Eric Hansen

James A. McAlexander

Sustainable forest practices have become a pivotal issue within the forest products industry for a variety of reasons ranging from a broad sense of environmental awareness and responsibility to a more self-interested concern for maintaining the economic productivity of forests. Whether the forest products industry widely adopts sustainable practices, however, depends on their long-term economic viability. The development of broad demand and markets for sustainably produced wood products will be a key component of that economic viability.The efforts of retailers J Sainsbury plc (JS) in the United Kingdom and The Home Depot (HD) in the United States to stock their shelves with products drawn from well-managed forests place them at the forefront of this global issue. These large, respected retailers are uniquely positioned to merchandise sustainable forest products to the mass market and by so doing, lend credibility to these products and demonstrate the importance of the issue to the industry and the public. The buying power of these two companies is of such a magnitude that their purchasing practices can exert a strong influence on the forest products' industry worldwide.The initial programs of these two retailers and that of the 1995-Plus Group, a group of major wood products buyers in the United Kingdom, indicate that retailers and large wood products buyers will be instrumental in cultivating consumer awareness of certified products, as well as pulling suppliers toward certification and sustainable forest practices. A comparison of the activities of the two companies, which operate in different competitive, cultural, and political environments, identifies a variety of salient issuesthat will influence whether or not their initial efforts to market certified products are successful. The ability of these retailers to obtain and merchandise sustainable forest products is a barometer for the future direction of sustainable forestry.The material presented is drawn from a number of different sources and research methods. In-depth interviews with senior executives, wood products buyers, marketers, environmental managers, store managers, and retail employees from both companies were the primary sources of data. These interviews were balanced by discussions with the 1995-Plus Group, competing firms, and suppliers, visits to stores of both companies in different regions while posing as consumers, and supplemented with a review of published materials.

James A. McAlexander

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