The survey of medium-to-large forest industry firms across the South found 11,215 landowners enrolled in formal industrial landowner assistance programs in 1989. LAPs appeal to landowners with relatively large holdings who normally have financial returns as a part of their objectives. The forest industry has encouraged this group of owners to participate because of the efficiency in managing large tracts. The average LAP tract size of 428 acres is much larger than the average southern NIPF holding of 47 acres by a factor of ten (Birch et al. 1982). The forest industry enrolled 4,798,274 acres in their LAPs in 1989. Most firms indicated that they planned to increase the size of their LAPs by a total of 1,094,000 acres (23%) over the next five years. The popularity of LAPs in the forest industry appears to be based primarily upon their reliability and cost in comparison to other timber supply strategies (i.e., fee land, leased land, and the open market). Over half (53%) of the firms reported that they had successfully purchased at least 90 percent of the desired timber put up for sale in their LAPs. In case studies of three company programs, a capital budgeting analysis showed that the LAP was the least costly alternative for one firm and that the open market was the least costly timber supply strategy, followed closely by LAPs, for two firms. The LAP was the least costly strategy for Company C primarily because the probability of procuring timber in the LAP (0.95) was much greater than the probability of procurement on the open market (0.30). Since more than half of the surveyed firms were successful in purchasing a substantial part (90%) of the desired timber offered for sale in their LAPs, these results suggest that firms which operate in areas of heavy competition for timber, with correspondingly low probabilities of procurement success on the open market, may find LAPs to be their least expensive timber supply strategy. / Master of Science

The strategic importance of the adoption of innovative processing technologies was analyzed for building products businesses. This study examined the two components of wood building products businesses: the structural panel industry and the softwood Iumber industry. To ensure that the relevance of adopting of innovative processing technologies was examined within an accurate contextual environment, additional important strategies and performance were also measured. A mail survey of the seventy-five largest North American producers of these two products provided the primary data necessary to investigate the strategic importance of process technology adoption, forward vertical integration, relative market share, grade sector focus, and investment intensity on firm performance as measured by profitability surrogates and changes in relative market share. This survey collected direct measures of the proportion of 1987 production produced by respondent firms that used controlled distribution channels and each of twentythree processes indicative of innovative technologies in the manufacture of building products. Information concerning the other strategic and performance factors was collected from secondary data sources. Results indicate that the adoption of innovative processing technologies has a positive impact on firm profitability. Investment intensity and grade sector focus also contributed to superior profitability. Forward vertical integration, and relative market share had no impact in differences between performance levels for the firms studied. Technologies were examined for underlying dimensions that group different process technologies together. Firms were clustered according to their level of adoption of innovative processing technologies and these clusters were then described according to a variety of firm-dependent characteristics, strategies, and performance measures. A strategy-performance model was developed for standardized, industrial product-markets and empirically tested using the data collected for the building products industry as an industry representative of this type of competitive environment. / Ph. D.

The value-based approach to defining quality was used to investigate the value perceptions of softwood lumber treaters in the United States. Conjoint measurement techniques were used to estimate the trade-offs treaters make between quality enhancing attributes and price. Five intrinsic lumber attributes and five service attributes were chosen for inclusion in the study based on Hansen (1994) and personal interviews with treaters. Price was represented in the study relative to the current market price. Data were gathered in two stages through mail surveys of softwood lumber buyers at treating plants located in the United States. In the first stage, value ratings of 20 hypothetical combinations of lumber attributes and 20 hypothetical combinations of service attributes were obtained along with demographic information. In the second stage, value ratings of 20 hypothetical total products (combinations of both lumber and service attributes) were obtained. Utility functions for lumber value and service value were determined using ordinary least squares regression. Treaters gave the most importance to wane when evaluating the value of lumber packs. Price emerged as the second most important attribute in influencing treaters' perceptions of lumber value. Respondents considered the importance of the remaining lumber attributes in the following order: accuracy of grading, damage to lumber pack, and lumber straightness. A model to estimate the value of any combination of the attributes included in the study was developed. Simulation results suggest that treaters are willing to sacrifice $15.00 more per a thousand board feet for wane free lumber versus lumber with the maximum allowable wane. In the same fashion, respondents’ price sensitivity to other lumber attributes was determined. A service value utility function was developed based on the perceived value ratings. Price was the most important attribute in determining service value perceptions. Among all service attributes, lumber availability emerged as the most important. The second most important attribute in the determination of service value was reputation of the supplier. Respondents considered the supplier's ability to deliver lumber when promised as the third most important service attribute. The attributes, Supplier's ability to handle problems professionally and the ease with which supplier can be contacted by phone played a minor role in influencing service value. Based on the lumber value and service value analyses, lumber and service attributes were chosen for the final stage of data collection. Using a mail survey, perceived value ratings for hypothetical total products (lumber and service attributes) were obtained from the same respondents who provided data for the first stage of the analysis. Respondents in general, gave more importance to lumber quality than to service quality. Wane emerged as the most important attribute in influencing total product value. Price was considered to be the second most important attribute in the determination of perceived total product value. Respondents gave more importance to lumber availability than to reputation of the supplier while evaluating overall value. Accuracy of grading was considered to be the least important total product attribute. The results show that softwood lumber firms can differentiate themselves by providing wane free lumber and providing at least average service quality to their customers. The improved understanding of treaters’' needs and trade-offs should enable softwood lumber companies to plan the marketing strategies to achieve short- and long-term objectives while providing the most value to treaters. / Ph. D.

Attention has been drawn to the observation that environmental benefits under the current regulatory approaches are diminishing with respect to increased pollution control costs. Regulators have begun to appreciate that while environmental gains can still be achieved under the current command and control system, the most significant environmental gains have already been made, and an alternative regulatory approach might be warranted for continued environmental improvement. This study found that regulatory initiatives that seek to address business incentives and disincentives may yield better environmental outcomes. Internal characteristics such as corporate environmental directives, waste audit and environmental performance tracking systems and linkage of compensation to environmental performance are evident in firms that have attempted to adapt to regulatory pressures. These characteristics, according to organizational models, are posited to improve the environmental performance of firms as environmental issues are linked to key business decisions. This study was conducted by surveying firms in the forest products industry. Certain firms were found to exhibit specific internal characteristics indicative of good environmental performance. The study attempts to identify the implication this finding has on regulators in terms of policy design and implementation. The study suggests that the optimum regulatory strategy is a hybrid of a command and control approach and a market-based approach which blends the compliance assurance of the command and control approach to address motivating firm behavior with the flexibility of the market-based approach to provide firms incentives to improve environmental performance. The study concludes that the value of such a hybrid approach which attempts to address firm incentives and disincentives related to their environmental practices will result in improved environmental performance. / Graduation date: 1998

The wood-based building products industry has experienced significant turbulence over the past several decades as a function of multiple forces including among others globalization, product and process innovation, and shifting customer and consumer interest and demands. Collectively, these changes have challenged the historical tenets which have defined industry strategy and competition in the realm of basic products and contributed to consolidation and labor reductions. Consequently, an onus has been placed on industry participants to better understand and adapt to the new competitive landscape or risk loss of competitive advantages built on the practices suited to historical tradition. However, a limited range of work that considers the machinations of turbulence and resulting strategic implications has been directed toward the industry particularly where differentiation of products is limited. A contributing factor for this deficiency is the relative stability that has defined the industry for generations due in part to limited strategic variation beyond cost and production, limited cycles of technological and product innovation, commodity nature of many products, and passive manner of consumption. Accordingly, there is value in work that takes a critical and empirical view of industry changes in the context of both strategic and competitive implications, how participating firms address challenges, and what factors influence consumer purchase decisions. This work addresses this need through examination of each element, industry, firm, and consumer, in the context of turbulence, competition, and strategy and delineates previously unidentified considerations for competing in the new landscape. At the industry level, drivers of industry turbulence and subsequent strategic challenges, adaptations, and opportunities are identified and reviewed. Analysis suggests that improved strategy which considers organizational and product differentiation beyond cost and production efficiencies permits greater stability and increased leverage in the turbulent competitive environment. Recognizing a need for improved strategy, the firm level analysis employs a primary qualitative approach to isolate previously unidentified firm qualities analogous to successful deployment of a market orientation strategy using the resource based view of the firm as a framework for analysis. Connecting strategy to the consumer and product, theoretical consumer behavior constructs (consumption, behavior, and involvement) were connected to conceptualize dimensions of product differentiation capable of holding consumer appeal and acting as behavioral drivers in the passively consumed arena of primary wood-based building products. Taken together this work provides a view of strategic considerations within the wood-based building product industry that extends beyond previous work in several ways. First, by considering industry environment, firm strategy, and consumer behavior and product differentiation collectively in the manner described, this work provides a more vertically complete strategic perspective for industry participants. Second, within each chapter, findings and case based examples relevant to each element are presented. / Graduation date: 2012

Diss. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Waterloo, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jan. 26, 2006). Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-201).

Este trabalho tem como propósito, caracterizar um sensor capaz de identificar o estado de umidade da madeira de Pinus da espécie Elliotti. O sensor projetado, foi implementado por duas placas metálicas de formato geométrico retangular formando um componente bipolar capacitivo. Para condicionar os sinais do sensor, foi implementado um circuito elétrico em ponte e integrado o sensor capacitivo nesse circuito elétrico que será alimentado por uma fonte de energia elétrica em corrente alternada (VCA) de alta frequência. O objetivo dessa integração, é obter nos ramos da ponte uma variação de sinal elétrico, em função da variação da reatância capacitiva entre as placas do sensor. A reatância capacitiva, é uma propriedade elétrica identificada na madeira quando essa atua como dielétrico entre as placas metálicas do sensor, e poderá sofrer variações em função da variação de umidade dos corpos de prova. Com a variação da reatância elétrica da madeira de pinus, foi possível registrar a variação da umidade dos corpos de prova tendo como parâmetro as variações dos sinais elétrico fornecidos pela ponte em função da reatância capacitiva. Para se obter os registros e realizar um método de comparação entre a umidade dos corpos de prova e sinal elétrico, os corpos de prova foram inicialmente saturados com água e durante um processo de secagem, foram coletados valores de leitura das grandezas elétrica envolvidas durante intervalos de tempos iguais até atingir o peso de massa seca. O diferencial desse trabalho em relação a outros do mesmo tema, é a sua capacidade de identificar em apenas uma ação, sem a utilização de processos destrutivos, pequenas áreas úmidas dentro de uma área de maior dimensão do material analisado. Os resultados obtidos, poderão ser visualizadas através de quadros, tabelas e gráficos. / This work proposes to characterize a sensor able to identify the Pinus wood moisture status of the Elliotti species. The designed sensor was implemented by two metal plates of rectangular geometric shape forming a bipolar capacitive component. To conditionate the sensor signals, a bridged electric circuit has been implemented and the capacitive sensor integrated into this electrical circuit to be fed by a high frequency alternating current power source (VCA). The purpose of this integration is to obtain in the bridge’s branches an electric signal variation, as a capacitive reactance variation function between the sensor plates. Capacitive reactance is an electrical property identified in the wood when it acts as a dielectric between the sensor metal plates, and may suffer variations depending on the sample humidity variation. With the Pinus wood electric reactance variation, it was possible to record the humidity variation of the samples having as a parameter the electric signals variations provided by the bridge as a capacitive reactance function. In order to obtain the records and perform a comparison method between the humidity of the samples tests and the electrical signal, the samples were initially saturated with water and during a drying process, and the values of the electrical quantities involved were collected during equal time periods, until reaching the dry mass weight. The differential of this work in relation to others of the same theme, is its ability to identify in only one action, without destructive processes usage, small humid spots within a larger area of the analyzed material. The obtained results can be visualized through tables, tables and graphs.

The focus of this field investigation was an analysis of the work demands being placed on South African forestry workers, in particular Chainsaw Operators and Stackers. Working postures, physiological and perceptual responses were assessed on a sample of 58 workers (29 Chainsaw Operators and 29 Stackers) during a ‘normal’ working shift. Body mass was measured before and after work in order to determine dehydration levels. Polar heart rate monitors were fitted to six workers each day over a period of two weeks in order to record ‘working’ heart rates. Fluid and food intake was monitored and recorded during this initial data collection phase. The Rating of Perceived Exertion and Body Discomfort Scales were explained in Zulu, their native language, and workers were asked to rate their perceptions of effort at regular intervals during work, while areas and intensity of body discomfort was obtained on completion of work. After completing a work shift, a 30 minute ‘recovery’ period was given, thereafter a portable ergospirometer, the k4b², was attached to the worker who then participated in a progressive, submaximal step test for the purpose of establishing individual, and group, heart rate-oxygen uptake (HR/VO[subscript 2]) regressions for predicting oxygen uptake from ‘working’ heart rate responses. These procedures were repeated four weeks later following the introduction of a fluid and nutritional supplement during work which was delivered to the workers while they were executing their tasks. The results revealed awkward working postures with a predominance of trunk flexion during all the harvesting tasks; these postures, adopted for long periods during work, are very likely to lead to the development of musculoskeletal injuries. The mean working heart rates were 123.3 bt.min[superscript (-1)] and 117.6 bt.min[superscript (-1)] during chainsaw operations and stacking respectively. During the step test, the mean heart rate and oxygen uptake responses were 127.9 bt.min[superscript (-1)] and 22.9 mlO[subscript 2].kg[superscript (-1)].min[superscript (-1)] (Chainsaw Operators) and 116.9 bt.min[superscript (-1)] and 24.0 mlO[subscript 2].kg[superscript (-1)].min[superscript (-1)] (Stackers), revealing no significant difference between the ‘working’ heart rates and the heart rates recorded during the step test. Physiological responses were analyzed over the full work shift which was divided into four quarters. Heart rate and oxygen uptake were significantly higher during the last half of the Chainsaw Operators’ work shift compared to the first half. Heart rate increased from 120.7 bt.min[superscript (-1)] during the first quarter to 127.4 bt.min[superscript (-1)] during the last quarter of chainsaw operations. Likewise, oxygen uptake increased from 19.9 mlO[subscript 2].kg[superscript (-1)].min[superscript (-1)] to 22.9 mlO[subscript 2].kg[superscript (-1)].min[superscript (-1)] from the first to the last quarter of work. During stacking the heart rate (mean of 117.6 bt.min[superscript (-1)]) and oxygen uptake (mean of 24.6 ml.kg[superscript (-1)].min[superscript (-1)]) responses remained stable over the duration of the working shift. Workers lost, on average, 2.8% body mass during work while felling and cross-cutting and 3.6% during stacking. This reduced significantly to a loss of 0.4% body mass when re-tested following the introduction of water and food during the work period. Likewise, the energy deficit was significantly improved due to the introduction of a nutritional supplement. Pre-intervention the deficit was 8861.8 kJ (Chainsaw Operators) and 8804.2 kJ (Stackers) while in the post-intervention phase this deficit was reduced by approximately 50% for both groups of workers.

This research which makes reference to Sappi South Africa is grounded in a South African context, within the forestry industry. The aims of the study are to- 1. Provide a description of corporate social investment (in a Sappi/ South African context) from a theoretical, corporate and legislative perspective which will describe current Sappi CSI activity, its implementation, measurement and the driving force behind them. 2. To articulate a sound understanding without judgement of the current status of corporate social investment based upon the application of (1) above. 3. To position Sappi’s CSI approach on a macro government/ corporate power scale which will facilitate rich understanding concerning the long term sustainability of Sappi’s CSI approach on the corporation, the forestry industry and the South African economy. 4. To distill a consensual interpretation that is more informed and sophisticated than previous constructions within Sappi Forest Products Division. The qualitative research is descriptive. A single case-study method has been adopted. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as a late twentieth-century American movement, is a modern manifestation of an ancient debate amongst philosophers and theologians in many lands and cultures about the morality of commerce itself (Hood, 1996). Friedman (1962) quoted in Anshen (1980:10) argues that business should not and must not deviate from its profit orientation and that it should be concerned only with its economic performance. Friedman supported the notion ‘the business of business is business’ and adds, as quoted in Smith (1990:60), that to suggest corporations should have a social responsibility is to fail to understand the way in which the market is and must be played and asks, ‘if business does have a social responsibility other than making profits for shareholders, how are they to know what it is? Frederick et al, (1998:36) argue that Corporate Social Responsibility balances power with responsibility, responds to public needs and expectations and can contribute to correcting societal imbalances implicit in most economies. Smith (1990:89) suggests that the social control of business is achieved by either virtue of moral obligation, market forces and legislation, or, manipulation, inducement and force. Beesley and Evans (1978) quoted in Smith (1990:54) note ‘there is recognition of the growth of corporate power and the consequent perception of relative shift from government to companies as the source of social improvement and the means to promote specific items of social welfare.’ On this basis it may therefore be concluded that societal responsibilities should be shared between government and business, and in this way power balanced and a healthy pluralistic state developed. The vision of Sappi’s Corporate Social Investment program is to be instrumental in empowering and creating opportunities for both personnel and their dependent communities in order to address their self-defined needs. Sappi’s CSI activity is concentrated on education and community development, environmental preservation and conservation, social welfare and arts and culture. CSI practices are driven by morality, enlightened self-interest and by the South African Government. If the corporation had only started trading in 2005 would the CSI vision be driven by the same ‘gears’, or would the moral obligation and enlightened self-interest become less apparent? It is recommended that the Sappi CSI initiative must embrace CSI and uplift it to the next level by implementing the change management process, outsourcing at least the rural CSI initiative and expanding into a more brand orientated CSI strategy. Sappi also needs to make strategic CSI alliances with other organizations.