ABSTRACT
Global trade in forest products has grown significantly in recent years. According to one recent report, global forest products trade doubled in just 6 years from US$ 300 billion in 2002 to 600 billion by 2008 (Pepke 2011). This increase in trade is also characterized by an altered trade-flow pattern that now includes countries that were hitherto absent on the global forest products trade map. The emergence of China as a major supplier and buyer of forest products, forestry land acquisition by several large forest products companies in South America, and opening up of new markets such as in India, the Middle East, and Asia have necessitated, more than ever before, that forest products companies attend and address the challenges of cross-cultural marketing and management issues arising due to a globalized interface.
