Assessing competitiveness of forest industry: Theoretical and empirical aspects

Abstract

Numerous studies are dedicated to the competitiveness assessment of countries, regions and industries. However, it is not easy to choose the methodology to assess the competitiveness of forest products. The main difficulties arise even at the stage of defining the term “competitiveness”, selecting the criteria for its achievement and choosing the measure suitable for its evaluation. This article analyzes the theoretical foundations of competitiveness in terms of two main approaches: comparative and competitive advantages. The main novel result of this work is a comprehensive review of empirical competitiveness assessments as regards the forest industry. Several methods have been identified as the most popular means to explore forest products’ competitiveness. One of the most convenient approaches to estimate competitiveness at the national and regional level is to calculate the comparative advantage revealed. The last section of the article covers the benefits and disadvantages of this approach.