Regarding its informative content, the sample is aimed above all at capturing information about the firms' strategies, that is to say, about the decisions they take regarding the competition tools at their disposal. These tools comprehend from the most flexible, which experience frequent short-term oscillations (prices), to those which require longer periods (R&D expenses). As these decisions are taken in close interaction with the company's competitive environment, the sample collects ample information concerning that environment (the company's markets). This information is completed with some accounting data which make possible to measure its results. The following Table summarizes the ESEE's basic content.

SUMMARY OF THE CONTENT OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE OF THE SURVEY ON CORPORATE STRATEGIES (ESEE)

a) ACTIVITY, PRODUCTS AND MANUFACTURING PROCESSES: It includes some characteristics of the company and its activities, as are its industrial and non-industrial facilities, its legal structure and some of the significant participations in its social capital, activity and characteristics of the manufactured products, technology employed.

b) CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS: It includes information regarding the nature of the company's customers, the final destination of the products which it manufactures, distribution channels employed, marketing activities, characteristics of the suppliers and services contracting.

c) COSTS AND PRICES: It provides information about the prices paid by the company and about the sale price policy.

d) MARKETS COVERED: It includes information regarding the markets covered by the company, which must cover at least 50% of all its sales, being identified by product lines, kind of customers, geographical area or other characteristics. The information is referred to the company's market share, number of competitors and the share belonging to the most important, the variation experienced in the prices during the year, and the reasons of that change.

e) TECHNOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES: It includes questions related to the R&D activities, patent filing, product and process innovations and payments and income for licenses and technical assistance.

f) FOREIGN TRADE: It includes exports and imports, distribution by geographical areas and access channels to international markets.

g) EMPLOYMENT: It includes the employees working in the company, its structure according the kind of contracts, their professional categories and qualifications, as well as other data for determining the effective work time during the year.