Commercial Enterprises

Results of the 1988 Census of Non-Agricultural Enterprises carried out by the Austrian Central Statistical Office confirm that differences in profitability, cyclical sensitivity and structural adjustment related to firm size persisted during the 1980ies. Small and medium-size enterprises exhibit a profitability markedly higher than that of large firms although the gap has been somewhat reduced between 1983 and 1988. Firms with 100 to 999 employees are less vulnerable to cyclical fluctuations than those in the size brackets below and above. Large enterprises tend to be more severely affected by structural crises than small and medium-size firms.