Wood Science & Engineering - Oregon State University Eric Hansen IUFRO Division 5 Conference Forest Products Marketing & Business Management

Wood Science & Engineering - Oregon State University Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon USA Innovation in the Global Forest Sector Eric Hansen

Wood Science & Engineering - Oregon State University “All the dumb ones are gone!” Mill Owner, North America “This is a redneck-in-the-woods kind of industry” New Product Development Manager, North America

Wood Science & Engineering - Oregon State University Overview of Studies 1.Hovgaard (MF – 2002) –Definition of innovation from industry 2.Wagner (PhD – 2002) –Company size versus innovation 3.Hansen – 2004 & 2006 –State-of-the-art innovation practices –Innovativeness in the industry 4.Cao – (MS – 2004) –Innovation in the Chinese furniture industry 5.Knowles (PhD – 2007) –Creating a measure of innovativeness 6.Crespell (PhD – 2007) –Climate/culture and innovativeness

Wood Science & Engineering - Oregon State University General Findings I Three types of innovation –Product, process, business systems Company size versus innovation focus – –Large – technological leadership/low cost –Small – product development/busines systems Industry is not systematic in NPD Chinese furniture companies –Current CA – low cost –Future concentration – more innovative

Wood Science & Engineering - Oregon State University General Findings II Attributes of innovative companies –New, Creating the “right” culture, Managing the market/customer link, Being a leader, A focus on the future Challenges to being innovative –Tradition/production orientation, Culture – resistance to change, Difficulty in moving ideas from market to innovation Measuring innovativeness –Propensity to create and/or adopt products, processes, & business systems Culture/climate and innovativeness –Innovativeness is positively affected by Work Climate, and in turn it positively affects Firm Performance.