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 the domestic 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 most important benefits of adopting forest certification were to “meet foreign customers’ purchasing requirements,” “support sustainable forestry and protect the environment,” and “meet corporate social 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 housing developers in China, which requires manufacturers to enhance their marketing strategies to meet the domestic demands for certified flooring. Keywords: wood flooring manufacturer, housing developer, perceived benefit of forest certification, CoC certification, China Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits 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 from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Qin Tan1, Kohei Imamura1, Kenji Nagasaka1, Masafumi Inoue1* BioProducts Business 7(2), 2022, pp. 19–32. ISSN 2378-1394 https://doi.org/10.22382/bpb-2022-002 1. Introduction Wood and wood products utilization are related to the issue of climate change mitigation through carbon stocks, sustainable forest management, and green- house 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 forest management is an important prerequisite to achieving 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 the third largest flooring market in the world behind the United 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 mil- lion m2 in 2017 (CNFPIA 2018, Zhang 2008). This growth is closely tied to the fast development of residential housing construction and remodeling. Before the global financial crisis of 2008, the sales of 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 peak of demand was in 2009 and 2010, when the growth mailto:masafumi@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp 20 BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022 growth in China. To date, there are over 95,000 hous- ing developers in China (National Bureau of Statistics 2019). More than 60% of the market is dominated by 100 housing developers. The 10 largest hous- ing developers control 28% of the market share, and the combined sales reached 444 billion yuan in 2019 (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 of 1992. 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 that the wood used in the products comes from a well- managed forest. In China, one million hectares of forest had been certified by the FSC, with 9,161 chain of custody (CoC) holders as of December 2019. This accounted for 23% of FSC-CoC certificates in the world (FSC 2019). Since 2014, the Chinese forest certifica- tion 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 of June 2020 (PEFC 2020). Moreover, the Chinese government recently is- sued incentive policies for the development of green buildings (MIIT & MOHURD 2015, MOHURD 2017). Green building programs assess the energy effi- ciency 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 de- velopers 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 re- search 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 rate reached 6% and 11%, respectively. China is also the world’s largest producer of wood flooring. Wood flooring production in China reached 830 million m2 in 2017, which accounts for 20% of the wood flooring produced worldwide (DCCC 2019, SFA 2017). This study considers that these two aspects make China a good example for clarifying the marketing strate- gies of wood flooring manufacturers. This study focuses on the wood flooring market in China, where “rough” (unfinished) houses have taken the predominant share of the residential hous- ing market over the past years (Furumi 2014, Li et al. 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, finished houses have been replacing rough houses in urban China in recent years, which reduces waste and pol- lution in the process of house decoration (MOHURD 2017). The government has also tightened housing measures and has suppressed real estate specula- tion. Housing developers now must purchase all interior materials, including flooring products, for homebuyers. This indicates that housing develop- ers are replacing end users in becoming the major consumer segment for wood flooring. In the future, housing developers’ activities will be considered an essential part of the supply chain of wood flooring (Figure 1). Thus, a change in marketing strategies will be critical for wood flooring manufacturers. Presently, there are more than 2,300 wood floor- ing 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 (JFWIA 2017). Most are small-scale manufacturers; however, the 100 largest solid flooring manufacturers are esti- mated to account for 40% of all solid wood flooring, and the 10 largest engineered flooring manufactur- ers produced 50% of all engineered wood flooring in China (IWMG 2006). The number of housing developers increases every year along with the rapid rate of economic Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits 21 (Bamberg & Möser 2007, Thøgersen 2004, Wymer and Polonsky 2015). An eco-brand attribute is not sufficient to cause consumers to switch the purchase brand, especially when the eco-brand attribute is coupled 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 Vlosky 2007). Additionally, more consumers have come to be concerned about forests and forestry and acknowl- edge forest certification in China (Luo et al. 2017, Tan et al. 2019). Previous studies showed that end users intended to buy certified wood products, al- though 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’ demand for certified products, there is also potential demand for certified wood flooring. Tan et al. (2019) and Tan et al. (2020) reported high purchase intentions and price premiums for certified wood flooring among consumers in major Chinese cities. However, the attitudes 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 prod- ucts. In this study, we assessed the gap between the perceived benefits of forest certification held by the wood flooring manufacturers and housing developers in China. Manufacturers could better utilize certified wood flooring by recognizing the perceived benefits of the product for housing developers. 2. Literature Review Chen et al. (2011) assessed the awareness and knowl- edge of forest certification among Chinese forest products manufacturers in order to analyze the ex- tent to which they are considering adopting forest certification and what motivates such decisions. The results showed that although various efforts have been made to increase awareness of forest certifi- cation in China, the respondents’ understanding of forest 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 over their counterparts, improved access to domestic and export markets, increasing customer awareness, and enhancing corporate social responsibility. Some re- spondents recognized that making certification man- datory was necessary for widespread certification, given the limited economic benefits of certification. Montague (2011) identified the attitudes of pri- mary hardwood manufacturers toward CoC certifica- tion 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 Figure 1. Supply chain of wood flooring in China considered in the study. 22 BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022 to be environmentally conscious. As for their reasons to gain CoC certification, most of them answered to follow the requests from their customers or to gain some type of market advantage. Bowers et al. (2012) asked wood products man- ufacturers in China and Vietnam about the ways forest certification had been implemented in their business and challenges they faced when adopting forest certification, and they analyzed what factors contributed to the commitment to forest certifica- tion. In addition, they identified country-specific factors that influence companies’ decisions to obtain forest certification by comparing the cases in China and Vietnam. The results showed that acquiring certified raw material supply, market awareness, and certification costs were the main constraints to adding certified wood products to the sales mix of the company. The results also indicated that there is a lack of domestic supply of certified materials, which leads to a heavy reliance on imported materi- als, which incurs additional costs. Perceived benefits of forest certification differed significantly between the two countries, with market benefits being the most effective driver for certification. Tolunay and Türkoglu (2014) investigated the perspectives and attitudes towards CoC certifica- tion systems and certified forest products among companies of the forest products industry in Turkey. The results showed that there were differences in perspectives 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 af- fected the attitudes and perceptions of firms in China and Vietnam, their use of CoC certification, and the material sourcing and export market decisions of industry managers. The results showed that as firms increase in size, they sell less domestically and be- come more aware of and supportive of regulations, and that firm’s awareness of timber legality regula- tions plays a major role in whether a firm decides to obtain certification. Vietnamese firms were found to have low awareness of the regulations, but high support for certification. Chinese firms had a more negative attitude toward regulations, while having a higher awareness of them. There were differences between domestically-focused firms and those ex- porting to foreign markets in expectations for a potential market. 3. Method 3.1 Questionnaire design Two types of questionnaires were prepared, one for manufacturers and one for developers. Both ques- tionnaires were prepared in simplified Mandarin Chinese by the first author, who is a native speaker, and the other authors double-checked the English- translated questionnaires by the first author. The manufacturers’ questionnaire comprised four parts: (1) The manufacturer’s profile, which included the number of employees, annual turnover, products, business location, and information regarding wood flooring, including origins of the wood, ex- port shares, and countries to which the flooring was exported (2) Information on CoC certification adoption contain- ing adoption experience (year and times), future plans of adoption, and target customers (3) Perceived benefits of forest certification, as de- termined by asking manufacturers to measure 13 potential benefits on a 7-point Likert scale,1 with the 13 items chosen based on previous research (Chen et al. 2011, Bowers et al. 2012) (4) Perceived challenges of adopting forest certifi- cation for manufacturers without the intention of adopting CoC certification, as determined by responses to a 5-point Likert scale question. The housing developers’ questionnaire was also comprised of four parts: (1) The housing developer’s profile, including the number of employees, annual turnover, business location, and information regarding the floor- ing products, such as the purchasing process of flooring, 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), who pointed 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 23 (2) Current use and intention for further use of certi- fied wood flooring (3) Perceived benefits for the use of certified wood flooring, 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 wood flooring for housing developers that have never previously adopted certified wood flooring, as determined by responses to a 5-point Likert scale question. 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 sto- chastically collected from the population; hence it is possible to infer information about the population through statistical analysis. In the latter method, a sampling procedure is non-stochastically conducted; hence the representativeness of the sample to the population cannot be guaranteed. In general, non- probability sampling has a larger sample error and lower survey cost than probability sampling, but this is not always the case (Callegaro et al. 2014, Vehovar et al. 2016). Non-probability sampling methods include conve- nience sampling, quota sampling, snowball sampling, and judgmental sampling (Bryman 2012, Vehovar et al. 2016). Convenience sampling targets people ac- cidentally, haphazardly, or through an unrestricted approach such as in shopping malls or on the street. Quota sampling is an improved convenience sam- pling with some socio-demographic quotas (e.g., region, gender, age) in order to reflect the population of an area. Snowball sampling collects respondents through a chain of referrals in which existing respon- dents refer the survey to other people who meet the survey objective. Judgmental sampling targets representative people of a population based on the knowledge and credibility of the researcher. For this study, we applied a snowball sampling method (according to Bryman 2012) because, based on the preliminary interviews with wood building manufacturers in Japan operating in China, we found that it would be very difficult to have direct access to wood flooring manufacturers and housing developers concerning forest certification in China. Alternatively, we could ask them to introduce their affiliate firms or business acquittances regarding our target business field in China to launch snowball sampling. The survey was carried out from October 2019 to January 2020. The e-mail, consisting of an invitation letter for participating in the survey and a structured questionnaire, was sent to the wood flooring manu- facturers and housing developers. In order to initiate snowball sampling, four research collaborators were selected from the authors’ acquaintances who have contacts among Chinese wood flooring manufactur- ers and housing developers. Two of the research collaborators are employees of wood building mate- rial manufacturers in Japan, and the other two are university professors in China, who were then able to refer us to survey participants. Consequently, 27 questionnaires were returned, 10 from manufactur- ers 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 awareness through exploratory factor analysis or evaluating the reliability of data by Cronbach’s Alpha). Hence, this study 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 values of perceived benefits of forest certification. 4. Results and Discussion 4.1 General Profile of Manufacturers and Housing Developers Most of the surveyed manufacturers were located in Yangtze Delta, including Shanghai City and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, where the largest wood-processing and exporting manufacturers op- erate. Classifying the company size by the number of employees, the ten manufacturers were divided into three groups: five small manufacturers (A–E) with 20–300 employees, four medium-sized manu- facturers (F–I) with 301–1,000 employees, and one 24 BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022 large manufacturer (J) with over 1,000 employees. Compared with the respondents in the study by Chen et al. (2011), which surveyed 20 wood product manufacturers in China, fewer respondents of this study were large-sized manufacturers and more were medium-sized manufacturers. Regarding the overall turnover in 2018, eight manufacturers had turnover 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 sold products 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 export- oriented firms. Regarding export markets, five manu- facturers had exported products to the United States and 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 indicated that geographic proximity presents an opportunity for manufacturers to acquire certified roundwood from foreign countries where forest certification is well developed. For instance, the manufacturers in Yangtze 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 and the EU Timber Regulation, wood products sold in those markets are required to be made from le- gally 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 be banning the export of unprocessed logs as of 2022 (European Parliament, 2021). On the other hand, most of our 17 surveyed hous- ing developers were located in the Yangtze River Delta. The respondents were divided into three groups ac- cording to “Issuing the Measures for Classification Table 1. Basic information of the surveyed wood flooring manufacturers. Manufacturer Location Number of employees Turnover (million RMB) a Revenue from exports (%) Top exporting countries b Top origins of wood b Had already obtained CoC certification A Shanghai 20–300 20–400 30 Philippines, Korea, Canada Russia, China, USA No B Shanxi 20–300 20–400 0 ― N/A (c) No C Zhejiang 20–300 20–400 0 ― China, USA, Canada No D Liaoning 20–300 N/A c 100 Japan China, Russia, Canada Yes E Zhejiang 20–300 20–400 60 Europe, USA, Southeast Asia China, Russia, USA Yes F Jilin 301–1000 20–400 90 Europe, USA Europe, Russia, China Yes G Shanghai 301–1000 20–400 0 ― China Yes H Shanghai 301–1000 20–400 40 USA, others Russia Yes I Guangdong 301–1000 20–400 20 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. Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits 25 survey, and they planned to renew the certificate when the current certificates expired. Among the seven, four large- and medium-sized manufacturers (G–J) had adopted the CoC certification more than once. This is different from the findings by Chen et al. (2011), where only one of the twenty wood product manufacturers that participated in their survey had obtained forest certification. The manufacturers’ main information resources regarding forest certifica- tion 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) an- swered that the major demand came from overseas customers. On the other hand, four manufacturers (E, H, I, and J) answered that domestic housing devel- opers were their target customers. While previous studies have already shown the motivation to meet regulations in developed countries (e.g., Yu and Xiao 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 this study were mostly from large-sized housing develop- ment companies, which account for the majority of the share of China’s real estate market (CREA 2020). All responding housing developers produced fin- ished 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 with wood flooring manufacturers, showing that hous- ing 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 the Table 2. Basic information about the surveyed housing developers. Housing developer Location Number of employees Turnover (million RMB)* Building experience of finished houses (years) Long-term contract with manufacturers K Shanghai Less than 600 More than 800 5–10 Yes L Anhui Less than 600 Less than 60 10–15 Yes M Jiangsu Less than 600 More than 800 Less than 5 Yes N Zhejiang More than 3000 More than 800 5–10 No O Jiangsu More than 3000 Less than 60 Less than 5 No P Jiangsu More than 3000 Less than 60 Less than 5 No Q Shanghai Less than 600 More than 800 5–10 Yes R Shanghai Less than 600 More than 800 5–10 Yes S Jiangsu 600–3000 More than 800 5–10 Yes T Guangdong Less than 600 60–800 5–10 Yes U Jiangsu Less than 600 More than 800 10–15 Yes V Shanghai Less than 600 60–800 More than 15 Yes W Shanghai More than 3000 More than 800 10–15 Yes X Shanghai Less than 600 More than 800 5–10 Yes Y Chongqing 600–3000 More than 800 Less than 5 Yes Z Shandong More than 3000 More than 800 Less than 5 No AA Fujian Less than 600 60–800 5–10 Yes * Million RMB in 2018. 26 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 over- seas demand. These four manufacturers mentioned that hous- ing developers could find potential benefits in us- ing 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 already perceived the advantages for housing developers to utilize certified products that are going to emerge during the early development stage of the finished housing market in China. 4.2.2 Perceived Challenges to Adopting Forest Certification Of the three manufacturers that had not obtained CoC certification, manufacturer C indicated that they would not obtain it in the future. The others (A and B) were uncertain about obtaining it at the time of the survey. Each of these three manufacturers were small in scale. Previous studies showed that company size is an important factor in a manufacturer’s com- mitment 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 em- ployees, and several other factors (Mcllhenney and Hayter 2014). There are also other fees, including the costs of annual inspections and management of an extensive audit trail (Mcllhenney and Hayter 2014). Moreover, our findings revealed that the target market of each manufacturer 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 and Future Intentions of Forest Certification Among the 17 housing developer respondents, 15 had used wood flooring. Eleven of them answered that wood flooring covered between 10% and 30% of the area per house they sold. Only four responding housing developers used wood flooring for more than 30% of the area per house. Two housing de- velopers had not used wood flooring yet; however, they answered that they planned to purchase wood flooring for achieving profits and making environ- mental contributions. Five housing developers indicated that they had used certified wood flooring in their properties. Eleven housing developers expressed a strong in- tention to use certified wood flooring in the future, and five of them reported that they already had a purchase plan that would be conducted in the next three years. 4.3.1 Perceived Benefits of Adopting Forest Certification Eleven housing developers also cited the benefits of using CoC certified products in their properties. Seven of them mentioned that they intended to achieve economic benefits, such as increased house sales and price premiums. Six housing developers mentioned other benefits, such as contributing to the environ- ment 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 (Chen et al. 2011, Bowers et al. 2012): improved access to domestic and export markets (Yu and Xiao 2004, Chen et al. 2011, Tolunay and Türkoglu 2014); gain- ing or maintaining a competitive advantages over their 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 un- certain whether they would use CoC certified wood floorings in the future. Five of them mentioned that the high price of CoC certified wood floorings was a 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 certification on the part of both end users and the company’s management groups. Other reasons were lack of government support, shortage of certified products from cooperative manufacturers, and low- price premiums. Bowers et al. (2012) pointed out that certified 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 have the same challenges as wood product manufacturers for adopting certified wood products. This study then analyzed the perceived important properties of the flooring that influenced purchase decisions (Table 3). Eco-friendly properties and qual- ity of the flooring (e.g., durability) were the two most important properties for housing developers who had used the certified wood flooring. By contrast, price and quality were perceived as the most important properties by housing developers who had not used wood flooring. This suggests that the higher price of the CoC certified products would be a major chal- lenge 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 expecta- tions 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 those are 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 because of low public awareness in the domestic market. Housing developers expected to gain price pre- miums from domestic end users through the use of certified products in their houses (Table 4). This expectation might be attributed to customer segmen- tation 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 supply of finished houses reached a total of 1.82 million units in 2018 (CRECC 2019). The top four provinces, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shan-dong, have high population densities and high per capita GDP (NBSC 2017). Thus, residents’ economic ability is considered as a key incentive for developing finished houses. 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 and environmental benefits of forest certification, in second and third place, respectively. This was higher than the items on achieving economic benefits in the domestic market (Table 4). This finding aligned with Bowers et al. (2012), which suggested that the Chinese government had decreased its focus on the economic benefits of forest certification, but was increasingly encouraging wood products manufac- Table 3. Housing developers’ perceived important properties of flooring products. Perceived benefit Number of housing developers In total With experience using CoC certified wood flooring 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% 28 BioProducts Business 7(2) 2022 turers to place a high priority on environmental and social interests, such as the manufacturer’s public reputation and employment. Wood flooring manufacturers regarded CoC cer- tification 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 cus- tomers’ purchasing requirements” and “gain access to new market (e.g., EU and USA)” were ranked first and fourth, respectively, among the perceived ben- efits of forest certification. However, housing developers perceived the CoC certification differently. They expected to gain di- rect economic benefits and competitive advantages through the use of certified products in their houses. The items “acquire new consumers (e.g., green con- sumers),” “achieve product differentiation,” “brand the house with high-end image,” and “achieve price premiums” were ranked by housing developers as the top benefits (Table 4). The largest gap between manufacturers and housing developers appeared with the item “gain financial aids (e.g., tax and loan).” Manufacturers perceived financial aids, such as tax incentives and loans, to be an incentive to obtain a CoC certification (Table 4). Chinese government subsidies, such as export tax rebate and low-cost land use rent, have provided Chinese manufacturers significant support in obtaining forest certification to expand their in- ternational 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 expec- tations 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 housing developers to expand the use of environmentally friendly products, including certified products in their properties (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, 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.” Tan et al. — Marketing Strategies for Certified Wood Flooring in China: The Gap in Manufacturers’ and Developers’ Perceived Benefits 29 with mean ratings of over 5 points (Table 4). This response revealed that gaining competitive advan- tage associated with forest certification had been acknowledged by wood floorings manufacturers, as well as housing developers. Moreover, the results showed that both manufac- turers and housing developers perceived a benefit from expanding domestic market shares associated with forest certification; the items of “maintain or gain domestic market shares” and “acquire new consumers (e.g., green consumers)” were rated more than 5 points (Table 4). This finding confirmed that housing developers’ interest in the widespread use of certified products was rooted in a concern for di- rect economic gains, along with other highly ranked economic benefits, such as “brand the house with high-end image” and “achieve price premiums.” 5. Conclusion The adoption of forest certification was motivated by wood flooring manufacturers seeking to improve access to foreign markets. The manufacturers had fewer motivations for expanding CoC certified wood floorings for the domestic market in China than for the export market because of low public aware- ness among Chinese consumers, compared with the awareness of consumers in Europe or the USA. Conversely, this study showed a strong demand for certified products, including flooring, from hous- ing developers that induced the wood flooring manu- facturers to produce CoC certified wood floorings for the expanding domestic market shares and the export market. This study suggests that forest certification is an effective tool whereby manufacturers can satisfy housing developers’ environmental requirements for their houses, and it can create a better relationship between 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 be- comes a driver for conducting illegal logging. 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