Softwood Lumber Dispute Case Study

In the 1800s the lumber industry was very big thing. A man named Frederick Weyerhaeuser and one of his business partners started investing money in the lumber industry. He started by buying up a lot of timberland in Wisconsin to harvest. Once all of the white pine in Wisconsin was gone, he moved his business to Minnesota, and the industry boomed!

At first glance, Clarkson Lumber appears to be a healthy company. However, despite rapid growth and increasing sales Clarkson Lumber finds itself searching for additional funding to compensate for a shortage in cash to fund its expanding business. Clarkson Lumber is in this situation for a number of reasons.

For various reasons, the Canadian government continues harmful practices in lieu of the concerns from Aboriginal peoples. Returning to McGregor (2004), the power imbalance that exists between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is apparent (p. 398), especially regarding oil extraction. So long as “western” theories of production and management are followed, opposing ideals will not dominate. There are large profits to be made in the Athabasca region from resource extraction. As a result, the Canadian government reduces the region to a marketable commodity (Latulippe,

55% of Canada’s trade balance in 2006, with a value of 21.8 billion Canadian dollars, was from forest products (Martin, 2012). Canadian government policies are used to pursue social, economic, and environmental goals (Martin, 2012). This includes regional development, job creation, community stability, the conservation of forests, and ecosystem protection (Martin, 2012). While each province has different policies, the overall goals are quite similar. In the late 1980’s there were two changes that led to much greater forest sustainability. An agreement from 1985-1990 named the Canada-British Columbia Forest Resource Development agreement led to a significant increase in funding (Brown, 1997). The funding was used for forest renewal research and reforestation of areas that had previously been improperly stocked (Brown, 1997). In 1987 the responsibility of covering the cost and regenerating the forests after harvest was traded off from the government to the forest industry (Brown, 1997). According to Robert G. Brown, manager of Silviculture Practices at the Forest Practices branch of the BC government, the two changes

Lorman Lumber is a publicly traded company with widely held shares. Its Yamica location in rural Oregon is one of the company’s largest. The purpose of the plant is to process and treat wood, which it does through a number of facilities. The Sawmill began producing lumber products in 1947, which it does by peeling, milling, and chipping raw wood. Lorman has a known record of producing good profits, and will often pay out generous performance-based bonuses to executives. Although the Yamica plant is somewhat outdated, it is still considered to be efficient and profitable. Starting in 1968, the company began using new methods to condition and pressure-treat wood products through the

Because they have faced cash shortage trouble. Their profitability has grown for 1993 ~ 1995 period, as we can see from their I/S (e.g. Sales and Net Income, etc.). However, as its business size grows, their A/R increased, which means that it is getting difficult to collect cash. On the other hand, A/P decreased for the same period, which means that the company paid cash for A/P, resulting in critical cash shortage. Furthermore, the A/P payment period is shorter than A/R collection periods, the company’s cash problem happens to be accelerated.

1. Productivity of the crew would be below standard. I believe for the productivity to be below standard because they were sent to this crew because of their lack of work. Just because they have been assigned to another crew, does not mean that they will begin to work well right away. When compared to the Equity Theory, I believe there to be positive inequity for the three men assigned to the new group. For being assigned to the group due to lack of work, it is unfair to have a higher pay grade than those who have been in the company for a longer period of time and who are doing their job correctly. This may cause issues with subprofessionals being motivated to work to their full

Gene Denning, an employee of Welco Lumber Company, decided to run a study by videotaping a sample size of 365 logs being processed. However, actual data provided proved that it was a true sample size of only 362 logs, as data for logs # 30, 123, and 127 are missing from his report. He videotaped 3 operators, April, Sid, and Jim, marking the logs, how each log was broken down and the degree to which the cants were properly centered. Gene then did a comparison of what the cost was of the log in its current condition (actual value), to what would have been the correct value of the log if the cut had been

not it is a wise agreement, but will look at what business can do to better

Walberg, R. (2011, January 14). Pros and cons of the Canadian way. Retrieved April 09, 2016, from

Even though Canadian government are showing protective approach presently because of several factors that have affected the land, and has taken the country 's wealth to other country. But some believe that because of the foreign investment the wealth of the country has increased, and this has contributed to the overall development of the Canada and the world. Today, there are so much investment done and this looks like it is going to increase in future, and this has showed sign of rejection from the country’s environmentalists because it is taking away the natural resources and polluting the environment. Even though the nation has been benefited, there is contrary feeling towards it. On the other hand, government are taking steps to make sure that too much power or all assets are not handled by foreign companies. But some economists believe the rules and regulations of the government in the past has benefited and supported foreign firms rather than domestic firms, because they were trying to cut down the expenses and increase profit in the form of tax. So, the Gray report puts forward the following policy which suggest Canadians to posses high command over the business and environment, increase the profit and reduce the harm of foreign direct investment, and to hold and expand Canadian control where there is need and can be controlled. The problem that worries the government in the past was foreign investors take domestic

Since timber is no longer as plentiful as it used to be, and some types are no longer available except through recovery, large quantities are being recovered from abandoned barns, mills, factories, warehouses, coal mines, boxcars and even river logs and processed into reusable lumber and sold for new building. That recycled wood is called reclaimed lumber and following is what I have learned about it.

The existence of lumber is prominent in nations with broadly large forests which are found worldwide since forests cover the earth. Although lumber is manufactured all over the world, Canada is the largest producer of lumber, due to its abundance. The world leaders in softwood lumber include the United States, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Russia, Brazil, Austria, and Chile (Nag, 2017). These are generally the countries with greater forest areas. The uses of wood in furniture, buildings, bridges, and as a source of energy are widely known. As reported by Stats Canada, the United States manufactured more than 54 million cubic meters of softwood in 2014 (Stats Canada, Forest industry Contribution Report). Despite the report being several years older,

Over the past few decades, practitioners and researchers across the world have managed to make advancements in building system technologies that require the use of large dimension engineered wood panel elements, columns and beams. Commonly referred to as “mass timber”, these engineered wood products have given builders and designers the ability to construct large scale structures with higher performance for commercial use. Mass timber has revolutionized the use of wood in the construction industry, resulting in new methods and techniques of construction that were never before realized with wood as a material. Cross Laminated Timber acts as an example of one of the mass timber products that is giving wood construction a whole new meaning thanks to its innovative technology and revolutionary methods.

This section includes a brief history of the trade dispute. It is very important to mention that exchange rate played a crucial role in these disagreements, but they will be explained in details later in the paper. It all started in the year 1982, when the US lumber lobbyists submitted a petition to the US Department of Commerce regarding the unfair practices in Canada; especially to investigate the stumpage systems in British Colombia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Hence, they claimed their sales and profits diminished and that they were injured; so they required from Commerce to impose countervailing duties. In the following year, petition was dismissed on the ground that the stumpage fees were not specific to any industry or