Green Marketing of Sawn Timber and Wood Based Panels in Finland and Sweden

Finnish and Swedish sawmill and wood based panel companies were surveyed for the purpose of evaluating the environmental emphasis and the role of timber certification in their marketing planning. The industries in both countries are relatively well prepared for integrating environmental issues into business and marketing management. Findings of the study show that companies have integrated environmental issues equally in their strategic level decisions. The impact of environmental issues in marketing communication is stronger within the Finnish sawmill industry. On the other hand, Swedish companies examine environmental information and invite input from environmental groups much more actively than Finnish companies. Also relationships between marketing strategies and functions were examined. As assumed according to the principles of environmental marketing, marketing functions — e.g. advertising and pricing — are the logical consequences of strategic level decisions. Even though environmental issues are central in marketing strategies, sophistication of integrating environmental issues into marketing planning could be improved and the level of strategic decisions deeper if genuine environmental responsibility is considered important.