Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood
Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’
and Developers’ Perceived Benefits
Qin Tan1, Kohei Imamura1, Kenji Nagasaka1, Masafumi Inoue1*

Abstract
With the development of finished houses in China supported by the government, housing developers
play a critical role in the purchase of flooring products. On the other hand, wood flooring
manufacturers know the importance of forest certification for export, but pay less attention to thedomestic market. This study evaluated both housing developers’ and wood flooring manufactures’perceived benefits of forest certification in China, using a survey. For manufacturers, the three mostimportant benefits of adopting forest certification were to “meet foreign customers’ purchasing
requirements,” “support sustainable forestry and protect the environment,” and “meet corporatesocial responsibility goals.” For housing developers, the most important benefits of using certified
flooring were to “acquire new consumers from domestic market (e.g., green consumer),” “achieve
product differentiation,” and “brand the house with high-end image.” The largest perception gap
between the two groups of respondents was with respect to “gain financial aids (e.g., tax and loan).”
The findings suggest that there is an increasing demand for forest certified products from housingdevelopers in China, which requires manufacturers to enhance their marketing strategies to meetthe domestic demands for certified flooring.
Keywords: wood flooring manufacturer, housing developer, perceived benefit of forest
certification, CoC certification, China

1. Introduction
Wood and wood products utilization are related tothe issue of climate change mitigation through carbon
stocks, sustainable forest management, and greenhouse gas emissions (Sathre and O’Connor 2010,
Griscom et al. 2017). Furthermore, they can provide
economic benefits by increasing economic activities
of wood products companies (e.g., Komata et al. 2012,
Fuchigami et al. 2015, Kawamura and Inoue 2020),
including those that provide construction building
materials (Asif et al. 2007). Maintaining sustainable

1 Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo,
Japan* Corresponding author. Email: masafumi@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Acknowledgements: This research did not receive any specific grant fromfunding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
BioProducts Business 7(2), 2022, pp. 19–32. ISSN 2378-1394
https://doi.org/10.22382/bpb-2022-002

forest management is an important prerequisite toachieving positive outcomes through utilizing wood
products. Forest certification, such as by the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC), is critical in this aspect.
This study focuses on China because of its large
and rapidly growing domestic market. China is thethird largest flooring market in the world behind theUnited States and India (Statista 2020). The sales
volume of wood flooring in China was 292 million
m2 in 2005, and had increased by 142% to 415 million m2 in 2017 (CNFPIA 2018, Zhang 2008). This
growth is closely tied to the fast development ofresidential housing construction and remodeling.
Before the global financial crisis of 2008, the salesof wood flooring had enjoyed a high growth rate,
above 8% on a year-on-year basis. Domestic demand
for wood flooring reached 360 million m2 in 2007.
After the global financial crisis, the first growth peakof demand was in 2009 and 2010, when the growth

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BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022

rate reached 6% and 11%, respectively. China is also
the world’s largest producer of wood flooring. Woodflooring production in China reached 830 million m2
in 2017, which accounts for 20% of the wood flooringproduced worldwide (DCCC 2019, SFA 2017). This
study considers that these two aspects make China
a good example for clarifying the marketing strategies of wood flooring manufacturers.
This study focuses on the wood flooring market
in China, where “rough” (unfinished) houses havetaken the predominant share of the residential housing market over the past years (Furumi 2014, Li etal. 2017). Homebuyers purchase interior materials,
including flooring products, in the building materials
market on their own (Furumi 2014, Li et al. 2017).
Wood flooring manufacturers sell products, which
include solid hardwood, laminated, and engineered
flooring, to end users through manufacturer-owned
stores, including e-marketplaces and sales agencies
in China (Figure 1).
However, according to the government, finishedhouses have been replacing rough houses in urban
China in recent years, which reduces waste and pollution in the process of house decoration (MOHURD
2017). The government has also tightened housing
measures and has suppressed real estate speculation. Housing developers now must purchase allinterior materials, including flooring products, forhomebuyers. This indicates that housing developers are replacing end users in becoming the major
consumer segment for wood flooring. In the future,
housing developers’ activities will be considered anessential part of the supply chain of wood flooring(Figure 1). Thus, a change in marketing strategies willbe critical for wood flooring manufacturers.
Presently, there are more than 2,300 wood flooring manufacturers in China, of which approximately
800 manufacture solid wood flooring, 500 produce
engineered wood flooring, 900 produce laminate
flooring, and 150 produce bamboo flooring (JFWIA2017). Most are small-scale manufacturers; however,the 100 largest solid flooring manufacturers are estimated to account for 40% of all solid wood flooring,and the 10 largest engineered flooring manufacturers produced 50% of all engineered wood flooringin China (IWMG 2006).
The number of housing developers increases
every year along with the rapid rate of economic

growth in China. To date, there are over 95,000 housing developers in China (National Bureau of Statistics
2019). More than 60% of the market is dominatedby 100 housing developers. The 10 largest housing developers control 28% of the market share,
and the combined sales reached 444 billion yuan in2019 (CREA 2020). This is characteristic of the highly
oligopolistic nature of China’s real estate market.
Forest certification has emerged in response
to social demands, such as the adoption of Forest
Principles and Agenda 21 in the Earth Summit of1992. There are two international certification
schemes, namely, the Forest Stewardship Council
and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest
Certification (PEFC), that provide a guarantee thatthe wood used in the products comes from a wellmanaged forest. In China, one million hectares offorest had been certified by the FSC, with 9,161 chainof custody (CoC) holders as of December 2019. Thisaccounted for 23% of FSC-CoC certificates in the world(FSC 2019). Since 2014, the Chinese forest certification scheme has been endorsed by PEFC (PEFC 2022).
Two million hectares of forest have been certified by
PEFC in China, with 418 CoC certificate holders as ofJune 2020 (PEFC 2020).
Moreover, the Chinese government recently issued incentive policies for the development of green
buildings (MIIT & MOHURD 2015, MOHURD 2017).
Green building programs assess the energy efficiency of a building. These programs also extend
to several other sustainability criteria, including
sustainable sourcing of building materials (UNECE/
FAO 2011, Yu et al. 2014). This requires housing developers to use environmentally friendly materials;
therefore, manufacturers have an opportunity to
expand certified products in the domestic market.
For instance, the most frequently used international
green building certificate—the Leadership in Energy
and Environment Design (LEED)—offers credit for
using FSC-certified materials only (Räty et al. 2012,
FSC 2015).
According to the review of green marketing research by Wymer and Polonsky (2015), consumers
are concerned about environmental issues (National
Geographic 2012), whereas their purchase behavior
for green products is lackluster (Peattie and Crane
2005, Wong et al. 1996). There are gaps between
consumer attitudes and behaviors in many cases

Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits

21

Figure 1. Supply chain of wood flooring in China considered in the study.

(Bamberg & Möser 2007, Thøgersen 2004, Wymer
and Polonsky 2015). An eco-brand attribute is not
sufficient to cause consumers to switch the purchasebrand, especially when the eco-brand attribute iscoupled with a premium price (Drozdenko et al.
2011, Wymer and Polonsky 2015). However, several
marketing studies have shown that there is a niche
for ecofriendly products in wood product markets(e.g., Anderson and Hansen 2004, Aguilar and Vlosky2007). Additionally, more consumers have come to beconcerned about forests and forestry and acknowledge forest certification in China (Luo et al. 2017,
Tan et al. 2019). Previous studies showed that end
users intended to buy certified wood products, although their willingness-to-pay was small (Vidal et al.
2005, Overdevest & Richenbach 2006, Liu et al. 2007,
Wang et al. 2011). But recent studies have shown an
increase in their willingness-to-pay (e.g., Liu et al.
2016, Luo et al. 2017, Tan et al. 2019). Considering
the recent increase in Chinese consumers’ demandfor certified products, there is also potential demandfor certified wood flooring. Tan et al. (2019) and Tan
et al. (2020) reported high purchase intentions andprice premiums for certified wood flooring among
consumers in major Chinese cities. However, theattitudes of manufacturers and developers in China
toward the adoption of forest certified wood flooring
are not well understood.
Therefore, it is necessary to find the gap between
their perceptions and demands for certified products. In this study, we assessed the gap between theperceived benefits of forest certification held by thewood flooring manufacturers and housing developers
in China. Manufacturers could better utilize certified
wood flooring by recognizing the perceived benefitsof the product for housing developers.

2. Literature Review
Chen et al. (2011) assessed the awareness and knowledge of forest certification among Chinese forest
products manufacturers in order to analyze the extent to which they are considering adopting forest
certification and what motivates such decisions. The
results showed that although various efforts havebeen made to increase awareness of forest certification in China, the respondents’ understanding offorest certification was very low. Potential economic
benefits were the most frequently cited reason for
adopting certification, with other reasons including
gaining or maintaining competitive advantages overtheir counterparts, improved access to domestic andexport markets, increasing customer awareness, andenhancing corporate social responsibility. Some respondents recognized that making certification mandatory was necessary for widespread certification,
given the limited economic benefits of certification.
Montague (2011) identified the attitudes of primary hardwood manufacturers toward CoC certification in the Appalachian region in the United States.
The majority of respondents were small, noncertified
manufacturers and had negative attitudes toward
CoC certification, although they perceived themselves

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BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022

to be environmentally conscious. As for their reasons
to gain CoC certification, most of them answered tofollow the requests from their customers or to gain
some type of market advantage.
Bowers et al. (2012) asked wood products manufacturers in China and Vietnam about the ways
forest certification had been implemented in theirbusiness and challenges they faced when adopting
forest certification, and they analyzed what factors
contributed to the commitment to forest certification. In addition, they identified country-specificfactors that influence companies’ decisions to obtain
forest certification by comparing the cases in China
and Vietnam. The results showed that acquiringcertified raw material supply, market awareness,and certification costs were the main constraints toadding certified wood products to the sales mix ofthe company. The results also indicated that there
is a lack of domestic supply of certified materials,
which leads to a heavy reliance on imported materials, which incurs additional costs. Perceived benefitsof forest certification differed significantly between
the two countries, with market benefits being themost effective driver for certification.
Tolunay and Türkoglu (2014) investigated theperspectives and attitudes towards CoC certification systems and certified forest products among
companies of the forest products industry in Turkey.
The results showed that there were differences inperspectives and attitudes towards CoC certification
schemes among the four main branches of the forest
products industry in Turkey. It was revealed that CoC
certification was known mostly by the paper industry
because companies had experienced sales problems
due to the lack of CoC certification.
Roe (2015) assessed how regulations on illegal
wood imports by Japan and Western countries affected the attitudes and perceptions of firms in China
and Vietnam, their use of CoC certification, and thematerial sourcing and export market decisions ofindustry managers. The results showed that as firms
increase in size, they sell less domestically and become more aware of and supportive of regulations,and that firm’s awareness of timber legality regulations plays a major role in whether a firm decides
to obtain certification. Vietnamese firms were foundto have low awareness of the regulations, but highsupport for certification. Chinese firms had a morenegative attitude toward regulations, while having ahigher awareness of them. There were differences
between domestically-focused firms and those exporting to foreign markets in expectations for apotential market.

3. Method
3.1 Questionnaire design
Two types of questionnaires were prepared, one for
manufacturers and one for developers. Both questionnaires were prepared in simplified Mandarin
Chinese by the first author, who is a native speaker,
and the other authors double-checked the Englishtranslated questionnaires by the first author. The
manufacturers’ questionnaire comprised four parts:(1) The manufacturer’s profile, which included thenumber of employees, annual turnover, products,
business location, and information regarding
wood flooring, including origins of the wood, export shares, and countries to which the flooring
was exported(2) Information on CoC certification adoption containing adoption experience (year and times), futureplans of adoption, and target customers(3) Perceived benefits of forest certification, as determined by asking manufacturers to measure 13
potential benefits on a 7-point Likert scale,1 withthe 13 items chosen based on previous research(Chen et al. 2011, Bowers et al. 2012)(4) Perceived challenges of adopting forest certification for manufacturers without the intentionof adopting CoC certification, as determined byresponses to a 5-point Likert scale question.
The housing developers’ questionnaire was also
comprised of four parts:(1) The housing developer’s profile, including thenumber of employees, annual turnover, businesslocation, and information regarding the flooring products, such as the purchasing process offlooring, purchase contracts, and areas covered
by wood flooring per house
1This study applied a 7-point Likert scale (“7” = strongly agree, “1” strongly
disagree) according to Wakita et al. (2012) and Taherdoost (2019), whopointed out that it can reveal respondents’ awareness more accurately.

Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits

(2) Current use and intention for further use of certified wood flooring(3) Perceived benefits for the use of certified woodflooring, as determined by asking developers
to measure 12 items on a 7-point Likert scale,referring to the manufacturers’ perceived
measurements(4) Perceived challenges of using certified woodflooring for housing developers that have neverpreviously adopted certified wood flooring, as
determined by responses to a 5-point Likert scalequestion.

3.2. Data collection and analysis
Sampling methods in survey research are divided
into the probability and non-probability sampling
methods (Bryman 2012, Till and Matei 2016, Vehovar
et al. 2016). In the former method, the sample is stochastically collected from the population; hence it ispossible to infer information about the population
through statistical analysis. In the latter method, asampling procedure is non-stochastically conducted;
hence the representativeness of the sample to the
population cannot be guaranteed. In general, nonprobability sampling has a larger sample error andlower survey cost than probability sampling, but thisis not always the case (Callegaro et al. 2014, Vehovar
et al. 2016).
Non-probability sampling methods include convenience sampling, quota sampling, snowball sampling,
and judgmental sampling (Bryman 2012, Vehovar etal. 2016). Convenience sampling targets people accidentally, haphazardly, or through an unrestricted
approach such as in shopping malls or on the street.
Quota sampling is an improved convenience sampling with some socio-demographic quotas (e.g.,
region, gender, age) in order to reflect the populationof an area. Snowball sampling collects respondents
through a chain of referrals in which existing respondents refer the survey to other people who meetthe survey objective. Judgmental sampling targets
representative people of a population based on theknowledge and credibility of the researcher.
For this study, we applied a snowball sampling
method (according to Bryman 2012) because, basedon the preliminary interviews with wood building
manufacturers in Japan operating in China, we found

23that it would be very difficult to have direct access towood flooring manufacturers and housing developers
concerning forest certification in China. Alternatively,
we could ask them to introduce their affiliate firms orbusiness acquittances regarding our target businessfield in China to launch snowball sampling.
The survey was carried out from October 2019 toJanuary 2020. The e-mail, consisting of an invitation
letter for participating in the survey and a structured
questionnaire, was sent to the wood flooring manufacturers and housing developers. In order to initiate
snowball sampling, four research collaborators wereselected from the authors’ acquaintances who havecontacts among Chinese wood flooring manufacturers and housing developers. Two of the researchcollaborators are employees of wood building material manufacturers in Japan, and the other two areuniversity professors in China, who were then able
to refer us to survey participants. Consequently, 27
questionnaires were returned, 10 from manufacturers and 17 from housing developers. All returned
questionnaires were effectively completed.
The sample size of this study does not allow for
conducting advanced quantitative analysis (e.g.,clarifying the structure of company’s awarenessthrough exploratory factor analysis or evaluating thereliability of data by Cronbach’s Alpha). Hence, thisstudy conducted a qualitative explanation of each
respondent company and discussed the potential
for increased adoption of certified wood flooring in
the real estate market of China. In order to examine
the gap between manufacturers’ and developers’
awareness, this study compared the mean valuesof perceived benefits of forest certification.

4. Results and Discussion
4.1 General Profile of Manufacturers andHousing Developers
Most of the surveyed manufacturers were locatedin Yangtze Delta, including Shanghai City and the
Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, where the largest
wood-processing and exporting manufacturers operate. Classifying the company size by the numberof employees, the ten manufacturers were divided
into three groups: five small manufacturers (A–E)
with 20–300 employees, four medium-sized manufacturers (F–I) with 301–1,000 employees, and one

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BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022

Table 1. Basic information of the surveyed wood flooring manufacturers.
Manufacturer

Location

Number of
employees

Turnover (million
RMB) aRevenue fromexports (%)

Top exporting
countries b

Top origins ofwood b

Had already obtained
CoC certification

A

Shanghai

20–300

20–40030

Philippines,
Korea, Canada

Russia, China,
USA

No

B

Shanxi20–300

20–4000―

N/A (c)No
No

C

Zhejiang

20–300

20–4000―China, USA,
CanadaD

Liaoning

20–300

N/A c

100

Japan

China, Russia,
CanadaYes

E

Zhejiang

20–300

20–40060

Europe, USA,Southeast Asia

China, Russia,
USA

Yes

F

Jilin

301–1000

20–40090Europe, USA

Europe, Russia,
China

Yes

G

Shanghai

301–1000

20–400

0

―

China

Yes

H

Shanghai

301–1000

20–40040

USA, others

RussiaYes

I

Guangdong

301–1000

20–40020

USA, Europe

Peru,
Cambodia

Yes

J

Zhejiang

Over 1000

Over 400

20

USA, Canada,
Germany

N/A c

Yes

Note: (a) million RMB in 2018; (b) the questionnaire asked respondents to list up to three countries in a row; (c) the manufacturer preferred not to answer this question.

large manufacturer (J) with over 1,000 employees.
Compared with the respondents in the study byChen et al. (2011), which surveyed 20 wood productmanufacturers in China, fewer respondents of thisstudy were large-sized manufacturers and more
were medium-sized manufacturers. Regarding theoverall turnover in 2018, eight manufacturers hadturnover in the range of 20–400 million RMB2, one
manufacturer had a turnover of over 1,000 million
RMB, and the final manufacturer preferred to not
answer this question.
Three manufacturers sold their products only on
the domestic market, and six manufacturers soldproducts both in domestic and overseas markets(Table 1). Compared to Chen et al. (2011), where
30% of the respondents were export-oriented firms,
the respondents in this study included more exportoriented firms. Regarding export markets, five manufacturers had exported products to the United Statesand Europe, markets that have imposed strict forest
certification regulations on imported wood products.
For instance, Manufacturer D exports all products
to Japan. This study is similar to Chen et al. (2011)
in that there are exporters to the United States and
2 RMB or yuan renminbi; the current conversion rate is 1 RMB = 0.15 USD(in June 2022).

Europe, whereas this study is unique in that there
are exporters to Japan.
The findings on the origins of the wood indicatedthat geographic proximity presents an opportunity
for manufacturers to acquire certified roundwood
from foreign countries where forest certification iswell developed. For instance, the manufacturers inYangtze Delta (A, C, E, H, and J) imported wood from
North America, and European and Russian timbers
were acquired by manufacturers in northeastern
China (D and F). According to the U.S. Lacey Act andthe EU Timber Regulation, wood products sold in
those markets are required to be made from legally logged woods (EC 2010, EFI 2012, USDA 2013).
Additionally, the Russian Federation has been actively
participating in the fight against illegal logging. The
Forest Code of Russia, which was announced in
2006, sets out a detailed list of permitted forest uses,
including wood harvesting (Schloenhardt 2008). The
Russian government announced that it would bebanning the export of unprocessed logs as of 2022
(European Parliament, 2021).
On the other hand, most of our 17 surveyed housing developers were located in the Yangtze River Delta.
The respondents were divided into three groups according to “Issuing the Measures for Classification

Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits

25

Table 2. Basic information about the surveyed housing developers.
Housingdeveloper

Location

Number of employees

Turnover (million RMB)*

Building experience offinished houses (years)

Long-term contract with
manufacturers

K

ShanghaiLess than 600

L

Anhui

Less than 600

More than 800

5–10

Yes

Less than 60

10–15

Yes

M

Jiangsu

Less than 600

More than 800

Less than 5

Yes

N
O

ZhejiangMore than 3000

More than 800

5–10

No

JiangsuMore than 3000

Less than 60

Less than 5NoP

JiangsuMore than 3000

Less than 60

Less than 5NoQ

ShanghaiLess than 600

More than 800

5–10

Yes

R

ShanghaiLess than 600

More than 800

5–10

Yes

S

Jiangsu

600–3000More than 800

5–10

Yes

T

GuangdongLess than 600

60–800

5–10

Yes

U

Jiangsu

Less than 600

More than 800

10–15

Yes

V

ShanghaiLess than 600

60–800More than 15

YesW

Shanghai

More than 3000

More than 800

10–15

Yes

X

ShanghaiLess than 600

More than 800

5–10

Yes

Y

Chongqing

600–3000More than 800

Less than 5

YesZ

Shandong

More than 3000

More than 800

Less than 5NoAA

FujianLess than 600

60–800

5–10

Yes* Million RMB in 2018.

of Large, Medium, Small and Miniature Enterprises
for the Purpose of Statistics” (National Bureau of
Statistics 2017) as follows: 11 large-sized companies(64%) with turnover of more than 800 million RMB;
three medium-sized companies (18%) with 60–800
million RMB; and three small-sized companies (18%)
with less than 60 million RMB. The respondents in thisstudy were mostly from large-sized housing development companies, which account for the majority ofthe share of China’s real estate market (CREA 2020).
All responding housing developers produced finished houses. Eight had 5 to 10 years’ experience,
five had less than 5 years’ experience, three had
10 to 15 years’ experience, and one had more than
15 years’ experience (Table 2). It was found that 13
housing developers held long-term contracts withwood flooring manufacturers, showing that housing developers are an important flooring products
customer group for Chinese manufacturers.

4.2 Manufacturers’ Experiences and Future
Intentions of Forest Certification
Of all the surveyed manufacturers, seven (D–J) had
obtained forest certification (CoC) at the time of thesurvey, and they planned to renew the certificate
when the current certificates expired. Among theseven, four large- and medium-sized manufacturers(G–J) had adopted the CoC certification more thanonce. This is different from the findings by Chen et al.
(2011), where only one of the twenty wood productmanufacturers that participated in their survey had
obtained forest certification. The manufacturers’
main information resources regarding forest certification were forest certification institutions and wood
products associations, such as China’s National Forest
Products Industry Association. Some manufacturers
also gained the information from their wood material
suppliers and the Chinese government.

4.2.1 Perceived Benefits of Adopting Forest Certification
Regarding customer segments of certified products,
nine manufacturers (with G the only exception) answered that the major demand came from overseas
customers. On the other hand, four manufacturers(E, H, I, and J) answered that domestic housing developers were their target customers. While previous
studies have already shown the motivation to meet
regulations in developed countries (e.g., Yu and Xiao

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BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022

2004, Chen et al. 2011, Tolunay and Türkoglu 2014),
this study showed the importance of the demand
from domestic housing developers, as well as overseas demand.
These four manufacturers mentioned that housing developers could find potential benefits in using certified products for their properties, such as
achieving differentiation of their houses, gaining a
positive public image, and meeting homebuyers’
requirements of an eco-friendly indoor environment.
This implies that some manufacturers have alreadyperceived the advantages for housing developers toutilize certified products that are going to emerge
during the early development stage of the finishedhousing market in China.

that wood flooring covered between 10% and 30% of
the area per house they sold. Only four responding
housing developers used wood flooring for morethan 30% of the area per house. Two housing developers had not used wood flooring yet; however,they answered that they planned to purchase woodflooring for achieving profits and making environmental contributions.
Five housing developers indicated that they had
used certified wood flooring in their properties.
Eleven housing developers expressed a strong intention to use certified wood flooring in the future,and five of them reported that they already had apurchase plan that would be conducted in the next
three years.

4.2.2 Perceived Challenges to Adopting Forest
Certification

4.3.1 Perceived Benefits of Adopting Forest Certification

Of the three manufacturers that had not obtained
CoC certification, manufacturer C indicated that theywould not obtain it in the future. The others (A andB) were uncertain about obtaining it at the time ofthe survey. Each of these three manufacturers were
small in scale. Previous studies showed that company
size is an important factor in a manufacturer’s commitment to CoC certification (Montague 2011, Bowers
et al. 2012). The fee for CoC certification adoption
was a major concern for smaller manufacturers. For
instance, to join the organizations offering FSC-CoC
certification costs between 2,500 and 10,000 USD,
which is adjusted for company size, number of employees, and several other factors (Mcllhenney and
Hayter 2014).
There are also other fees, including the costs ofannual inspections and management of an extensive
audit trail (Mcllhenney and Hayter 2014). Moreover,
our findings revealed that the target market of eachmanufacturer might also influence their intentions.
Manufacturers B and C targeted the domestic market,
and manufacturer A’s top two exporting countries
were the Philippines and Korea, where illegal timber
import regulations, such as the U.S. Lacey Act, have
not yet come into force (Hoare 2015).

4.3 Housing Developers’ Experiences andFuture Intentions of Forest Certification
Among the 17 housing developer respondents, 15
had used wood flooring. Eleven of them answered

Eleven housing developers also cited the benefits ofusing CoC certified products in their properties. Sevenof them mentioned that they intended to achieve
economic benefits, such as increased house sales andprice premiums. Six housing developers mentioned
other benefits, such as contributing to the environment and gaining social benefits, including achieving
corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals, and four
housing developers mentioned increasing their public
image. Prior studies of wood product manufacturers
have identified potential economic benefits (Chenet al. 2011, Bowers et al. 2012): improved access todomestic and export markets (Yu and Xiao 2004,
Chen et al. 2011, Tolunay and Türkoglu 2014); gaining or maintaining a competitive advantages overtheir counterparts (Chen et al. 2011, Montague 2011,
Bowers et al. 2012); increasing customer awareness(Chen et al. 2011, Montague 2011); and enhancing
CSR (Chen et al. 2011), corporate image, recognition,and reliability (Chen et al. 2011, Faggi et al. 2014, Paluš
and Kaputa 2009) as reasons for adopting certified
forest products.

4.3.2 Perceived Challenges to Adopting Forest
Certification
Six housing developers reported that they were uncertain whether they would use CoC certified woodfloorings in the future. Five of them mentioned thatthe high price of CoC certified wood floorings wasa primary challenge. Cost concerns were followed
by a lack of supply and low awareness of forest

Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits

27

Table 3. Housing developers’ perceived important properties of flooring products.
Number of housing developers
Perceived benefit

With experience using CoC
certified wood flooring

In total

Without experience using CoC
certified wood flooring

Price

12/17

71%

2/5

40%

10/12

83%

Quality

10/17

59%

4/5

80%

6/12

50%

Brand

2/17

12%

0/5

0%

2/12

17%

Design

2/17

12%

0/5

0%

2/12

17%

Eco-friendly

6/17

35%

3/5

60%

3/12

25%

Service

0/17

0%

0/5

0%

0/12

0%

certification on the part of both end users and thecompany’s management groups. Other reasons werelack of government support, shortage of certified
products from cooperative manufacturers, and lowprice premiums. Bowers et al. (2012) pointed out thatcertified raw material supply, market awareness,and certification costs were the main constraints for
Chinese manufacturers in adopting certified wood
products. Housing developers are considered to havethe same challenges as wood product manufacturers
for adopting certified wood products.
This study then analyzed the perceived important
properties of the flooring that influenced purchasedecisions (Table 3). Eco-friendly properties and quality of the flooring (e.g., durability) were the two mostimportant properties for housing developers who had
used the certified wood flooring. By contrast, priceand quality were perceived as the most important
properties by housing developers who had not usedwood flooring. This suggests that the higher price of
the CoC certified products would be a major challenge for the housing developers who had not used
CoC certified wood floorings.

4.4 Gap between Manufacturers and Housing
Developers in Perceived Benefits of CoC
Certification
Manufacturers expected to gain price premiums
from foreign markets, but they had lower expectations from the domestic market (Table 4). Previous
studies have indicated high price premiums for forest
certification in North America and Europe (Grönroos
and Bowyer 1999, Jensen et al. 2003, Kruger 2010,
Thompson et al. 2010, Cai and Aguilar 2013) and thoseare major export markets for Chinese wood flooring
manufacturers (Roe 2015). Additionally, Bower et al.
(2012) showed that FSC’s market-related benefits are
not recognized by Chinese manufacturers becauseof low public awareness in the domestic market.
Housing developers expected to gain price premiums from domestic end users through the useof certified products in their houses (Table 4). This
expectation might be attributed to customer segmentation strategies implemented by housing developers.
Most finished houses in China are concentrated in
major cities (Hernández 2016, CRECC 2019). The 10
largest provinces and cities in term of the supplyof finished houses reached a total of 1.82 million
units in 2018 (CRECC 2019). The top four provinces,
Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shan-dong, havehigh population densities and high per capita GDP(NBSC 2017). Thus, residents’ economic ability is
considered as a key incentive for developing finishedhouses. As long as end users intend to buy and pay a
price premium for environmentally friendly houses,
housing developers would be expected to increase
the utilization of certified building materials.
Wood flooring manufacturers ranked “support
sustainable forestry and protect the environment”
and “meet CSR goals,” which indicate the social andenvironmental benefits of forest certification, in
second and third place, respectively. This was higher
than the items on achieving economic benefits inthe domestic market (Table 4). This finding alignedwith Bowers et al. (2012), which suggested that the
Chinese government had decreased its focus on theeconomic benefits of forest certification, but wasincreasingly encouraging wood products manufac-

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BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022

Table 4. Mean values of perceived benefits of forest certification indicated by manufacturers and housing developers.
Items

Manufacturer

Housing developers

Support sustainable forestry and protect the environment

6.29

5.36

Meet CSR goals

6.14

5.09

Build an environmentally friendly corporate image and attract more investors

5.43

5.36

Gain financial aids (e.g., tax and loan)

5.43

3.41

Achieve product differentiation

5.14

5.73

Achieve price premiums from domestic market

4.29

5.45

Acquire new consumers from domestic market (e.g., green consumer)

5.29

5.82

Meet foreigner customers’ purchasing requirements

6.43

―

Gain access to new market (e.g., EU and USA)

6.00

―

Achieve price premium from export market

5.57

―

Meet housing developers’ purchasing requirements

5.29

―

Meet domestic end users’ purchasing requirements

5.00

―

Reduce operating costs through developing green technologies

4.71

―

Brand the house with high-end image

―

5.64

Achieve green building certification (e.g., LEED)

―

4.93

Obtain government’s affordable housing project

―

4.00

Obtain a longer payable period from manufacturers

―

3.27

Note: The responding manufacturers and housing developers measured items on a 7-point Likert scale, with “7” indicating “strongly agree” and “1” indicating “strongly disagree.”turers to place a high priority on environmental andsocial interests, such as the manufacturer’s public
reputation and employment.
Wood flooring manufacturers regarded CoC certification as a tool to gain market access to foreign
markets, especially North American and European
countries (Yu and Xiao 2004, Chen et al. 2011, Tolunay
and Türkoglu 2014). The items “meet foreigner customers’ purchasing requirements” and “gain accessto new market (e.g., EU and USA)” were ranked firstand fourth, respectively, among the perceived benefits of forest certification.
However, housing developers perceived the CoC
certification differently. They expected to gain direct economic benefits and competitive advantages
through the use of certified products in their houses.
The items “acquire new consumers (e.g., green consumers),” “achieve product differentiation,” “brandthe house with high-end image,” and “achieve pricepremiums” were ranked by housing developers as
the top benefits (Table 4).
The largest gap between manufacturers andhousing developers appeared with the item “gainfinancial aids (e.g., tax and loan).” Manufacturers

perceived financial aids, such as tax incentives andloans, to be an incentive to obtain a CoC certification(Table 4). Chinese government subsidies, such asexport tax rebate and low-cost land use rent, haveprovided Chinese manufacturers significant support
in obtaining forest certification to expand their international market share (Nie 2007, Cao et al. 2011).
Thus, manufacturers might expect similar financial
aid for domestic production from the government.
However, housing developers have rather low expectations of financial aid from the government (Table 4).
The Chinese government released a series of policy
incentives (e.g., the “green credit guideline” and the“guidance on building green financial system”) to
encourage housing developers to promote green
building programs (MEEC 2010, Wang et al. 2019).
The green building program encourages housingdevelopers to expand the use of environmentallyfriendly products, including certified products in theirproperties (Cao 2011). However, those financial aids
have not yet been directed to the use of certified
products in the finished houses.
Both manufacturers and housing developers rated“achieve product differentiation” as being important,

Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits

with mean ratings of over 5 points (Table 4). This
response revealed that gaining competitive advantage associated with forest certification had been
acknowledged by wood floorings manufacturers, aswell as housing developers.
Moreover, the results showed that both manufacturers and housing developers perceived a benefit
from expanding domestic market shares associatedwith forest certification; the items of “maintain or
gain domestic market shares” and “acquire newconsumers (e.g., green consumers)” were rated morethan 5 points (Table 4). This finding confirmed that
housing developers’ interest in the widespread use
of certified products was rooted in a concern for direct economic gains, along with other highly ranked
economic benefits, such as “brand the house withhigh-end image” and “achieve price premiums.”

5. Conclusion
The adoption of forest certification was motivatedby wood flooring manufacturers seeking to improveaccess to foreign markets. The manufacturers had
fewer motivations for expanding CoC certified woodfloorings for the domestic market in China than for
the export market because of low public awareness among Chinese consumers, compared withthe awareness of consumers in Europe or the USA.
Conversely, this study showed a strong demandfor certified products, including flooring, from housing developers that induced the wood flooring manufacturers to produce CoC certified wood floorings
for the expanding domestic market shares and theexport market.
This study suggests that forest certification is aneffective tool whereby manufacturers can satisfy
housing developers’ environmental requirements fortheir houses, and it can create a better relationshipbetween manufacturers and housing developers.
The most critical property of wood flooring is its
aesthetics. The most attractive wood species are
relatively scarce, and their high economic value becomes a driver for conducting illegal logging. To
prevent this, forest certification schemes should be
expanded. The current Chinese housing developers’marketing strategies could encourage CoC certified
wood floorings, which would eventually mitigate
ongoing global environmental and economic issues.

29

Finally, the results of this study should be usedcarefully when trying to generalize about marketing strategies for wood flooring manufacturers andhousing developers in China because the data inthis study were obtained through non-probability
sampling and the sample size is very small, comparedto the total number of flooring manufacturers andhousing developers there.

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