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Intensive plantation forestry is a potent strategy for forest managers to increase wood production on a smaller forest land acreage, especially with the use of genetically improved reforestation stock. The main drawback with conventional conifer improvement is the several decades it takes before stock deployment, which is particularly acute in the context of climate change and evolving wood markets. Use of genomic selection allows to drastically shorten breeding cycles, resulting in more flexibility and potentially increasing benefits. This study compares the financial performance of five white spruce (Picea glauca) breeding and deployment scenarios, from conventional breeding to genomic selection in conjunction with top-grafting or the use of somatic embryogenesis, in the context of plantations established by the Quebec government on public lands with banned herbicide use. We estimated the land expectation value (LEV) for the five scenarios applied to eight site productivity indices, and considered costs and revenues from breeding, plantation establishment, silviculture, and harvest. LEVs at 4% discount rate were positive for all scenarios on all site indices, and varied from $197 to $2015 ha −1 assuming mechanical brushing of the plantations. The scenarios integrating genomic selection resulted in the highest LEVs, which increased with site index. We also conducted sensitivity analyses with 3% and 5% discount rates, with a range of costs and benefits, and with herbicide control of competing vegetation. These results should help orientate public investment decisions regarding the integration of genomic selection at the operational level in tree breeding and reforestation programs on public lands.

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Wood products are gaining interest in the building sector, due to their potential in sequestering greenhouse gas emissions. However, increasing wood materials use in the built market can have unforeseen changes in the material supply chains. Consequential Life Cycle Assessment (CLCA) allows the assessment of changes in material supply chain. To quantify and link those consequences, the affected physical flows need to be estimated. Material Flow Analysis (MFA) can bring to CLCA modelling more representative and quantitative information than the commonly used hypothesis in consequential modelling. Indeed, MFA considers physical constraints (technology performances and material availability), in addition to account for mass balance. The main objective of this presentation is to illustrate how such consistency is added to CLCA through an MFA of wood products in non-residential (NR) buildings in the province of Québec (Canada). Wood flows are tracked to identify their end-use markets and trends in consumption. To overcome the lack of data and bring insights on the sector’s dynamics, such as stock variations and potential discarded flows that supply recycling markets, residence time model and also extrapolation and correlation between physical and economic parameters are used. Results show how flows can increase in the market before reaching their physical constraints, such as the available wood stock in the forest. These insights will significantly enhance the data collection for CLCA. In conclusion, the MFA brings support to CLCA by proposing a framework to model changes in the construction market.

Brands can be one of a company’s most valuable intangible assets and a lever to generate value. As a source of added value, a brand should be strategically built and managed. To fully take advantage of the benefits that the brand provides, it is necessary to propose a brand management strategy. A conceptual framework was developed by the authors as an alternative to propose a brand management strategy according to a specific business scenario. The objective of this study is to validate this conceptual framework and apply it to propose a brand management strategy in a specific business scenario. For this purpose, a sectorial cross-validation was developed by triangulating the application of the framework to two data collection methods: (1) interviews and (2) a literature review. The results suggested that decomposing a complex business scenario into single-dimensioned business scenarios can help to propose, enhance, or reframe a brand strategy. The results also suggested that some brand dimensions can be used to lever other brand dimensions, such as brand relationship, which is at the top of CEO/CMO priorities in this field. This work contributes to theory by cross-validating the conceptual framework for creating brand management strategies through triangulation.

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