MARKETING IN FOREST ENTERPRISES - STATE OF RESEARCH IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND SWITZERLAND

There is an ongoing discussion on importance and implementation of marketing in forest enterprises. However, it is not clear as to how far marketing concepts developed for other business branches can be transferred into the forestry sector. The research results presented outline the state of research in this field. Main concept of research was to analyse all publications of German, Austrian and Swiss scientists published since 1980 dealing with marketing in forest enterprises. Some 68 publications have been identified. About half of them are based on empirical research, whereas the other half has general marketing literature or other sources as their background. The publications evaluated have been characterized by key words. In this way it was possible to identify and to quantify the aspects of marketing theory, the forest products and services, the ownership categories and types of forest enterprises covered by research.