Browsing by department "Metsäekonomian laitos"
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(2007)The United States is the world s single biggest market area, where the demand for graphic papers has increased by 80 % during the last three decades. However, during the last two decades there have been very big unpredictable changes in the graphic paper markets. For example, the consumption of newsprint started to decline from the late 1980 s, which was surprising compared to the historical consumption and projections. The consumption has declined since. The aim of this study was to see how magazine paper consumption will develop in the United States until 2030. The long-term consumption projection was made using mainly two methods. The first method was to use trend analysis to see how and if the consumption has changed since 1980. The second method was to use qualitative estimate. These estimates are then compared to the so-called classical model projections, which are usually mentioned and used in forestry literature. The purpose of the qualitative analysis is to study magazine paper end-use purposes and to analyze how and with what intensity the changes in society will effect to magazine paper consumption in the long-term. The framework of this study covers theories such as technology adaptation, electronic substitution, electronic publishing and Porter s threat of substitution. Because this study deals with markets, which have showed signs of structural change, a very substantial part of this study covers recent development and newest possible studies and statistics. The following were among the key findings of this study. Different end-uses have very different kinds of future. Electronic substitution is very likely in some end-use purposes, but not in all. Young people i.e. future consumers have very different manners, habits and technological opportunities than our parents did. These will have substantial effects in magazine paper consumption in the long-term. This study concludes to the fact that the change in magazine paper consumption is more likely to be gradual (evolutionary) than sudden collapse (revolutionary). It is also probable that the years of fast growing consumption of magazine papers are behind. Besides the decelerated growth, the consumption of magazine papers will decline slowly in the long-term. The decline will be faster depending on how far in the future we ll extend the study to.
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(2009)China's primary wood processing industry and wood consuming sectors have experienced rapid growth in recent years. Industries like sawnwood and plywood have developed very quickly. The purpose of this study is to: 1) provide an overview of the demand, supply, imports and exports of raw wood and primary wood products in the China market between 1993 and 2007, 2) present quantitative estimates of the relative importance of factors influencing the demand, supply and exports of Chinese plywood, 3) draw conclusions about China's potentials and challenges for foreign enterprises, including Finnish companies. The information, analyses and findings presented in this study can give a reference for wood processing companies, especially for sawnwood and plywood firms, and governmental agencies in China. In addition, the study provides a basis for further study and research. Even though much information has been published in China, academic research in the Chinese woodworking market is scarce, and especially, time-series data is missing and unreliable. This study tries to fill this gap. It is based on secondary data collected from various sources, including literatures, journals, magazines, consulting reports, industry analysis, news, and so on. The annual time-series data obtained for variables in models are mainly gathered from original official Chinese sources. The study increases the information and understanding on the Chinese wood products markets by using descriptive and explanatory methods to analyze the data for background information, markets and empirical modeling. By employing econometric models, based on the elasticity estimates, Chinese plywood demand seems to be income elastic but price inelastic, Chinese plywood supply would be highly elastic with raw material price but scale inelastic, and Chinese plywood exports appear to be highly income elastic.
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(2009)The objective of this thesis is to assess the recreational value (access value) provided by Yuelu Mountain Park in China applying travel cost method (TCM) which is commonly used to estimate non-market benefits. Also, a fee that would maximize the entrance fee income is tentatively calculated. The potential trips to be lost next year are estimated based on local respondents visiting intentions among different age groups. The travel cost demand function is estimated by using basic count data travel cost model-Poisson regression, and survey data collected on-site. Average access values per trip were estimated to be € 0.75 for local and € 64.52 for non-local individuals producing aggregate annual access value of € 20.43 million. Based on the travel cost demand function, an entrance fee of € 5.43 would maximize the revenue collected from the visitors. This would mean more than doubling of the present entrance fee. The result could potentially be utilized when deciding on the entrance fees. It is also suggested that the park management could further study visitors' intentions and reasons either to visit or not to visit the park in the future. Estimated consumer surpluses as well as suggested entrance fee must however, be considered with caution because truncation of the on-site survey data is not accounted for in the Poisson model estimations of this study.
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(2009)This exploratory study aims to analyze the CR reporting by eleven largest forest products companies in North America. Both annual reports and sustainability reports produced in year 2006 by eleven largest forest products companies in North America were chosen for this very study. To ensure the comparability of the results, the study adopts the similar variables in operationalizations by Routto (2008), who studied the CR reporting of European forest products companies. The methodology applied in the study is content analysis. Mean, T-test and One-way Anova analysis were used in data analysis. Though all the three pillars of CR (economic, environmental, and social) were covered in their CR reporting, the North American companies seem to give more weight to Social Focus, followed by Economic Focus and Environmental Focus respectively, whereas the largest European companies considered Environmental Focus as the most important area, Social Focus the second, whereas Economic Focus was least emphasized. A number of notable differences and similarities between the European companies and the North American companies towards CR reporting were also identified. For example, the North American companies obviously seek for more efforts to co-operate with interest groups and business partners to ensure responsible actions than the European companies. The European companies emphasize energy consumption more frequently than the North American companies. Neither the European companies nor the North American companies perceived environmental welfare at the expense of corporate profits an important element concerning Economic Focus. It would be interesting to note that neither the European companies nor the North American companies considered shareholders, NGOs and forest owners as primary target audience groups in their CR reporting, since the communication benefits were not frequently mentioned for these stakeholder groups. The study also observes some variation of CR practices within a common industrial and cultural environment. The results suggest that the US companies seem to particularly emphasize a number of issues more than the Canadian companies, namely: 1) Business behavior, 2) Social principles & guidelines, 3) Internal communication, 4) Social focus, 5) External communication, and 6) Audience. No significant difference was found concerning Social & ethical accounting and Economic focus between the US companies and the Canadian companies. Sector of Integrated forest products placed notably much more weight on Social & ethical accounting than Sectors of Consumer products and Sector of Pulp & paper & packaging in this study, whereas no other significant difference was indicated by the pair-wise comparison of means between Sector and the nine summative variables respectively. In addition, sustainability reports seem to have much clear focus on environmental-related issues than annual reports, whereas issues concerning Social Focus and External Communication received more attention in annual reports than in sustainability reports. No further significant difference was suggested between Type of report and the nine summative variables in this study. In short, the comparison between the reports by North American companies and those by the European companies showed some regional variations in CR reporting. These regional characteristics include 1) the emphasis on Social Focus by North American companies, and Environmental Focus by European companies, 2) the emphasis on partnership by North American companies, and workplace safety by European companies, 3) the emphasis on employees’ benefits by North American companies, and customers’ benefits by European companies, 4) the emphasis on commitment of top management to CR by North American companies, and existence of CR policy statements by European companies, 5) the emphasis on recycled raw materials by North American companies, and energy consumption by European companies, and 6) the emphasis on profitability by North American companies, and investing to socially/environmentally responsible targets by European companies. Such differences could also be argued to be related to the different institutional arrangements in the regions. The comparison between different sectors suggests that, Sector of Integrated forest products emphasized Social & Ethical Accounting more than Sector of Consumer products and Sector of Pulp & paper & packaging, whereas Sector of Consumer products paid more attention to Economic Focus issues than the other two sectors. The results also suggests that, sustainability reports emphasized Environmental Focus more than annual reports, whereas annual reports clearly focused on Social Focus and External Communication more than sustainability reports.
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(2009)As the global economy grows rapidly, certain environmental and societal problems have become challenges. This pushes more and more global companies to integrate those concerns in their business operations, in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This thesis analyzes leading global companies’ CSR performance by using forest and IT industry as comparable cases, in order to point out the strength and weakness of CSR practice, and to indicate the proposal for CSR development. The study also describes the differences in emphasizing CSR between forest industry and IT industry, and between globally and in China market. The method of content analysis is introduced to the study. Based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines as classification frame, relevant information from the CSR reports of analyzed sampling units was classified into corresponding indicators and then transformed into the numbers that represent companies’ CSR performance. The result of the study shows that on a global scale environmental and economic responsibilities are the mainly focused areas of CSR by global companies while companies’ performance of human rights responsibility is very poor. In the future, global companies should work harder on human rights by taking actions to analyze violent risks and prevent discrimination instead of only releasing policies. Concerning differences between industries, forest product companies emphasize economic, environmental and labor practice responsibilities much more than IT companies do. IT industry is able to learn the experience from forest industry to improve its weak areas. The other finding in the study is that nearly no global companies publish separate unit CSR reports in China or sufficient information of CSR activities in China. It indicates that CSR is still at the very beginning status in China and global companies are recommended to take more responsibility for its development.
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(2006)The aim of this study was to compare the differences between forest management incorporating energy wood thinning and forest management based on silvicultural recommendations (baseline). Energy wood thinning was substituted for young stand thinning and the first commercial thinning of industrial wood. The study was based on the forest stand data from Southern Finland, which were simulated by the MOTTI-simulator. The main interest was to find out the climatic benefits resulting from carbon sequestration and energy substitution. The value of energy wood was set to substitute it for coal as an alternative energy fuel (emission trade). Other political instruments (Kemera subsidies) were also analysed. The largest carbon dioxide emission reductions were achieved as a combination of carbon sequestration and energy substitution (on average, a 26-90 % increase in discounted present value in the beginning of rotation) compared to the baseline. Energy substitution increased emission reductions more effectively than carbon sequestration, when maintaining dense young stands. According to the study, energy wood thinning as a part of forest management was more profitable than the baseline when the value of carbon dioxide averaged more than 15 €/CO2 and other political subsidies were unchanged. Alternatively, the price of energy wood should on average exceed 21 €/m3 on the roadside in order to be profitable in the absence of political instruments. The most cost-efficient employment of energy wood thinning occured when the dominant height was 12 meters, when energy substitution was taken into account. According to alternative forest management, thinning of sapling stands could be done earlier or less intensely than thinning based on silvicultural recommendations and the present criteria of subsidies. Consequently, the first commercial thinning could be profitable to carry out either as harvesting of industrial wood or energy wood, or as integrated harvesting depending on the costs of the harvesting methods available and the price level of small-size industrial wood compared to energy wood.
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(2009)Outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism have increased during the last ten years. In addition, the interest towards national parks has grown, which can be seen also as an increasing trend in the development of the number of visits to national parks. The aim of this thesis is to explain the cross-sectional variation in the visitation data representing different parks and hiking areas. Another aim is to explore the question of why the visitation in national parks has increased in Finland. These questions are studied separately for the national parks and hiking areas, because the development of the number of visits in national parks and hiking areas has been different. In addition, the separation is made also between Southern Finland and Northern Finland due to for example the size differences and close link of the national parks in Northern Finland with the ski-resort centers. Explanatory factors are divided into supply side factors (services inside and outside the park) and demand side factors (economic and demographics factors). The data is a panel data, including all national parks and hiking areas in the time period 2000?2008. The one-way fixed effects model is used in the regression analysis. According to results the land area of the park, services inside the park and population size seemed to have positive effects on the number of visits. Income per capita had negative impact on the visits. In Southern Finland the size of the age-class 65?74 affected positively the number of visits, whereas the effect of gasoline price was negative. Used time period was short due to the lack of appropriate data. Thus, the results reflect more the cross-sectional variation between parks. Results can be used in the planning of the management of national parks and hiking areas.
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(2009)This master’s thesis examines the effect of international forest investing on the return and risk of the overall risky portfolio. In addition this study looks at the optimal share of forest in the portfolio and correlation between different assets. Interest towards investing in forestry has increased. As a result, knowledge of forest’s characteristics as an investment and different forest investment instruments has increased. Research on forest investing has however been carried out mainly on a national level. This thesis aims to expand the field of research by taking into consideration the global nature of investing. Today, many investors understand the importance of the diversification of the portfolio and hence divide the capital into different asset classes, sectors and markets. This study includes a theoretical framework in which forest assets that differ in terms of location, species, forest management and end product can be compared and included into the portfolio. Return on forestry is calculated according to the Faustmann formula. The historical average return is used as the expected future return. Optimisation of the overall risky portfolio is based on the modern portfolio theory. The framework was tested empirically with three hypothetical case study forest assets, located in Finland, the United States and Uruguay. These forest assets were included to a portfolio, which consisted of three alternative financial assets. Results showed that investing in forest improves the performance of the overall risky portfolio. The optimal share of forest in the portfolio is around 3-15% of the capital. The extent of forest investing’s benefits and the exact share of forest in the portfolio depend on the available risk-free rate. Most of the forest assets seemed to have a low correlation with other assets. It was found that exchange rates affected risk-reward ratios and hence also the results of the optimisation process.
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(2009)The global warming imposes limitations on timber harvesting. As a result the seasonal variation of logging is expected to increase. At the same time the growth of Russian wood tariff will reduce the import. Together, these will increase the demand for domestic wood. Due to own entrepreneurial work and investments in agricultural machinery, several farms have the opportunity to provide seasonal timber harvesting services as contractors. With timber harvesting services these farms could increase the machinery utilization and save in the fixed costs. The growth of the machinery utilization rate will improve the profitability of the timber harvesting of contractors. The aim of this study was to analyze the profitability of seasonal timber harvesting contractors by employing data of the Finnish bookkeeping farms. The profitability was worked out by the income and costs of timber harvesting and also by the entrepreneur's input of labour. This study also aimed to find out the adventages of synergy in labour and common use of machinery in timber harvesting and farming. In addition this study aimed at to define the influence of the timber harvesting services on the farms total profitability, the seasonal variation of family labour and the use of total working hours. The source material of this study was the data of eight bookkeeping farms collected by MTT Agrifood Research Finland. These eight farms had carried on timber harvesting in the years 2005 and 2006. The income statement and the balance sheet of logging were calculated by using a mail inquiry and recorded financial statements of the farms. On the basis of the income statement and the balance sheet, the essential parameters of the profitability were calculated. The proportional profitability of the timber harvesting services was measured by the profitability ratio. The profitability ratio was calculated by dividing Family Farm Income (FFI) by the sum of costs for family factors, i.e. the wage claim and the interest claim of timber harvesting. The profitability ratio of logging was 1,69 in year 2005 and 1,19 in year 2006. Due to small data the skewness of results was often rather high. The results of the study, however, showed that for farms the timber harvesting services are a good way to increase the utilization rate of the agricultural machines and to improve the profitability of business. Providing timber harvesting services could also balance the seasonal variation of family labour and the use of total working hours of the family farm.
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(2009)Tässä työssä kontortamännyn mahdollisuuksia metsätaloudessa tarkastellaan puuntuotannon kannattavuuden ja teollisen käytön sekä toimintaympäristön rajoiteiden: ympäristön, yhteiskunnan ja metsänhoidon näkökulmista. Kontortamännyn kasvatuksen kannattavuutta tarkastellaan vertaamalla sitä männyn kasvatuksen kannattavuuteen. Tarkastelu tehdään käyttämällä nettonykyarvolaskentaa. Lisäksi nettonykyarvolaskennan parametreille suoritetaan herkkyysanalyysi, jotta kontortamännyn kasvatuksen kannattavuuteen eniten vaikuttavat tekijät voidaan tunnistaa. Aiheesta tekee käytännöllisesti merkittävän kontortamännyn parempi tuottavuus suhteessa mäntyyn. Tämä vaikuttaa metsätalouden kannattavuuteen nostamalla hakkuukertymiä ja lyhentämällä kiertoaikaa. Työssä käytetyn aineiston ja simulointimenetelmän perusteella lasketut nettonykyarvot kontortamäntyskenaarioille olivat merkittävästi korkeammat kuin vastaaville mäntyskenaarioille lasketut nettonykyarvot, mikä kertoo kontortamännyn hyvästä kannattavuudesta metsänkasvatuksessa. Tuloksia tulkitessa tulee ottaa huomioon simulointimenetelmän rajoitteet sekä aineiston edustavuus. Suurimmiksi toimintaympäristöstä johtuviksi rajoitteiksi todettiin varauksellinen suhtautuminen vieraisiin puulajeihin, sertifioinnin rajoitteet sekä patologiset ja entomologiset riskit. Metsänhoidollisten tekijöiden ei todettu rajoittavan kontortamännyn käyttöönottoa. Merkittävin kysymys, mikä kontortamännyn käyttöönottoon laajassa mittakaavassa liittyy, on että kompensoiko parantunut puuntuotanto ja metsätalouden kannattavuus toimintaympäristön riskit ja rajoitteet.
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(2009)The paper industry environment is going through changes. Traditionally in the Western Europe and the North America the paper consumption has increased along with the economic and population growth. Despite the growth of these indicators, the newsprint consumption in North America has been declining since the late 1980's and the magazine paper consumptions have also started to decline. Also in the Western Europe signs of maturing can be seen. The paper consumption growth is assumed to be happening elsewhere. The purpose of this study is to estimate potential magazine paper consumption of three different socio-economic environments up to 2020. In this study the focus was on three country groups, clusters, which the assignment company had formed with grouping analysis. In the theoretical background of the study the previous studies of paper demand and the methods used were examined. Also the paper grades and their end-uses were studied. The empirical part of this study was conducted by using both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Trend-analysis was used in quantitative part and PESTE-analysis was used in qualitative part. Through these analysis the key drivers of each cluster where identified and the development trend of consumption was estimated with the help of the analysis and the lifecycle model used by the company. Based on the socio-economic factors, the consumption is on a positive growth track but the speed of the growth cannot be estimated due to the influence of media substitution among others.
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(1999)Tutkimuksen tavoitteet Tutkimuksen teoreettinen osa esittelee yhteiskunnallisten hankkeiden arvottamiseen liittyvää koti- ja ulkomaista kirjallisuutta. Empiirinen osa tutkii Savonlinnasta poimitun metsätilaotoksen avulla maiseman- ja luonnonhoidon aiheuttamia taloudellisia vaikutuksia tilojen metsänomistajille sekä vertaa näitä tuloksia haastattelututkimuksesta saatuihin vastauksiin maksuhalukkuudesta monimuotoisuuden hyväksi. Lähdeaineisto Metsämaiseman- ja luonnonhoidon aiheuttamia taloudellisia vaikutuksia tutkittaessa case-aineistona käytettiin keskeisen Saimaan Pihlajaveden saaristoalueen 24 tilaa, joiden omistajat olivat tilanneet Etelä-Savon metsäkeskukselta uudentyyppisen maiseman- ja luonnonhoidon arvot huomioivan metsäsuunnitelman. Samalla aineistolla suoritettiin myös metsänomistajien haastattelu, jonka avulla selvitettiin metsänomistajien maksuhalukkuutta monimuotoisuudesta ja maisemamansuojelusta. Lisäksi kysyttiin mielipiteitä nykyisistä metsänhoitosuosituksista ja alueelle kaavailluista luonnonsuojeluhankkeista. Aineiston käsittely Taloudellisia vaikutuksia tutkittaessa maisema- ja luontoarvoja korostavaa metsäsuunnitelmalaskelmaa verrattiin maksimaaliseen puuntuotantoon tähtäävään metsäsuunnitelmaan. Näiden kahden vaihtoehtoisten laskelman välinen erotus tulkittiin monimuotoisuuden turvaamisen metsälötason puuntuotannolliseksi vaikutukseksi. Vastaavasti haastatteluosuudessa metsänomistajilta kysyttiin, kuinka paljon he olisivat valmiita luopumaan metsätuloistaan monimuotoisuuden edistämiseksi. Maksuhalukkuutta tutkittaessa käytettiin contingent valuation -menetelmää. Tulokset Siirtyminen ns. perinteisestä metsänkäsittelystä maiseman- ja luonnonhoidon huomioivaan metsänkäsittelyyn pienentää metsästä saatavia nettotuloja ensimmäisen kymmenvuotiskauden aikana 36 % eli 289 mk/ha vuosittain. Vastaavasti metsänomistajien maksuhalukkuus monimutoisuuden edistämisestä oli 5,3 % metsätuloista, joka on rahassa 18 mk/ha vuosittain. Nettotulojen merkittävä pieneneminen selittyy kohteen arvokkailla maisema-arvoilla ja ekologisten elinympäristöjen runsaalla lukumäärällä. Tulosten tilastollista luotettavuutta ei otoksen pienuuden vuoksi voitu tarkastella.
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(2006)The object of this study was to find out which factors made landowners interested in From Sea to Forest co-operation network. Co-operation networks protect biodiversity across boundaries and among groups of landowners with different kind of protection contracts. The social effects of From Sea to Forest - project are studied by analyzing the experience of co-operation and trust. Furthermore the possibility to influence decision making when choosing the pilot areas and doing the contracts was surveyed. Economical effects are estimated for those landowners, who signed a protection contract for ten years. The study is part of The Finnish Forest Research Institute s Ecological considerations in landscape-level collaborative planning of private forestry project. The material of the study comprises 13 interviews done in January 2006; seven interviewed were landowners and six forest professionals. The interviews were transcripted and analyzed with Atlas.ti programme. The economical effects were estimated with MOTTI forest simulation programme. From Sea to Forest project interested the landowners for similar reasons: the voluntariness of participation, compensation, fixed-term contracts and the possibility to protect forests so that the proprietary right remains. It was possible to form four different groups of interviewed landowners according to trust: networkers , opportunists , carefuls and selfemployed . Only in the group of opportunists the project created so much trust that a significant increase of interest to participate in the project was noticed. In all the other groups the project didn t create remarkable trust, so trust didn t have an effect on landowners decisions to participate. Other factors, like compensation and voluntariness were decisive for their interest to participate. From Sea to Forest project wasn t a network based on landowners co-operation, the communication was directly with the project worker. The effects on landowners income by signing a ten year ´Natural value trading´ -contract was analyzed by comparing the protection income with predicted forestry income in case that the protection contract wouldn t have been agreed on. For two landowners there was no suggested forestry work within ten years, so their protection income might be an additional income, if they decided to log their forests later. For three landowners delayed thinning of the sapling stand would cause income losses in the future, if they decided to move to active forestry after ten years of protection. For eight landowners the effect of protection is positive to income if they moved to active forestry after the ten years protection period. This occurred, because the tree stand is now mature for final felling on behalf of its age, but ten more years of growth increase the net present value. Longer term protection might diminish the net present value. The protection was profitable because hectare specific forestry income grew compared to forestry cutting plan income.
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(2009)Cost-effective mitigation of climate change is essential for both climate and environmental policy. Forest rotation age is one of the silvicultural measures by which the forest carbon stocks can be influenced with in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, Article 3.4. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how forest rotation age affects carbon sequestration and the profitability of forestry. The relation between the forest rotation period optimizing forest owners’ discounted net returns over time and rotations which are 10, 20 and 30 years longer than the optimal rotation is examined. In addition, the cost of lengthening the rotation period is studied as well as whether carbon sequestration revenues can improve the profitability of forestry. The data used in the study consist of 16 stands located in Southern Finland. The main tree species in these stands were Norway spruce and Scots pine. Forest simulation tool MOTTI was used in the analysis. The results indicate that by lengthening the rotation period forest carbon stocks increase. However, as the rotation period is lengthened by more than 10 years, as a result of the diminishing growth curve, the rate of carbon sequestration slows down. The average discounted cost of carbon sequestration varied between 2.4 – 14.1 €/tCO2. Carbon sequestration rates in spruce stands were higher and the costs lower than those obtained from pine stands. The absence of carbon trading schemes is an obstacle for the commercialization of forest carbon sinks. In the future, research should concentrate on analysing what kind of operational models of carbon trading could be feasible in Finland.
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(2006)The general change in the population structure and its impacts on the forest ownership structure were investigated in the thesis. The research assumed that the structural change in society has an effect on the outlook of the non-industrial private forest ownership. The changes in the structure of society were mainly restricted to population, education and occupation structures. The migration of the rural population into cities was also taken into consideration. The structural changes both in society and the non-industrial private forest ownership were examined as phenomena and their development directions were investigated since the middle of the 1970s. It could be established that the changes in the structures were mainly of the same kind in society as in forest owner structure. The clearest similarities between the changes in population and forest owner structure could be found in an increased mean age, a decrease in the 18 to 39 age bracket, those without a degree and in the farmers' shares. Furthermore it could be stated that migration into cities had taken place among both the forest owners and the general population. The main part of the research was concentrated on estimating regression models that explain the non-industrial private forest ownership change by the structural change in the population. A panel data was gathered from population statistics and previous forest ownership research information. The panel contained the years 1990 and 1999. With the assistance of the panel data it was possible to estimate regression and fixed effects' models that explained the structural changes in the non-industrial private forest ownership by evolution in the whole population. In the use of the estimated models authorities' forecasts considering the population were exploited. Only a few of the estimated models were statistically significant. This could be explained due to lack of a larger panel data. In addition the structural change of the non-industrial forest ownership was forecasted by trends.
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(2009)Sustainable forestry has been the primary principle of Finnish forest policy for decades. However the concept has extended to areas of ecological and socio-cultural sustainability alongside with the more usual economic sustainability. Goals for the use of forests have multiplied and made an impact on forest legislation and policy programmes. Timber production remains as the main objective of forest policy but other objectives, such as carbon sequestration and preservation of forest biodiversity, have also reached the policy agenda. The co-production of material and immaterial goods in forests is not straightforward and the conflicts can prevent a consistent implementation of sustainable forestry. The purpose of the study is to develop a comprehensive evaluation matrix (or table) in order to determine the logic and structure of forest policy instruments. The matrix comprises the evaluation of goals, motivation, effects and effectiveness of instruments. Theories considering process and impact evaluations are used in the analysis. Furthermore, the table is tested in practice by examining the following three policy instruments: 10§ of the Forest Act, public funding for tending of young stands and public forest planning. Content analysis was used in examining the data set of policy documents. The evaluation matrix enables a systematic assessment of policy instruments. It provides information on the consistency of the aim and effects of the instrument. Certain points in the table were sometimes difficult to fill in, but the reason can be in the structure of the instrument that public documents provide rather than in the structure of the matrix. In general, more detailed information on policy goals and motivation of the instruments would make public forest policy more transparent. In addition, the use of indicators that measure effectiveness should be further increased for easier evaluation of policy effectiveness.
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(2010)In Finland there are over 18 million hectares of forest land which is suitable for wood production. Of this amount the proportion of private forests is over 60 %. The private forests have also an important role in the Finnish forest industry. For example, in 2008, Finnish forest industry used more than 66 million cubic meters of wood, of which 62 % came from the private forests. The change in the forest ownership structure in Finland began in the 1960s and it will continue in the future as well. As a result, nowadays the average age of the Finnish forest owner has risen to 60 years, the proportion of farmer forest owners has decreased, the proportion of urban forest owners has increased and the objectives of the forest owners have changed. Among other things, these changes have raised a threat that wood supply would possibly decrease in the future. In addition, the availability of imported wood is under a threat in the near future, because Finland’s main importing country Russia is planning significant increases in wood export duties in 2011. Then it would be more challenging to replace the possibly diminishing timber supply from private forests with imported wood. These threats created a need for this study to examine the regional utilization rates of the private forests and the Finnish forest owners’ timber sales behavior and the factors influencing it. The results of the forest utilization rates showed that the forests have already been in full use in many provinces. However, depending on the timber assortment it would have been possible to increase the loggings in 4 – 9 provinces during 2004 – 2008. In that sense, if the aim is to increase the loggings in the future, then at least in principle, it would be possible. The results of the Finnish forest owners’ timber supply and the factors affecting it showed that the most significant factors were the combinations of the forest plans, the proportion of protected areas, the prices of timber assortments, the proportion of agriculture and forestry entrepreneurs and the proportion of urban forest owners. All these factors had a positive impact on wood supply except the proportion of protected areas.
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(2011)The operation environment in the roundwood trade in Finland in the 1990’s include several changes. They are changes in the structure of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) ownership, forest taxation, in forest legislation, in price recommendation agreement, diminishing resources of forestry extension services, etc. At the same time, the roundwood demand has been rising. All these developments cause uncertainty in wood procurement organisations, and call for research to find out how to adapt into the changing environment. The objective of this study is to produce information for roundwood purchasing planning and cus-tomer satisfaction management to be used by Stora Enso Metsä Customer Service, Helsinki. For this pur-pose, data needs to be gathered about the urban NIPFs and their forest estates, behaviour related to forestry and timber-selling, customer satisfaction in their latest timber selling transaction, and their opinions about Enso’s new customer service office and its service concept. To fulfil the objective of the study, a NIPF -owner -survey (N=1064, response rate 39,7%) was con-ducted in October 1998-January 1999. The sample was made on the basis of the marketing database of Stora Enso Oyj Forest Customer Service in Helsinki. In planning the frame of reference of the empirical study, the model of service quality by Grönroos was applied. The following aspects were included in the 7-page questionnaire: demographic, sosio-economic and forest estate background, relation to the forest service supply, behaviour related to forestry, timber-selling motives and behaviour, last contact organisation and its image in forestry business, expectations and percep-tions in the latest timber-selling transactions, and behavioural intentions. The results revealed that the share of women, pensioners and academically educated people among forest owners was quite high. The majority of the forest estates of the metropolitan forest owners were situ-ated in the provinces of South Finland and East Finland. The average forest estate area was considerably smaller than in a previous study. Economic and recreational objectives were most important in the use of forests. Forest Associations were involved in half of the roundwood sales transactions of the respondents in the metropolitan area. The wood quantity of transactions was considerably higher than the average in the whole country. Bank-organised forest-related activities, taxation infos and trips to the forest were the most popular activities. Among the services, silvicultural advices were needed mostly and stub treatment least. Brochure material related to stumpage timber sales and taxation were considered most important compared to material related to delivery sales. The service expectations were at highest for women and they were less satisfied with the service than men. 2nd and 3rd generation residents of the metropolitan area thought about the new customer service concept more positively than the 1st generation residents. Internet users under 60 years thought more positively about new satellite picture-based woodlot search concept. Cross-tabulation of factor scores against background variables indicated that women with relatively low education level a greater need to sell roundwood than entrepreneurs, white-collar workers and directors, and Internet users. Suspiciousness towards timber procurement organisations was relatively strong among women and those whose forest income share of the total income was either null or over 20 %. The average customer satisfaction score was negative in all nine questions. Statistical differences be-tween different companies did not exist in the average satisfaction scores. Stora Enso’s Helsinki forest cus-tomer service could choose the ability to purchase all timber grades as its competitive advantage. Out of nine service dimension included in the questionnaire, in this particular service dimension, Enso’s Helsinki forest customer service’s score exceeded most all organisations’ average customer satisfaction score. On the basis of importance – performance matrix, advice and quidance could have been provided more to the forest owners in their latest timber–selling transaction.
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