The Influence of Environmentalism on the Export Performance of Export Ventures Exporting Hardwood Woodchips from Australia to Japan

This thesis investigates the research question; ‘how does environmentalism influence the export performance of export ventures exporting hardwood woodchips from Australia to Japan?’ The Australia-Japan hardwood woodchip export industry is used as the focus of the study because it is an interesting exemplar of the influence of environmentalism on export activity. It also facilitates the use of a number of research design features that enhance the contribution of the research to the development of new knowledge and, it is an economically and socially important industry to both Australia and Japan. Environmentalism is presented as a useful construct to consider the influence of a wide range of ‘environmental’ related issues across a broad spectrum of business activities. In this thesis, environmentalism is defined as ‘the social movement concerned with the pursuit (through political and social influence) of perceived improved preservation and/or conservation conditions of the natural state of selected environs and the inferred benefits to human welfare’. A two-stage approach is used to address the research question. The first stage involves the synthesis (from reviews of industry issues and related theory) of a conceptual framework of the export performance of Australian hardwood woodchip export ventures exporting to Japan. The second stage then uses this export performance framework to identify and discuss how environmentalism influences the export performance of export ventures. The research technique used is grounded theory. Data is collected from case studies of five export ventures that export hardwood woodchips from Australia to Japan (out of a total of nine such ventures in existence) and interviews with 18 industry participants who are senior managers of export ventures that export hardwood woodchips to Japan. Analysis of results reveals that assessments of venture level export performance vary between Australian-owned export ventures and Japanese-owned export ventures. Analysis also reveals that export ventures, regardless of ownership type, assess their export performance as a mix of financial and non-financial measures. The notion of ‘License to Operate’ is found to be the most prominent non-financial consideration. Analysis of results also reveals that the influence of environmentalism on the export performance of export ventures is particularly expressed via three features. Firstly, the preferences of Japanese buyers for hardwood woodchips sourced from plantations and/or forests certified as being sustainably managed. Secondly, the impact that changes to the forest resources available as wood supply to export ventures have made on the cost-competitiveness and export reliability of those export ventures. Thirdly, aspects of the license to operate of export ventures including the requirements of regulatory compliance and how environmentalism shapes stakeholder sentiment regarding the sustainability of export ventures and related forest management activities. The discussion highlights that the strategic outlook for Australian-owned export ventures is one characterised by their diminishing bargaining power. This diminishing bargaining power is a consequence of the likely oversupply situation in the Pacific Rim market and the transfer pricing strategies of the Japanese pulp and paper industry expressed. In this context, the transfer pricing strategies of the Japanese pulp and paper industry are expressed via their longer term supply policies and their investment in overseas hardwood plantations and woodchip export ventures. It follows that the search for feasible alternative markets is a critical strategic consideration for Australian-owned export ventures. Analysis reveals that environmentalism can act as an impediment to the realisation of some of these alternative markets (e.g. as opposition to a pulp mill development proposal) or as a catalyst in others (e.g. as support for the emergence of environmental markets such as carbon trading). It is also surmised that, in general terms, environmentalism has contributed to the enhancement of the sustainable governance of export ventures that export hardwood woodchips from Australia to Japan.