. Private enterprise may haveprovid

. Private enterprise may have
provided eventually, although the longer it did not, the greater was the risk
that population exit would have increased the difficulty of viability.
With respect to the other community enterprises examined for this thesis, it is
not possible to come to a categorical conclusion that the particular
community enterprise was essential to enhancing the quality of life for that
community. We can say that the community would be a different place
without it, and that in many people’s opinion that place would be poorer. In a
number of circumstances even that would be contested. Examples are offered
to clarify.
For example, is Taranaki a better place for the TSB Bank’s operation? The
impression was gathered during the course of the study that by far the
majority of people would say it is. But consider the alternatives. If the TSB
had decided not to go it alone in 1986 and followed the path of the other
trustee banks in the next decade, what would be the outcome today? The TSB
Community Trust would still be in existence and it still would have sizable
funds to distribute, although arguably not as much as now. The Bank’s
branches would not exist, and in all probability would have been absorbed
into the mergers that have occurred amongst the large banks. Thus,
employment opportunities would be fewer. The particular trading emphasis
that the TSB Bank gives, and which is highly appreciated by its customers,
would not be available although it is likely that acceptable alternatives would
be, however much they may be poorer in nature. The trading of the TSB
Bank outside the region would not occur, thus eliminating the profits that are
eventually returned to Taranaki. The prominent sponsorship of local events
and activities would not be available but here again replacement would be
likely to occur for the majority of cases, for that is the way of the commercial
world. The conclusion that more comfortably fits from all this is that the TSB
Bank is a very desirable organisation for Taranaki and materially benefits the
region.