The Business of Sustainable Forestry: Meshing Operations with Strategic Purpose

Stuart Hart, Matthew Arnold and Rob Day
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Stuart Hart: Kenan-Flagler Business School, CB #3490, McColl Building, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3490
Matthew Arnold: World Resources Institute, 10 G Street NE, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20002
Rob Day: World Resources Institute

Interfaces, 2000, vol. 30, issue 3, 234-250

Abstract: We developed a new framework for defining sustainable forest management (SFM) based on the literature on environmental strategy and a field study of forest-product companies. We applied the framework to 21 forest-industry business cases and found that a comprehensive and effective SFM approach meshes operations with strategic purpose. When SFM practices were embedded in core strategy, rather than appended as a matter of ethics or social responsibility, companies realized competitive and business advantages as well as environmental and social gains. Some firms have even begun to reinvent themselves as fiber-service companies as opposed to purely extractive forestry operations.

Keywords: ENVIRONMENT; INDUSTRIES—LUMBER—WOOD (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orinte:v:30:y:2000:i:3:p:234-250

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