Competitiveness of Estonian forest and wood cluster

The objective of the Estonian Forest and Wood Industry Sector Study is to conduct an analysis of the competitiveness of the Estonian wood sector and identify success factors to lay the foundations at the national level to mitigate bottlenecks and strengths in the sector and provide quality information for decision making at the enterprise level.

The competitiveness of the forest and wood sector is analyzed on the basis of the input-output structure (value chain), looking at the inputs, production, outputs and support activities of the wood sector as a whole and its various sub-sectors. In addition, the study provides a more accurate picture of the location of companies in the value chain and pays close attention to the concerns of investors and exporters.

The study will be implemented in two major stages. Phase [A] focuses on the background analysis and benchmarking of the Estonian forest and wood sector, which provides an overview of the sector’s competitiveness, position in the international context, inputs, production and export capacity, process management, outputs, success factors and development needs. In this phase, in addition to the statistical information that underlies the macro-level analysis, valuable information is collected from the enterprise level, providing an in-depth analysis of the challenges and development potential of companies in the sector.

The research phase [B] is based on the previous extensive collection of information and its analysis on the current situation and competitiveness of the Estonian forest and timber sector, and the development scenarios that can shape the development of the sector are developed. Then, together with experts and the active involvement of other stakeholders, the most appropriate action plan will be developed to overcome the bottlenecks in the sector and to achieve success factors and priorities in the next decade.

The research is carried out by the Institute of Baltic Studies and Tallinn University of Technology.