Integration mellan skog & förädlingsindustri : en intervjuundersökning

Abstract: The aim of this master thesis is to study the integration in Sweden between forestry and bulky industries as fiber- and sawmilling companies. The analysis is based on theories about transaction cost economies and competitive strategy. The studied companies are active on the Swedish roundwood market. The buying actors on this market were divided into two groups; fiber- and sawmill industries. Three companies from each group were chosen subjectively by the author. One representative from each company, the executive director or the deputy executive director was interviewed. Contradictory to what many analysts and reporters in business journal recommend, all the companies in this survey have a positive attitude to vertical integration into the raw material business. The companies have somewhat different motives to why they want to keep their integration or develop it further, but within the same subgroup are the motives in general the same. The fiber industry has managed to develop many of the advantages linked to vertical integration and managed to use the integration to locate themselves in a good position towards the suppliers. The high degree of asset specificity in this industry makes the environment very insecure and the integration is used to eliminate, or at least significantly reduce the risk. The sawmilling industry experiences the same asset specificity as the fiber industry but the sawmills are less integrated than the fiber industry. The asset specificity and the low degree of vertical integration in the raw material business, makes them very vulnerable and they experience a situation where they have both strong suppliers and strong buyers to negotiate with. There is a wish among the companies to own more forestland, i.e, to become more integrated. However, the Swedish law together with the price level on forest land makes it difficult for this industry to extend their backward integration.