In a world of Global Value Chains, understanding MNEs – where they are, how they operate, where they pay taxes – has never been more important. However, surprisingly little official statistics are currently available on individual MNEs. To fill this gap the OECD has begun to develop a new database – the Analytical Database on Individual Multinationals and Affiliates (ADIMA) – using a number of open big data sources that can provide new insights on individual MNEs and their global profiles.

1. MEASURING MNES USING BIG DATA:
INTRODUCING ADIMA
Graham Pilgrim
OECD Statistics and Data Directorate

2. Analytical Database on Multinationals and
their Individual Affiliates (ADIMA)
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Objective Provide statistics on the scale and scope of international activities of
MNEs, taking a ‘whole of the MNE’ view
Output • A register of MNE affiliates
• A digital register of MNE websites
• A set of indicators (at MNE and country level)
• A timely monitoring tool of MNEs’ restructuring
Principles
of ADIMA
• Open: Use of open data allows for full dissemination without privacy
restrictions
• Blended: Mixes traditional with alternative data sources, reflects
importance of digitalisation and allows for real-time insights.
• Verifiable: Decision path of how the relationships have been
determined is available.
Use • Build on/contribute to other initiatives
• Aid profiling work of NSOs and reduce asymmetries created by MNEs
• Support narrative on trade-investment nexus and global value chains
Progress • Data are now available for 100 of the world’s largest MNEs and
coverage will be extended in future releases.

3. • Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) have been at the forefront of
changes in the global economy over the last few decades
– Trade and investment barriers, and transportation and communication costs
have declined
– Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stocks now amount to 40% of Global GDP (up
from 25% in 2005).
– Despite the current slowdown in FDI flows, digitalisation provides scope for
renewed momentum.
• In a world of Global Value Chains, understanding MNEs has never
been more important. However, surprisingly little official statistics
are currently available on individual MNEs.
• OECD AMNE database compiles aggregated MNE data, however
coverage varies by country – ADIMA aims to complement this data
source.
Why is ADIMA needed?
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4. Data Source Description
Annual Reporting Annual reports give details of financials and
reporting scope. Manually captured.
PermID Database of companies made available by
Thomson Reuters.
Legal Entity Identifier Database of companies engaging in financial
transactions along with relationships.
Security Certificates Database of websites and the security certificate
which exists on the site
Common Crawl Database of websites: including underlying text,
underlying links and importance of each site
Wikidata Database of companies from Wikidata, including
websites, relationships and daily page views
GDELT Project Database of global news and events, fully
searchable by time period and phrase
Open Street Map Database of geographic locations (eg. Shops,
Factories etc).
What does ADIMA consist of?
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5. >Name
>News
articles
OSM
>Website
>Location
Wikidata
>Website
>Daily Page Views
>Ownership
>Name
PermID
>Business Name
>Website
>LEI
How is data in ADIMA interlinked?
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Annual Reporting
>Declared Subsidiaries
>Financial Variables
NameMatching
>LEI
>Business No.
>Ownerships
Common
Crawl
>Website
>Hyperlink
Graph
LEI
Website
LEI Ownership
>Website
>Business No.
>Business NameBusiness No.
Website
Name Matching
Website
Website
Ownership
Name

6. What does this look like for a MNE?
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Tesco PLC Carrefour SA
 432 discovered subsidiaries
 Presence found in 29 Countries
 81 Websites
 541 discovered subsidiaries
 Presence found in 18 Countries
 70 Websites

7. What does ADIMA tells us?
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100 OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST MNES
17 HEADQUARTER COUNTRIES
NEARLY $10 TRILLION IN REVENUES
$730 BILLION IN PROFITS
$185 BILLION RESERVED FOR TAXES
YIELDING AN AVERAGE 25% TAX RATE

8. More targeted analysis
• Lower Effective Tax Rate for MNEs in sectors where intangible
assets are part of value-creation and provide scope for fiscal
optimisation through locating the assets in lower-tax economies
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9. Where are firms physically located?
• ADIMA-100 captures 26,000 subsidiaries
(Download)
• In the UK, annual reports can identify 74
of the ADIMA-100 with a physical
presence but complementary sources are
able to identify a further 11 MNEs.
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10. Why do we need to extend this focus
to digital?
• A focus on physical presence alone may
not capture pure digital presence
• The provision of digitised services
currently sits uncomfortably (in
international accounting standards)
between the two traditional routes to
global markets (foreign presence and
cross-border trade)
• This may affect the current international
comparability of international trade, GDP
and/or primary income flows (GNI). 10

11. What is the Digital Presence of
MNEs?
• ADIMA-100 captures around 20,000
websites (Download)
– Significant and comparable to the physical
presence
• In Estonia, only 10 of the ADIMA-100 are
captured as being physically present but a
further 19 have an electronic presence.
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12. How does ADIMA enhance
geographic presence discovery?
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But also at an MNE level. For example, Annual Reports for Alphabet, the
parent company of Google, show subsidiaries in 2 OECD countries but
ADIMA’s physical and digital register bumps this up to all OECD countries.
ADIMA increases our knowledge of geographic presence for all OECD
countries:

13. • Database and methodology now available:
oe.cd/ADIMA
• For any queries about ADIMA, please
email : graham.pilgrim@oecd.org
Get Involved
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