Profile of Furniture Manufacturers in the U.S. South: Structure and Industry Growth Factors

Economic growth and development strategies typically center on either retention and expansion of existing companies or attracting new industrial investment. In addition, wood products industry development efforts generally focus on value-added secondary processing or remanufacturing. The furniture industry is one value-added sector that has been promoted with great success, particularly in the U.S. South. This paper gives an overview of the furniture industry structure in the South and discusses elements of success and impediments to industry growth and development

A Model of Employee Satisfaction: Gender Differences in Cooperative Extension

Employee satisfaction is an important issue for management and employees in any organizational setting. We developed a generalized model of employee satisfaction and tested it for both female and male U.S Extension employees. Results indicate that there are no differences in the antecedents of employee satisfaction between genders

Economic Implications of Forest Products Sector Industry Development in Northwest Louisiana (Bulletin #874)

In this study, industry development opportunities specific to northwestern Louisiana were examined. This publication focuses on the economic impacts of forest products industry development in this region.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/agcenter_bulletins/1028/thumbnail.jp

Forest Products Certification: The Business Customer Perspective

While only a handful of wood products suppliers and business customers are currently involved in manufacturing or purchasing certified wood products, the potential exists for increased industry participation. Previous empirical work on environmental certification has examined the perceptions and a titudes of consumers, with few studies examining the perceptions of corporate customers. This research examines perceptions and activities associated with environmentally certified wood products for architects, building contractors, and home center retailers. Study results indicate that industrial forest product customers are not supportive of wood products certification efforts. Even when management environmental concern exists, there is a breakdown in elevating this concern to a corporate commitment or philosophy. Additionally, the federal government was consistently found to be the organization least trusted to certify forest management practices, while independent third-party certifiers were most trusted. A willingness to pay for certification was mixed, and few respondents felt that their customers would pay a premium for certified products

Industry Structure and Market Potential for Value-added Wood Products in Northwest Louisiana (Bulletin #872)

This bulletin explains how value-added secondary wood processing offers opportunities for increased profitability through higher margins and increased profits. It also includes information on how secondary manufacturers can generally increase prices to make up for lost profits when raw material costs rise.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/agcenter_bulletins/1030/thumbnail.jp

Spatial Analysis of Forests Products Manufacturer Clusters in Louisiana

The forest products (FP) industry is the most important segment of the agricultural sector in the state of Louisiana with regard to farm gate value and added value. According to Michael Porter, the FP industry has cluster characteristics concentrating in geographic areas due to competitive advantages. This analysis explores the spatial distribution of Primary and Secondary FP manufacturers in Louisiana in order to identify spatial clusters and model industry frequencies as a function of socio-economic variables. Forest Products industry, socio-economic, and geographic data were obtained from the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center and the U.S. Census Bureau. Results suggest that Primary FP companies show a higher spatial dependency compared to Secondary FP manufacturers as well as evidence of clustering of Secondary FP manufacturers. Regression analysis shows that total population is the variable most significantly correlated to clustering of Secondary FP manufacturers