Concepts Used in Statistical Business Registers in View of Globalisation and the Information Society

The globalisation of markets and the development of the information society are two factors increasingly affecting statistical business registers. The article describes a number of problems caused by the globalisation process and the information society as which kind of business units should be recorded‐enterprises or enterprise groups, how cross‐border ownership, control and cooperation could be identified in the administrative registers, classification of activity in connection with foreign subsidiaries, recording of date of commencement of foreign subsidiaries in a national economy, recording of places of work in the case of teleworking, problems in connection with the recording of individuals involved in teleworking as self‐employed persons and the emergence of virtual enterprises. The article also raises the question of whether there is a need for an international satellite register for (transnational) concerns. Both globalisation and the growing information society therefore place new demands on statistical business registers, and these demands might necessitate mobilisation of additional resources for maintaining and developing the registers.