Analyses of enterprise size still sometimes disregard the fact that enterprises may belong to a group, hence to a larger entity. However, when a legal entity joins a group, by creation or acquisition, the development of the units in this group can constitute an alternative form of growth to increasing the workforce in this unit. Organisation into groups predominates even for small units. Thus the majority of legal units with 20 employees and more belong to a group. After substituting groups for their constituent legal units, there are more groups than independent units with 30 employees and over. For even larger sizes, the main explanatory factor of size then becomes the number of units that make up the group.

In terms of dynamics, this suggests that, after joining a group, which is what most small units do, they could then see some of their growth generated “externally” with the creation of new units within the group.

Organisation into groups is typical around the 50-employee threshold: beyond this, the formation of groups intensifies and more legal units are formed within groups that already exist.