A regional analysis of the competitiveness of industries in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa

Abstract

The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality is situated on the Eastern Coastline of SouthAfrica. The metropolitan itself has the potential for major local and regional economic growth buthas experienced significantly low growth over the past few years. Internal constraints that theprovince faces include high production costs, limited economic development and support, dete-riorating infrastructure and limited financial resources. To assess the local economy of the NelsonMandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, the methodological techniques used include the locationquotient and shift-share analysis. The empirical analysis showed that the municipality is highlyspecialised in industries such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, and transport equipment. Theevaluation of the top five industries revealed that business services, wholesale and retail trade,transport and storage, catering and accommodation, and social and personal services have thehighest growth potential and may contribute to future development initiatives. Efforts to stimulateindustrial growth include the promotion of tourism, increasing the market share of wholesale andretail trade, establishing an integrated approach to the services industry, and finally, expanding themarket share of the transport and storage industry