The Outlook
January 2007

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W e l c o m e

It's another new year, and this month we invite you to visit the new & improved website from our Helping the Wood Products Industry Profit From the Next 10 Years workshop at the Wood Education and Resource Center last April.

The website offers information from the workshop, including the presentations, and we have now added links to additional organizations and resources and various Dovetail Reports regarding domestic and global trends affecting the forest sector, as well as strategies and tools for helping the sector profit from the next 10 years.

You can check it all out at:

http://www.dovetailinc.org/wercworkshop.html

....and a special thank you to the organizations that provided us with information and links!

Also, this month our commentary takes a look at the human-side of business. It is clear that the managment and development of human resources are critical components for success in today's businesses. 

Finally, don't miss our report and a discussion of what it will take to reinvent our domestic hardwood industry...one company  at a time. 

Enjoy!

- Jeff

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I n  T h i s  I s s u e:

Dovetail Website:

Helping the Wood Products Industry Profit from the Next 10 Years

Dovetail Commentary:

The Real Meaning of Team

Dovetail Report:

Reinventing the Hardwood Industry One Company at a Time

Dovetail News:

Building a house from close to home
by Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio
January 8, 2007

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D o v e t a i l   W e b s i t e

Helping the Wood Products Industry Profit from the Next 10 Years

Information, resources, and links to additional organizations

The domestic wood products industry currently faces significant challenges. These challenges are magnified by rising foreign competition and related economic impacts on the primary and secondary sectors of the hardwood industry in the Eastern United States.

The US Forest Service, Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC) and Dovetail Partners offered a workshop in April 2006 to help the industry constructively respond to these challenges. The workshop included presentations from leading innovators in the industry with real-life and current-day examples of implementation of strategic thinking and repositioning, new leadership models, mass customization, LEAN manufacturing, and other approaches. The workshop was held at the Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC) facilities in Princeton, West Virginia on April 11th and 12th.

Information from that workshop has been used to help develop this website. This website aims to expand the delivery of information that aids the success of the wood products industry. This website is a support tool for attendees of the workshop and other interested parties. This website provides information on global and domestic trends related to the industry and potential strategies and tools for increasing competitiveness.

Homepage: http://www.dovetailinc.org/wercworkshop.html

Global and Domestic Trends

Strategies and Tools

Workshop Presentations

Resources and Links

Special thanks to the following organizations for providing information and a link to their resources: Building Materials and Wood Technology at the University of Massachusetts, the Center for Forest Products Marketing and Management at Virginia Tech University, the Forest Products Center at the University of Tennessee, the Forest Products Management Development Institute at the University of Minnesota, the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota - Duluth, Wood Science & Engineering at Oregon State University, The Oregon Wood Innovation Center, WoodPro:The Pennsylvania Wood Products Productivity Program, and the Wood Education and Resource Center.

The work upon which this program is based was funded through a grant awarded by the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service.   This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Dr. Jeff Howe
January 2007

Today the importance of creating teams in organizations and the special value in getting good people to work together to solve problems is widely recognized.   Nowhere is this more important than at the top of today's organizations, and especially within organizations facing the need to implement dramatic change.

Historically, the proper model for structuring an organization has been viewed as one that relies on a strong, extremely bright individual at the top upon whose shoulders rest all the key decisions of the organization.   Within this individual's purview is the direction of day to day operations, coaching and guidance of the top executives of the company, and the establishment of vision for the future of the organization.   Aspects of this time-tested model clearly remain valid today; extremely bright individuals at the top of any organization are critical to success.  

One difference today, however, is that a new critical success factor for firms trying to compete in a global marketplace is the top leader's ability to multi-task and coordinate a wide range of individuals with a wide range of skills in order to maximize the number of key activities accomplished and key decisions being made.   Critical to a modern organization's success is the creation of an executive team .

Often, corporate leaders form teams without really knowing the reason why.   The number one reason for creating an executive team today is to facilitate appropriate prioritization of activities within the corporation and to apply the corporation's resources to get the most things accomplished the quickest.   So why is that different than the typical model?   The following example will help explain.

To read the full commenary, click here.


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D o v e t a i l   R e p o r t
All reports are available online at: http://www.dovetailinc.org/reports.html

Reinventing the Hardwood Industry One Company at a Time

Dr. Jeff Howe & Dr. Jim Bowyer

At one time the term “colony” was loosely defined as: any geographic region that exported raw materials to the “home country” and then purchased those materials back as value added products . By that economic measure, the U.S. is quickly becoming a colony of Asia.

Obviously there are alternative definitions of a colony, but in many ways the term conveys a form of economic interdependence that we are seeing develop today between various nations around the globe. It is becoming increasingly common for China, as an example, to purchase their hardwood lumber in the U.S. and sell it back to us in the form of furniture, cabinets, and other value added hardwood products. There are costs and benefits to this reality. Unfortunately, however, the majority of costs are borne by the U.S. hardwood products industry while many of the benefits are received by China. In recent years the domestic furniture industry has been decimated by increased importation and a similar impact is starting to be felt by the cabinet industry.

To many hardwood companies the situation looks hopeless; it appears impossible to compete with overseas firms that pay cents on the dollar for labor and, in many cases, have fewer regulations to contend with. While direct competition in such an environment may prove extremely difficult to impossible, change, so as to shift out of a directly competitive mode, can improve the business outlook.

Yet change, a difficult challenge under any conditions, can only occur if we do something different. And dramatic change can often occur only by doing something dramatically different. In addition, some of the approaches needed to address this conflict may seem absurd to some, in that many possibilities include actually raising per unit cost, through an increase in the number of products or services offered and/or through investment in shorter lead times and more skilled leaders. Yet, as Einstein said, only those willing to attempt the absurd can ever achieve the impossible.

We suggest that there are two keys to competing in this ever-competitive world: a) providing organizational leadership that is multidimensional, relationship-centric, and bottom line focused rather than fixated on gross margins, and b) creating an organization that is able to learn and adapt to change rapidly. We also suggest that it is important to look outside the firm for help rather than “putting your nose to the grindstone” or “shoulder to the wheel.”

Working harder won't help.  Working smarter is the only solution.

Building a house from close to home
by Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio
January 8, 2007

A lot of people are trying to buy locally-produced food. Some look for locally-made clothing. But how about buying a house made of locally-produced timber? That's what's happening in Aitkin. It's affordable, very energy-efficient, and it's going up in an area facing a housing crunch.

To read the story or hear the audio, visit Minnesota Public Radio.

“The Outlook” is the monthly e-newsletter of Dovetail Partners Inc, a 501c3 non profit corporation.

Dovetail Partners is a highly skilled team that collaborates to develop unique concepts, systems, programs and models to foster sustainable forestry and catalyze responsible trade and consumption.