Environmental Product Differentiation by the Hayward Lumber Company
Author(s): Magali Delmas, Erica Plambeck, Monifa Porter
Institution: UC Santa Barbara, USA; Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA
Competition Year: 2003
Place: 3rd place
Key words: Lumber, Forest Stewardship Council, FSC, Certification, Business policy, Entrepreneurship, Environmental protection, Green building materials, California, Growth strategy
Courses: Corporate Environmental Strategy, Business and Society, Environmental Entrepreneurship
Case Abstract
The case traces the greening of Hayward Lumber Company, a family-owned company based in California. As an initial step toward serving an environmentally focused market niche, the firm began selling Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified Lumber to meet a growing demand for green building materials in California’s central coast market. The company found that while supplying FSC wood afforded entry into the green builder market, horizontal expansion into higher margin green building materials created a greater opportunity for revenue enhancement. The case details competing certification standards, and the components of Hayward’s environmental strategy. The case closes with descriptions of several propositions for strategic growth of the firm, to reach stated environmental and sales goals.
Case Purchase Information
This case is available for purchase from ecch (OIT38). This case is also part of the oikos Case Collection book (Volume 1): Case Studies in Sustainability Management and Strategy published by Greenleaf.