Pure versus hybrid competitive strategies in the forest sector: Performance implications

The extant forest sector strategy research rests on Porter’s classic dictum that successful firms pursue a singular strategy. A growing research stream on organizational ambidexterity, however, challenges this traditional view and recommends the pursuit of hybrid strategies, a phenomenon that we note existing among forest sector firms. In this study, we set out to compare the financial performance of firms pursuing a singular or pure strategy and those pursuing hybrid strategies. We compare whether a differentiation, overall low cost, or hybrid strategy yields higher financial performance. We first deduce our study hypotheses and then test each using data from 441 US-based manufacturing firms drawn from multiple sub-sectors. We find no evidence that a hybrid strategy is a more effective choice towards enhanced firm performance than a singular strategy. We also find that firms pursuing a differentiation strategy are the highest performers while there is little difference in performance of firms pursuing other strategies.Keywords: Cost leadership, Ambidexterity, Business strategy, Differentiation, Financial performanc

Preferences for urban building materials: Does building culture background matter?

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When innovativeness determines market orientation: the forest sector and the Great Recession

The forest sector and the global financial crisis (GFC) provide a unique setting for investigating the relationships among market orientation, innovativeness and firm performance. While most of the extant literature suggests that market orientation helps a firm build its innovativeness, we suggest that in the production oriented forest sector, especially when reacting to the crisis, being innovative allows a production oriented firm to develop a market orientation. Using data from 142 US-based forest sector manufacturing firms, we find that some types of innovativeness have a positive effect on the dimensions of market orientation. Process & business systems innovativeness positively impact firm performance suggesting that this relationship holds regardless of business cycles or the general state of the economy. We also find that market orientation does not positively impact firm performance, which is in contrast to the majority of the extant literature

Innovation governance in the forest sector : Reviewing concepts, trends and gaps

Innovation in the forest sector is a growing research interest and within this field, there is a growing attention for institutional, policy and societal dimensions and particular when it comes to the question of how to support innovativeness in the sector. This Special Issue therefore focuses on governance aspects, relating to and bridging business and political-institutional-societal levels. This includes social/societal factors, goals and implications that have recently been studied under the label of social innovation. Furthermore, the emergence of bioeconomy as a paradigm and policy goal has become a driver for a variety of innovation processes on company and institutional levels. Our article provides a tentative definition of & ldquo;innovation governance & rdquo; and attempts a stateof-art review of innovation governance research in the forest sector. For structuring the research field, we propose to distinguish between organizational/managerial, policy or innovation studies. For the forestry sector, specifically, we suggest to distinguish between studies focusing on (i) innovative governance of forest management and forest goods and services; on (ii) the governance of innovation processes as such, or (iii) on specific (transformational) approaches that may be derived from combined goals such as innovation governance for sustainability, regional development, or a bioeconomy. Studies in the forest sector are picking up new trends from innovation research that increasingly include the role of societal changes and various stakeholders such as civil society organizations and users. They also include public-private partnership models or participatory governance. We finally should not only look in how far research approaches from outside are applied in the sector but we believe that the sector could contribute much more to our general scientific knowledge on ways for a societal transformation to sustainability.Peer reviewe

Firm Performance, Business Environment, and Outlook for Social and Environmental Responsibility during the Economic Downturn: Findings and Implications from the Forest Sector

The recent economic downturn severely affected the US forest sector from a macro-economic perspective but little is known about changes in firm-level performance. In this study we investigate the changes in financial, social and environmental performance of forest sector firms during a period approximately corresponding to the downturn. We also assess industry dynamism and industry’s view about social and environmental responsibility as a competitive tool. We conducted a national survey of wood, furniture and paper companies. Approximately sixty percent of our respondents reported a decline in financial performance during the downturn. With respect to social and environmental performance, customer oriented actions show mixed trends, employee matters remained somewhat unaltered, community engagement significantly decreased, and engagement in environmental activities significantly increased. Respondents view their operating business environment as highly dynamic and difficult and they do not view engagement in social and environmental responsibility activities leading to either financial or non-financial benefits.This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by NRC Research Press and can be found at: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/journal/cjfr

Building material preferences with a focus on wood in urban housing: durability and environmental impacts

As societies urbanize, a growing proportion of the global population, and an increasing number of housing units will be needed in urban areas. High-rise buildings and environmentally friendly, renewable materials must play important roles in sustainable urban development. To achieve this, it is imperative that policy makers, planners, architects, and construction companies understand consumer preferences. We use data from urban dwellers in the Oslo region of Norway to develop an understanding of material preferences in relation to environmental attitudes and knowledge about wood. We emphasise wood compared with other building materials in various applications (structural, exterior and interior) within urban apartment blocks. We use 503 responses from a web-panel. Our findings show that Oslo area consumers tend to prefer materials other than wood in various applications in apartment blocks, especially structural applications. Still, some respondent prefer wood, including some applications in apartment blocks where wood is currently not commonly used. The best target for wood-based urban housing includes younger people who have strong environmental values. As environmental attitudes evolve in society and a greater proportion of consumers search out environmentally friendly product alternatives, the opportunities for wood to gain market share will most likely increase

Preferences for Urban Building Materials: Does Building Culture Background Matter?

A fast-growing global population, increasing urbanization, and an increasing flow of people with different building cultural backgrounds bring material use in the housing sector into focus. The aim of this study is to identify material preferences in the building environment in cities and to determine if the building cultural background impacts those preferences. The data in this study consisted of responses from two groups of dwellers in Norway, including immigrants from countries where wood is an uncommon building material and native Norwegians from a building culture where wood is common. We found that the most preferred materials were often the same as the most common materials currently used in city buildings. Only small differences were found between the two groups of dwellers that were studied. Most differences were related to concerns about material choice in general and where individuals wanted to live. Respondents who preferred city living preferred commonly used city materials, such as concrete and steel. For cladding materials, stone/bricks were the most preferred. However, stained or painted wood was one of the most preferred, even though it is not commonly used in city buildings

The importance of social networks in the Norwegian firewood industry

Accepted version of an article from journal of Biomass and BioenergyThis study examines the relationship between social network size, innovation and firm performance among firewood producers in Norway. Moreover, it investigates how this relationship is affected both by the structure and variations in networks and by firm size and age. A questionnaire-based survey was sent to managers of firms (including one-person firms) in the firewood industry in Norway. A total of 645 usable replies were received, and the theoretical model was tested using structural equation modeling. The findings show that social network size has a positive effect on firm performance via innovation by firewood producers. Furthermore, the results show that firewood producers with fewer involved family members and more variation in occupation and entrepreneurial experience in their networks benefit more from larger social networks than other producers do

Does the Business Case Matter? The Effect of a Perceived Business Case on Small Firms’ Social Engagement

This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by Springer and can be found at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2835-6The business case for social responsibility (BCSR) is one of the most widely studied topics in the business and society literature that focuses on large firms. This attention is understandable because large firms have an obligation to shareholders who, as commonly assumed, seek to maximize returns on their investments, in turn, pressing corporate managers to show that firms’ expenditures in social engagement would pay off. Small firms, on the other hand, rarely face such pressures, yet the BCSR logic is increasingly applied to small firms as well. Our primary objective in this paper is to examine whether and how much do small firm owners’ perceptions of BCSR affect the firm’s social engagement. In finding a fine-grained answer to those questions, we consider BCSR as a two-dimensional construct consisting of tangible and intangible benefits, and also integrate the BCSR perspective with the slack resource perspective to offer a motivation-capacity lens to examine firm’s social engagement. Drawing on a multi-industry sample of 478 small firms in the US, we find that while small firm owners’ perceptions about potential tangible benefits of social engagement are not related to the firm’s social engagement, perceptions about potential intangible are positively related. Firm’s financial performance is also positively related to its social engagement, but there is no interaction between potential benefits and financial performance. This study contributes to an improved understanding about small firms’ social engagement, which still remains an understudied area. Our results are in line with studies which argue that firms’ social engagement is a response to institutional factors

Forest Land Ownership Change in Europe. COST Action FP1201 FACESMAP Country Reports : Joint Volume

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