—
Successful regions generally have two or three areas in which they excel. Examples are Marlborough in wine, Southland in dairying, Waikato in agri-business, Taranaki in energy and Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay in horticulture. Wairarapa lacks decisive areas of comparative advantage. There are areas where it has shown promise such as wine, artisan and tourism, and there are opportunities to grow and harness these sectors.

Clusters of comparative advantage can bring economies of scale to an economy, with shared infrastructure and logistics helping create a more cost-effective foundation for enterprises.

—
There is strong growth in the old and young populations, with the older population bringing cash to the economy.But there is negligible growth in the economically productive age of 18 to 60 years. These are the people who populate the enterprises that drive the economy. Employment growth is behind the national average, and we need to attract more people in the productive age group to the region to sustain a push for robust areas of comparative advantage, to address the required quantity and range of skills.

—
After a long period of low growth, there has been steady growth in the last five years in line with the rest of New Zealand. People in the Wairarapa have felt more prosperous than they have for a long time. This has been significantly aided by population growth and people bringing wealth to the region through retirement and remote employment. These windfall gains are nice to have but need to be supported by a resilient economy. A resilient economy needs sustainable long-term growth of local employment and enterprise, ideally some of which is clustered in areas of comparative advantage.

—
While there has been an improvement in productivity in recent years, the Wairarapa is at best on the national productivity average. This is the result of many things, but in particular, the small scale of businesses, skill deficits and the lower level of technology enablement of businesses. Technology enablement is particularly important because it can facilitate the production of small volume and short run products marketed directly to the end user. By cutting out the middleman cost Wairarapa producers can produce bespoke products at a lower cost making them more competitive.

—
Wairarapa sees itself as a rural region however growth is taking place in urban based businesses and occupations. This is not sufficiently recognised, perhaps even ignored. Most of the faster growing enterprises are not in the agricultural sector. The Wairarapa is becoming, like the rest of New Zealand, increasingly urban.

—
The Wairarapa has not so far been able to articulate a shared sense of direction for the future that has resonated widely across the region. This strategy, alongside joined up leadership, is an opportunity to create strong forward momentum for the economy and community.