International Marketing Practices

Chapter 6: Bringing It All Together — Sample Urban Forest Products International Marketing Plan To export effectively, firms must accommodate necessary regulatory, financial, and logistics requirements while simultaneously driving adequate product demand. This final chapter brings together and applies concepts outlined throughout this guide. It outlines how to write an international marketing plan, focusing specifically on small to medium sized firms creating value-added products with sustainable raw materials, like urban wood. Urban Wood Utilization Urban forests present environmental, social, and economic benefits. However, when urban trees need to be removed, the residues generated (logs, branches, brush) have traditionally been disposed of as waste or directed to low-value uses. To divert urban forest supplies traditionally underutilized or landfilled, the urban wood products industry has emerged to produce value-added products, often appealing to consumers through raw material attributes, including environmental sustainability, sentimentality, and unique aesthetics. Urban Forests The 74 billion trees in the metropolitan areas of the United States bring a number of environmental, economic, and societal benefits, including air quality, carbon sequestration, soil quality, wildlife and biodiversity, decreased heating and cooling costs, increased real estate value and commercial sales, noise control, aesthetics, a sense of safety and community, public health, and others [209-211]. Benefits from urban forests are vital to their perceived valuation and desire for cities or homeowners to maintain and grow them. When these trees need to be removed owing to storm damage, invasive species infestation, development, aesthetics, disease, or other reasons, they have traditionally been regarded as urban “wood waste” (Table 20). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines urban wood waste as “ yard trimmings like logs and limbs, wood from project site removals, pallets, furniture, packaging, and other commercial or household wood waste disposed of in landfills ” [212]. Understanding urban forest cover and possible diversion outlets will be vital to future resource management, particularly as urban areas transform with population growth. U.S. urban areas are anticipated to increase by 392,400 km 2 by 2050 [213].

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