Location of SMEs in New Zealand
Most SMEs are located in the major centre
SMEs in this section are defined as geographic units that are within enterprises and employing 19 or fewer FTEs. The graphs below give an indication of the concentration of these firms around New Zealand. Not surprisingly, the majority of SMEs are found in the larger centres, with the highest numbers of these enterprises located in Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury.
Figure 10: Number of Geographic Units with 0-19 FTEs by Regional Council Area
| Regional Council | No. of Geographic Units |
| Northland | 9,693 |
| Auckland | 99,706 |
| Waikato | 24,646 |
| Bay of Plenty | 17,140 |
| Gisborne | 2,429 |
| Hawke's Bay | 9,092 |
| Taranaki | 6,465 |
| Manawatu-Wanganui | 13,326 |
| Wellington | 33,204 |
| Tasman | 2,839 |
| Nelson | 3,512 |
| Marlborough | 3,198 |
| West Coast | 2,008 |
| Canterbury | 32,960 |
| Otago | 12,473 |
| Southland | 5,923 |
The proportion of employment generated by SMEs is greatest in Tasman and Northland...
However, the regions where the highest proportion of employment is generated by SMEs are Tasman (57.9 percent) and Northland (53.7 percent). The larger metropolitan areas of Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury show some of the lower proportions, where larger businesses employ a greater proportion of the labour force.
...nevertheless, SMEs make up similar proportions of total businesses in all regions
This difference in distribution of FTEs does not appear to be related to the distribution of enterprises. In Tasman Region, 91.3 percent of all enterprises are SMEs, while in Northland Region the figure is 90.4 percent. For Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury the proportions are much the same: 91.7 percent, 89.8 percent and 88.8 percent respectively.
Figure 11: Percentage of FTEs Employed by SMEs by Regional Council Area
| Regional Council | % of FTEs |
| Northland | 53.68 |
| Auckland | 41.38 |
| Waikato | 46.34 |
| Bay of Plenty | 49.76 |
| Gisborne | 46.72 |
| Hawke's Bay | 41.83 |
| Taranaki | 42.37 |
| Manawatu-Wanganui | 40.98 |
| Wellington | 36.07 |
| Tasman | 57.93 |
| Nelson | 39.60 |
| Marlborough | 49.33 |
| West Coast | 49.38 |
| Canterbury | 40.22 |
| Otago | 41.52 |
| Southland | 40.50 |
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