Browsing by discipline "puumarkkinatiede"

For the Finnish private forest owners, four different types of services are available in the market: forest operations and management services, wood trade related services, property administration and information services. Supplier organizations differ substantially from each other in terms of size and their institutional background: some of the service organisations are market oriented private firms while others are publicly financed and based on the law. Anyhow, everyone in the markets is now facing a change. There is not enough research in the field of these markets form the viewpoint of service supply. The previous studies are mostly concentrated on small separate issues and segments. A general view of the markets – including property administration services – is not available. The main reasons for the changes expected to happen in the future service supply are based on changing the financing bases of service offerings and thereby liberalisation of the markets. The changes are primary related to the organisations based on the law, but they will affect the markets as a whole. In the field of service demand, the earlier studies for Finland are more extensive. In particular, the changes in forest ownership and their management preferences are studied widely, as well as the quality dimensions of forest services. Anyhow, it is reasonable to doubt whether the existing forestry services in the markets really are meeting the needs of forest owners and are offering such benefits that they are willing to pay for. In this study, the current markets are examined in order to create a general overview, which could be a base for predicting the expected changes. Qualitative research and method of content analysis are used in examining marketing materials – mainly the internet pages of the services organizations. Theme interviews of service organizations and experts in the field supported deepening the view. The service offerings and the organizations are studied from the viewpoint of customer value by way of a model of consumer pre-purchase decision taxonomy. Based on the results, it is possible to find some services, which are critical for the customer value creation. Forest owners expect that owning the forests will be profitable. Followed by this, one of the challenges of supply is to create service complexes that are profitable on a realistic time scale. This is why the profitable services should be combined to the ones creating other than monetary benefits. In the changing market environment, it is crucial to create service offerings that really attract the forest owners.