During October 2009, Henry Quesada, assistant professor at the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products at Virginia Tech in conjunction with Eva Haviarova, assistant professor at the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University organized two workshops in International Marketing for the Forest Products Industry. The workshops were designed after field research made by Quesada during Fall 2008 and Spring 09. This research detected that wood products industry, especially from the primary sector, were strongly considering increasing their sales by exporting but they lacked the knowledge to benefit from marketing opportunities in foreign markets. Based on this need, the workshops offered a valuable agenda that covered the following subjects to capitalize on these opportunities: an update of the current situation of the wood products industry, an introduction to international marketing principles, tips on international marketing intelligence, certified forest products global opportunities, and logistics and transportation issues. At the end of each workshop, a panel was assembled to discuss the topics and gather information for future educational and research opportunities.
The first workshop took place on October 8 at the Vincennes University campus in Jasper, IN with an attendance of 33 people. Quesada, and Professor and Associate Dean of Engagement at Virginia Tech, Bob Smith, participated as speakers. Matt Bumgardner from the USDA Forest Service, Mike Seidl from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and Mark Cooper from the Department of Commerce participated as speakers as well. The second workshop was held in Princeton, WV in October 20 at the WERC’s facilities with an attendance of 16 people. Participating In this opportunity besides Smith and Quesada, Al Schuler from USDA Forest Service, Joel Stopha from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and Josef FellHofer from CVI collaborated as speakers.
Both workshops were highly evaluated by the attendees and interesting discussion about future direction for the wood products industry regarding how to better profit from international marketing opportunities were drawn. The workshops were sponsored by the Wood Education Research Center, The Dubois County Development Center in Southern Indiana, The Indiana Hardwood Lumber Association, The Department of Forestry and natural Resources at Purdue University, Virginia Cooperative Extension at Virginia Tech, The Sloan Industry Center at Virginia Tech, Center for Marketing and Business Management at Virginia Tech, and the Virginia Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services.
Please contact Henry Quesada at quesada@vt.edu for more details.