Press Release – Cities and Regions The current Productivity Commission report into ‘Frontier Firms’ those highly productive, sophisticated and high value export firms – is timely. It outlines an issue we clearly have in New Zealand. The Chair Ganesh Nana says that productivity … The current Productivity Commission report into ‘Frontier Firms’ – those highly productive, sophisticated and high value export firms – is timely. It outlines an issue we clearly have in New Zealand. The Chair Ganesh Nana says that productivity gains from our frontier firms is a key part of the puzzle to improve wellbeing in NZ but unfortunately ‘labour productivity of New Zealand’s frontier firms is less than half (45%) that of the best frontier firms in other small advanced economies (SAE)s’.