By Scott Lyon, Henry Quesada, and Robert Smith
Introduction
Exporting wood products offers many advantages for firms entering the global market, such as increased profits and credit, market growth, and economic strength (Parhizkar 2008; McMahon and Gottko 1989). In the past few years, parts of the U.S., such as the Appalachian region, have suffered from the economic crisis resulting in forest products mill closures and loss of employment due to an increase in competition. An increase in global competition has caused the decrease of domestic markets for U.S. furniture. This increase in competition has taken a toll on the Appalachian hardwood lumber industry (Bowe et al. 2001). Forest products companies in the Appalachian region must be innovative in their marketing strategies to find potential markets for their products (Naka et al. 2009). Therefore, Appalachian wood products companies may need to increase product competiveness by expanding export markets and improving product promotion (Wang et al. 2010). International marketing of wood products is essential for the Appalachian region to strengthen its economy (Hammett 1996).
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