Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 2008; 23: 445 457
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A statistics-based method for cluster analysis of the forest sector at the national and subnational level in Germany
UWE KIES, THORSTEN MROSEK & ANDREAS SCHULTE Wald-Zentrum, Westfa ¨ lische Wilhelms-Universita ¨ t, Mu ¨ nster, Germany
Abstract The cluster concept in economics contributes to new research on the forest sector’s role in national and regional economies, yet incompatible cluster definitions and a variety of methodologies impede an objective comparison of findings. However, governmental statistical reporting systems are not well suited for a direct assessment of the forest sector due to classificatory and methodological shortcomings. This research presents a more standardized approach in the form of a statistics-based method for forest sector benchmarking and monitoring. The specification of the method included an extended cluster definition based on the Classification of Economic Activities in the European Union (NACE) and the validation of two suitable national statistical reporting systems. Testing the method in a case study for Germany demonstrates its capacity to provide consistent socioeconomic information on forest and wood-based industries in a sectoral, spatial and temporal dimension. In 2004, the German forest cluster accounted for 100,000 companies, 150 billion Euro gross turnover and over 900,000 employees (approximately 3.5% of the national economy) and ranked among the strongest manufacturing sectors. Individual wood-based industries indicated regional concentrations in federal states of Germany. Over the past decade, the forest sector was marked by considerable losses in turnover and employment, which increasingly deviated from the overall economic development of Germany. The research contributes to a more standardized, empirical understanding of the forest sector’s role in national and regional economies, supporting rational decision making in cluster policy and management.
Keywords: Classification of Economic Activities in the European Union (NACE), cluster analysis, employment, forest-based industries, forest sector, Germany, wood manufacturing.
Introduction Forest and wood-based industries constitute a complete industrial sector in national economies, which by definition comprises all economic activities with a close linkage of its associated activities to a common resource: wood. The view of one large sector unified by a common resource was put forward by the European Union (EU) to promote a common strategy and structured approach for the sustainable development of one of its largest industrial sectors (EUROFOR, 1997; Commission of the European Communities, 1999; United Nations Economic Commission for Europe & Food and Agriculture Organization, 2005). The forest sector incorporates raw timber-producing forestry enterprises, industries in the processing and manufacturing of semi-finished wood, pulp and paper products, and further
downstream manufacturing industries, which provide numerous finished wood-based products to the end consumer. Industries that are linked to each other by a close relationship to a certain use of resources or form of production, spatial concentration or high connectivity in terms of business activities are understood as ‘‘clusters’’. In line with related approaches (e.g. industrial districts, stakeholder networks, centres of innovation, regional development), the cluster concept is widely adopted in economics (Porter, 1998; Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1999; Stimson et al., 2006). To provide socioeconomic information on forestbased industries, numerous studies have investigated this complex sector on different levels and in various geographical settings. The existing research provides evidence on the suitability of the cluster concept for
Correspondence: U. Kies, Wald-Zentrum, Westfa¨lische Wilhelms-Universita¨t, Robert-Koch-Str. 26, DE-48149 Mu¨nster, Germany. E-mail: uwe.kies@wald-zentrum.de
(Received 27 August 2007; accepted 15 July 2008) ISSN 0282-7581 print/ISSN 1651-1891 online # 2008 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/02827580802348043