This data has been created by the Regional Australia Institute for the [In]Sight competitive index released in 2012. Modelled on the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report [In]Sight was developed in collaboration with Deloitte Access Economics and combines data from sources including the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Social Health Atlas of Australia.
A regions physical endowment in terms of both the access to natural resources and the physical attributes of the region such as climate are hugely influential in determining a regions competitiveness. Access to natural resources can create economic opportunities through offering inputs to production (such as access to water or good quality soil) and can be used to generate production outputs (such as minerals or extractives).
Similarly the physical make up of a region can be an important determinant of the region's ability to connect to external markets. If a region is situated on the ocean they may have access to ports a viable tourism industry and be naturally more connected to wider markets than an inland region. In contrast an area which is difficult to access such as a mountainous region or a remote community will have more difficulty exporting goods and therefore be at an automatic comparative disadvantage.