, research and development, or other intangible assets. This latter category covers non-monetary assets created over time in the form of legal assets (such as patents or copyrights, which protect intellectual property) and competitive assets (such as collaboration), which can play an important role in determining the effectiveness and productivity of an enterprise. Human capital is generally regarded as the primary source of competitiveness in relation to intangibles, re-enforcing the belief that enterprises need to constantly invest in their workforces, attracting qualified staff, improving their skills, and maintaining their motivation. Innovation is seen as a key element towards the competitiveness of enterprises, and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) aims to support innovation including eco-innovation, see Chapter 1 for more details.
The legal basis for the European Commission’s activities with respect to enterprise policy is Article 157 of the EC Treaty, which ensures that the conditions necessary for industrial competitiveness exist. It also provides for conditions to encourage entrepreneurial initiatives, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. The EU seeks to:
- reduce administrative burden;
- facilitate the rapid start-up of new enterprises;
- create an environment more supportive of business.
In October 2007, the European Commission adopted a communication (COM-2007 592) entitled 'Small and medium-sized enterprises — key for delivering more growth and jobs: a mid-term review of modern SME policy', which outlines progress since 2005 in SME policy and notes encouraging results in the mainstreaming of SMEs’ interests in policy-making at both national and EU level.
The business environment in which European enterprises operate plays a significant role in their potential success through factors such as access to capital markets (in particular for venture capital), or the openness of markets. Ensuring that businesses can compete openly and fairly is also important with respect to making Europe an attractive place to invest and work in. Creating a positive climate in which entrepreneurs and businesses can flourish is considered by many as the key to generating the growth and jobs that Europe needs. This is all the more important in the globalized economy, where some businesses have considerable leeway to select where they wish to operate.
Further Eurostat information
Database
- Industry, trade and services – horizontal view
- Industry and construction
- Distributive trade
- Services
- Tourism
- Statistics on the production of manufactured goods