No abstract

The size of Finnish wood harvesting enterprises has grown, and entrepreneurs have become responsible for various additional tasks, resulting in networking with other harvesting enterprises of various sizes and suppliers of supporting services, but the profitability of the wood harvesting sector has remained low. In the present study, the financial performance of 83 wood harvesting companies in Eastern and Northern Finland was evaluated, based on public final account data from a five-year period between 2013 and 2017. The factors underlying economic success were identified based on 19 semi-structured entrepreneur interviews. The Business Model Canvas framework was applied in the analyses. In particular, the smallest companies (with an annual turnover of less than 600 000 €) struggled with profitability. They showed increasing indebtedness, suffered from poor power in negotiations, had typically short-term contracts, and faced difficulties in retaining skilled operators. Most of the small companies were subcontractors of larger wood-harvesting companies. The better economic success of larger companies was likely based on their capacity to provide wood harvesting services in large volumes and supply versatile services, power in negotiations, and more cost-effective operations. The future development of wood harvesting seems to be polarised: larger enterprises are likely to continue growing, while the size of smaller enterprises has stabilised. Enhancing business management skills and practices is required in enterprises of all size groups.

Purpose: This paper explores the concept of peer-to-peer learning (P2PL) in the context of North-European small-scale forest owners. The aim is to develop a framework for initiating new and evaluating already existing forest owners' P2PL communities. Design: Previous studies of peer-learning are used to determine and justify eight dimensions for forest owners' P2PL. To demonstrate and test the operability of the dimensions, two potential forest owners' peer-learning cases are described. The Finnish case focuses on forest owner clubs based on group interview data and the coordinator's interview, and in the Swedish case an ongoing study circle was observed and its participants interviewed. Findings: The eight P2PL dimensions defined are: initiation, reinforcement, content profile, participant profile, schedule, role of professionals, responsibility and role continuity. Of the described cases, Finnish forest owner clubs rely heavily on the expertise of the invited forest professionals, while owners themselves have a stronger role in Swedish study circles. Practical Implications: The two studied cases and the fictional example demonstrate how the framework defined can be used when assessing real life cases. The framework allows describing consistently P2PL, when designing new practices or implementing step-by-step changes to modify existing P2PL practices. Value: The framework gives new insights into the research of forest owner extension, which has had an increasing interest towards P2PL approach, but where its conceptualisation has remained vague. However, since the domain of the study is novel, further research with various case examples is needed to develop both the theoretical framework and real life practices.

• Forest owners' own communities could complement the present expert-driven forestry extension.• Enhancing informal interaction between forest owners calls for sufficiently homogeneous reference groups and also new communication contexts.• New purposes of forest ownership and innovative forest management practices are suggested topics for novel owner communities.• Forest professionals may initiate these communities, but the continuity depends on the owners themselves. AbstractIt is a common concern that non-resident private forest owners are less able to make informed decisions regarding their forests. Moreover, the present guidance given by forest professionals is not reaching all owners. In this study, we suggest enhancing knowledge exchange among forest owners by increasing their mutual and informal interaction that could inspire them to co-construct new knowledge. The first objective is to identify present emerging activities that constitute knowledge exchange contexts (communities) for Finnish forest owners. The second objective is to discuss the challenges of current Finnish forest extension and their implications when introducing Communities of Practice as a complementary response to existing, yet insufficient, professional-led extension. Data consist of Finnish forest owners' and forest professionals' (n = 43) focus group interviews. The qualitative analysis was theoretically oriented followed by data-driven coding and grouping. According to the results, the role of expert-led encounters is strong in Finland and owners' opportunities for good mutual communication are rare. Informal communities exist mainly in the countryside among neighbouring owners and within families. To enhance knowledge sharing among owners, one needs to identify innovative topics and activities that would inspire owners to commit to their forest property and perform active silviculture. These communities would operate as creative learning environments allowing participation of different levels. When cultivating forest owners' communities it is important to consider actors' roles. Forest owners themselves are responsible for the functions and continuity of these communities, although forest professionals could also initiate new and sufficiently homogenous reference groups for the owners.

No abstract