1. Plantation based business models in China – experiences from joint research project ESGRI
Anne Toppinen, University of Helsinki, Finland
Xie Yu, Nanjing Forestry University, China

2. Outline ESGRI project Background and goals
Experiences from international research collaboration
Main results and examples of studies

3. About ESGRI project Investigating interactions among forest companies, their stakeholders and ecosystem services
Emerging awareness of corporate impacts and dependencies on ecosystem services
Growing attention on environmental and social issues in plantation-based forestry
Chinese forest sector attracted domestic and foreigner investments in pulp and paper making
China established the largest forest plantation area in the World (30% of national forest area)
Study site
China
Partners
Helsinki University
Nanjing Forestry University
Funding
Academy of Finland
National Natural Resource Council for China
Duration
FAO 2015; TEEB 2012; WBCSD 2011; Zhang et al. 2014

4. Source: Damato et al. 2015, Ecosystem Services

5. Subthemes, stages of research and
division of responsibilities of both parties:
University of Helsinki, Dalia D’Amato’s PhD defence
Aims and goals as stated in 2012:
“We foresee 5-6 high quality scientific articles in impact factored international journals and over 10 other scientific publications, ensuring an independent role of the two Doctoral students at HU and NFU”

6. …get to know reciprocal culture and working environment…
Experiences from joint research HU & NFU: Mutual visits have been fundamental to establish good relations…
… and familiarize teams with forest sector and research activities in both China and Finland
…get to know reciprocal culture and working environment…
…plan the joint research…
LUKE research institute, August 2015

7. Some main results – Helsinki University:
Interview study on multi-stakeholders’ perceptions of Ecosystem services in plantations (managers, experts, local communities)
Conceptual development of a reporting framework for Ecosystem Service indicators in Corporate Responsibility disclosure

8. Example:
Analysing stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem services in industrial plantations
Collection
Interview-delivered questionnaire: open and close -ended questions in
Sample
Managers, experts, local communities
Analysis
Content analysis
Validity
Triangulation with corporate reports and/or other stakeholders’ interviews
Reliability
Audio or written record of interviews

9. Stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem services in industrial plantations

10. Study on stakeholder perceptions of ecosystem services in industrial plantations
Main value added
Disaggregation of links between ecosystem services and human well-being. This is rarely found in previous studies (Suich et al., 2015).
Conclusive message: Important to assess benefit distribution between beneficiary groups in the context of land use transformation, feeding in the development of corporate responsibility mechanisms (Bennett et al., 2015).

11. Some main results from Nanjing Forestry University,NFU(1)
Some ecosystem services of planted forest including water regulation, carbon sequestration, soil retention, accumulation of nutrients and air purification are evaluated biophysically by spatial data and situ measured samples under the standard of Chinese Forest Ecosystem Services Assessment Guideline in our research area.
The mechanism of the demand and supply of ecosystem services flows was analyzed considering plantation, pulp and paper integration enterprises as examples.

12. Some Main results from NFU(2)
The stakeholders of the case forest companies are identified by questionnaires and investigation to stakeholders as forest farmers, employees, forest administrations, contractors, NGOs etc.
Motivators of disclosure of Chinese forest companies were investigated through questionnaires under the help of Association of Forestry Industry of China.
Current situation of CSR reports of Chinese forest companies were analyzed by content analysis method with more than 100 reports recent years.

13. Future research needs 1
How to simulate to the process of ecosystem services production- delivery-usage of stakeholders and find a balance between feasibility and accuracy?
The relationship between stakeholders of ecosystem services after the forest tenure reformation recent years in China.
How to improve to the quality of CSR reports in China?

14. Future research 2
Based on a case study on corporate responsibility strategies in four wood-based panel enterprises in China (FeiFei et al. 2016)
Enterprises have made relatively large investments in sustainable forest management, forest certification and industrial management
Relatively few investments have emerged in material recycling, biodiversity protection and developing eco-tourism in forest zones
Future research comparing state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the private enterprises (PEs) is recommended as some differences were detected

15. Publications from NFU
Chen, S., Wen, Z., Jiang, H., Zhao, Q., Zhang, X., & Chen, Y. (2015). Temperature vegetation dryness index estimation of soil moisture under different tree species. Sustainability, 7(9),
Lu, F. and Z. Wen, et al. (2015). "Analyses on Research Status of CSR in the World." Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering B(4):
Xie Y., Kozak, R., Panwar R. et.al. Stakeholder Identification of Plantation-based Forest Companies: Case Study from China(2016),ISFRE, Raleigh, NC, USA (oral presentation)
赵庆建 and 温作民, et al. (2014). "识别森林生态系统服务的供应与需求——基于生态系统服务流的视角." 林业经济(10): 3-7.Zhao, Q., Wen Z., Identifying Forest Ecosystem Services Supplies and Demands——Insights from Ecosystem Services Flows
贾卫国 and 彭翌峰, et al. (2016). “林业企业利益相关者及其相关性分析.” 农林经济管理学报(01): Jia W., et.al. Stakeholders of Forestry Enterprises and Their Correlations
谢煜 and 温作民 (2015). "国内外企业社会责任报告标准及其应用的比较研究." 生态经济(12): Xie Y., Wen Z. A Comparison of Standards of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting and Their Adoption between Domestic and Abroad
谢煜 and 温作民(2016).”基于Mitchell三分类评分法的林业企业关键利益相关者识别研究.”生态经济(12)(accepted) Xie Y., Wen Z. Key Stakeholders Identification of Forest Companies Based on Mitchell’s Three-Attribute Evaluation method

16. https://esgriproject.wordpress.com/
Lähtinen, K., Guan, Y., Li, N. & Toppinen, A Biodiversity and ecosystem services in the supply chain management of global forest sector. Forthcoming in Ecosystem Services.
D’Amato The ecosystem services approach in corporate sustainability: results from industrial plantation forestry in China. Dissertationes Forestales 221.
D’Amato, D., Li, N., Rekola, M., Toppinen, A. & Lu, F Linking forest ecosystem services to corporate sustainability disclosure: a conceptual analysis. Ecosystem Services 14(1):
D’Amato, D., Wan, M., Li, N., Rekola, M. & Toppinen, A Managerial perceptions of corporate impacts and dependencies on ecosystem services: a case of international and domestic forestry companies in China. Forthcoming in Journal of Business Ethics.
D’Amato, D., Rekola, M., Li, N. & Toppinen, A Monetary valuation of forest ecosystem services in China: a literature review and identification of future research needs. Ecological Economics 121: 75–84.
FeiFei, L., Wen, Z., D’Damato, D. & Toppinen, A Corporate Social Responsibility in wood-based panel industry: main strategies from four enterprises in China. Manuscript.
Li, N., Toppinen, A. & Lantta, M Corporate responsibility in the forest industry SMEs: evidence from China and Finland. Journal of Small Business Management 54(1):
Toppinen, A., D’Amato, D., Lähtinen, K ., Rekola, M., Wan, M., Cai, D. and Wen, Z Forest ecosystem services, corporate sustainability and local livelihoods in industrial plantations of China: building conceptual awareness on the interlinkages. Forthcoming in International Forestry Review.
Wan, M. & Toppinen, A Effect of perceived product quality and lifestyle of health and sustainability on consumer choice of price range for children’s furniture in China. Journal of Forest Economics 22(1):
Zhang, Y., Luo, W. & Toppinen, A Determinants of Equity-Based Entry Mode Choice in the Forest sector: the Case of China. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research. 30(1):3-12.