Vertical Integration in American Pulp and Paper Industry, 1970-2000

The paper and pulp industry saw an increase in the number of mergers in 1980s and 1990s. There had been consolidation of a number of smaller companies into larger corporations, which have greater management, financial, and marketing power. This merging trend has resulted in a fewer number of firms and an increasing concentration in the industry. Although the number of firms has decreased, the total industry capacity has been increasing. The combination of these interesting factors has motivated the topic of this masters thesis. The primary purpose of this research is to explore the factors that positively influence a firms decision to vertically integrate into producing its own pulp.M.S.Committee Chair: Dr. Patrick McCarthy; Committee Member: Dr. Haizheng Li; Committee Member: Dr. Samiran (Shomu) Banerje