A report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) on behalf of ExportNZ, is shining a light on what is holding New Zealand back, the effectiveness of export policies, and how best to move forward.
ExportNZ executive director Catherine Beard says the Lifting Export Performance report is a sobering reality check on the state of the nation’s export performance and how vital it is to get the policy framework right.
“This report focuses on addressing New Zealand’s big issues – its smallness and isolation,” she says. “You can’t fake scale.”
Key points from the report include that the government is already doing a lot to support export capability, that public spending has acted like a tax on the export sector, there is merit in investigating policies to reward high-performing firms that retain capability in New Zealand and smaller New Zealand companies need to collaborate onshore to compete offshore.
Scale up or perish
Sunday, 02 December 2012
