Target group of the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) are the firms of the manufacturing industry of the participating countries.

The following sectors were surveyed in 2009:

• Manufacture of food products and beverages
• Manufacture of tobacco products
• Manufacture of textiles
• Manufacture of wearing apparel; dressing and dyeing of fur
• Tanning and dressing of leather; manufacture of luggage, handbags, saddlery, harness and footwear
• Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plating materials
• Manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products
• Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media
• Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel
• Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
• Manufacture of rubber and plastics
• Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products
• Manufacture of basic metals
• Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment
• Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.
• Manufacturers of office machinery and computers
• Manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus n.e.c.
• Manufacture of radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus
• Manufacture of medical, precision and optical instruments, watches and clocks
• Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers
• Manufacture of other transport equipment
• Manufacture of furniture; manufacturing n.e.c.
• Recycling

A harmonised set of questions concerning the topics "technical modernisation of the value added processes", "introduction of innovative organisational concepts and processes" as well as "new business models to complement innovative organisational concepts and processes" was surveyed per mail or online in the respective national languages. In some countries the questionnaires contain some additional, specific questions