London Economics were commissioned by EC DG Enterprise and Industry to undertake an in-depth study on the impact of co-operative groups on the competitiveness of their craft and small enterprise members. The analysis undertaken was based on extensive identification of both co-operatives and their members across the European Union; primary data collection of information on service provision using telephone surveys; and the collection of secondary data on key financial metrics using the Amadeus data set that covers approximately 10 million companies across the European Union.