Marketing decision making in the forest biomass market: The case of Austria, Finland and Slovakia

This study focuses on a qualitative assessment of marketing decisions by significant actors in the forest biomass market within the EU, particularly in Austria, Finland, and Slovakia. Based on an exploratory case study design, the forest enterprises, contractors, and heating plans from each country were purposively selected. Using qualitative content analysis and MAXQDA software, the study analyzes nine in-person interviews with actors representing the chosen companies. The results reveal that national and EU policies, logistic, or technical factors, primarily determine the marketing decisions of the actors. Although there are differences in marketing decision making framework among all companies, they are significant for forest chips producers. Their decisions varied mainly in the choice and implementation phase of the framework, associated with promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. In contrast, heating plants' decisions differ only slightly within the marketing decision making framework. Some variances in characteristics of forest chips, price range, and contract length exist in the implementation phase. Consequently, the marketing decisions of heating plants significantly influence the marketing decision making framework of forest enterprises and contractors, confirming the interaction between the 7C and 7P concepts, and derived demand of forest chips.