Anne Toppinen, Katja Lähtinen, Leena A. Leskinen, Niklas Österman. (2011). Network co-operation as a source of competitiveness in medium-sized Finnish sawmills. Silva Fennica vol. 45 no. 4 article id 102. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.102

Keywords: collaboration; social capital; strategic resources; competitive advantage; business processes

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In the Finnish sawmill industry, inter-firm collaboration has often been brought up as a means of creating a competitive edge in global markets by achieving economies of scale. According to the resource-based view (RBV), a firm can evaluate its current or potential partners by considering firm-level collaboration as a portfolio of complementary strategic resources. The specific focus of the study is on examining the types and forms of sawmill co-operation, how the co-operation emerged and which firm-specific resources are mainly related to co-operation. Based upon this, we can see how the managers of medium-sized sawmills perceive network co-operation as facilitating the achievement of a sustainable competitive advantage. The empirical data for this study were collected by interviewing 16 managers and employees in medium-sized non-integrated sawmills, a joint-venture marketing company and other co-operative partners. The findings of the study show that meaningful and beneficial co-operation partnerships exist in the Finnish sawmilling industry, but the sawmill managers do not perceive this collaboration as a strategic resource. The marketing company was the only firm in this study that relied on its co-operative networks in seeking a sustainable competitive advantage. To make more of co-operative partnerships, the principles of co-operative networking should be understood better in the sawmilling industry in order to know what to expect from co-operation. Furthermore, the managers should have the courage to engage in more extensive co-operation in order for strategic rents to materialize. Since the selection of the right partners is fundamental, further studies could be conducted on the reasons behind failed or terminated co-operative arrangements to gather further empirical knowledge in this subject area.

Toppinen, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: anne.toppinen@helsinki.fi
Lähtinen, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Joensuu, Finland E-mail: kl@nn.fi
Leskinen, Rantalankuja 4, Joensuu, Finland E-mail: lal@nn.fi
Österman, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: no@nn.fi

Category : Research note

article id 1544, category Research note

Osmo Mattila, Kaisa Hämäläinen, Liina Häyrinen, Sami Berghäll, Katja Lähtinen, Anne Toppinen. (2016). Strategic business networks in the Finnish wood products industry: a case of two small and medium-sized enterprises. Silva Fennica vol. 50 no. 3 article id 1544. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1544

Keywords: competitive advantage; wood products; network-based business models

Highlights: Network-based business models are not yet common in the wood products industry; Further research is suggested on network-based co-operation to vitalize industry.

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The use of network-based business models has been brought up as a means of creating com-petitive edge in the tightening global competition. In practice, adopting network-based models has not yet become common in the wood products industry. The objective of this study is to gain better understanding of types of network-based business models using a case study of two small and medium-sized wood industry companies in Finland (for a sake of anonymity named as A and B). The network of company A is found to consist of mostly of established actors with a new-in-the-market value creation system, whereas network for company B is more stable and has an established value system aiming at growth and incremental innovations. Both networks had experienced difficulties in finding partners and lacked some strategic resources. Via this example we wish to stimulate further research interest on the sources of network-based competitive advantage in the traditional wood product industry in a need of renewal of business models.

Mattila, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland E-mail: osmo.mattila@helsinki.fi
Hämäläinen, Siparila Oy, Varaslahdentie 1, FI-40800 Vaajakoski, Finland E-mail: kaisa.hamalainen@siparila.fi
Häyrinen, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland E-mail: liina.hayrinen@helsinki.fi
Berghäll, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland E-mail: sami.berghall@helsinki.fi
Lähtinen, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland E-mail: katja.lahtinen@helsinki.fi
Toppinen, University of Helsinki, Department of Forest Sciences, FI-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland E-mail: anne.toppinen@helsinki.fi

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