Abstract

Qualitative interview-based research was used to investigate Swedish sawmilling firms’ marketing competencies to sustain cooperative relationships and deliver offerings according to customers’ perceptions of value. The views of both sawmill firms and innovative customers were used in this assessment. The firms studied were found to have established cooperative relationships with innovative customers in all market segments, including wood products segments, do-it-yourself (DIY) segments, and builders’ merchants segments. These relationships, which generate approximately 70 percent of sawmill firms’ business volumes, involve mutual exchange of sensitive business information in daily business operations and joint business development initiatives. The customers’ perceptions of value are also favorable, particularly due to service aspects such as logistics management and long-term business commitments. In the final analysis, cooperative relationships are shown to be an important basis for strategic sawmill business development

Keywords

marketing competencies; relationship types; offering; customer perceptions of value

Published in

Journal of Forest Products Business Research
2009, Volume: 6, article number: 5
Publisher: Forest Products Society

SLU Authors

• Hugosson, Mårten

  • Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Mccluskey, Denise

  • Department of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Business Administration


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/26448