Living on the edge: An anatomy of New Zealand’s most productive firms

Abstract

The New Zealand Productivity Commission (NZPC) is undertaking an inquiry into a central aspect of New Zealand's productivity performance -the economic contribution of its frontier firms. The Government has asked the Commission to investigate how the economic contribution of New Zealand's frontier firms can be maximised through policies aimed at 1) improving the performance of frontier firms themselves; and 2) helping innovations diffuse more effectively from frontier firms to other New Zealand firms. This paper has been commissioned to understand the key characteristics of firms at New Zealand's productivity frontier through the use of Stats NZ's Longitudinal Business Database. It is one of a number of research inputs into the Commission's inquiry (see www.productivity.govt.nz/inquiries/frontier-firms/ for more information).