International Sourcing Survey 2018-2020

Almost three quarters of persons engaged worked in core business functions

Business functions are groupings of common tasks that enterprises must carry out on a regular basis to bring goods or services to the market. Examples of such tasks are research and development (R&D), transport and logistics, marketing and sales, human resources, and information technology (IT). These tasks are then categorised into the broader term of business functions. These functions can then be further categorised into core business functions and support business functions. The core business function is the revenue producing part of the enterprise while the support function is a cost occurring part.

Almost three-quarters (73.4%) of the 904,513 persons engaged in medium and large enterprises in the Irish Business Economy worked in the core business functions of the enterprise. Almost one in five (18.5%) persons engaged worked in Marketing, sales and after-sales services while 18.1% worked in the Production of goods and materials. The business functions which the lowest number of persons engaged worked in were R&D (2.5%), IT (4.4%) and Transport, logistics and storage (7.3%).

More than three-quarters (76.5%) of the persons engaged in the Services sector worked in core business functions while 23.5% worked in support functions. A third (33.4%) of persons engaged in Services worked in Other business functions while one in five (20.7%) persons engaged worked in Management and administration. R&D (2.9%), Engineering and related technical services (6.6%) and IT (6.7%) had the lowest participation of persons engaged in the Services sector.

Of the 181,123 persons engaged in the Distribution sector, 72.0% worked in the revenue producing (core business) function while 28.0% worked in a support function. More than two in five (43.3%) persons engaged worked in Marketing, sales and after-sales services while 14.1% worked in Management and administration. One in ten (9.7%) persons engaged in Distribution enterprises worked in Transport, logistics and storage.

More than two-thirds (67.3%) of the 175,805 people engaged in the Manufacturing sector worked in a core function of the enterprise with most working in the Production of goods and materials (60.5%) while one in ten (10.4%) worked in Management and administration. The business functions which the lowest number of persons engaged worked in were IT (1.1%) and R&D (2.9%).

Of the 47,328 persons engaged in Construction and Other Industry sectors, 69.3% worked in core functions while 30.7% worked in support functions. Three in ten (30.0%) persons engaged worked in Engineering and related technical services while 19.5% worked in Management and administration.  R&D (0.1%), IT (2.5%) and Transport, logistics and storage (6.2%) had the lowest participation rates of persons engaged in these sectors. See Figure 1.1 and Table 1.1.