The structure of the hardwood plywood industry in the Far East exporting countries : Japan, Republic of China, Republic of Korea, and the Philippines

Graduation date: 1973The purpose of this study is to provide a systematic method to\ud analyze relationships between inputs, technology, and market structure\ud of an industry, and marketing activities among countries in general\ud and to develop an economic analysis of trade flow of the hardwood\ud plywood industry in the Far East exporting countries: Japan,\ud Republic of China (Taiwan), Republic of Korea (South Korea), and\ud the Philippines. It includes an analysis of the nature, determinants,\ud potential and competition of the hardwood plywood industry in international\ud trade as well as prospective changes in international relationships\ud of these four countries resulting from increasing competition\ud for foreign markets. "Intra-industry" trade theory was used as a basis for analyzing\ud nations' trade potential. This theory includes four secondary\ud determining theories: product-cycle, factor endowments, quality\ud differentiation and demand structure, and economic scale theories.\ud In addition to the intra-industry theory, a nation's marketing activities\ud were considered and elaborated for explaining that nation's\ud actual trade performance.\ud A relative price index of the four exporting countries and each\ud country's export growth were examined to show that a comparative\ud cost advantage in producing hardwood plywood for international trade\ud shifted from Japan, the innovating country, to South Korea, Taiwan,\ud and the Philippines as the hardwood plywood industry proceeded\ud from its introductory and growth stages to a mature stage during the\ud last two decades; low-wage developing countries gained a competitive\ud position in producing and exporting mature products of hardwood\ud plywood.\ud The export composition of hardwood plywood products in Japan\ud was analyzed to show that quality differentiation was the best strategy\ud for an advanced country, such as Japan, endowed with ample scientific\ud and engineering inputs, to increase or at least maintain its\ud share in world markets. This analysis showed that a relative rise\ud in the price of hardwood plywood in Japan did not bring about a decrease\ud in exports. Utilization of hardwood plywood production capacity in South\ud Korea and the Philippines indicated that economic scale and low\ud unit cost of product were related if the products were close export\ud substitutes. It was revealed that low cost mature products from\ud developing countries could gain a competitive position in world\ud markets in spite of these countries' poorer foreign marketing networks.\ud An individual import function for the United States and export\ud functions for Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines were\ud estimated to explain trade behavior and predict trade patterns up to\ud 1975.\ud Finally, an hypothesis explaining trade direction of higher-quality\ud differentiated products was also tested. Quantity and price\ud ratios of Japan's and Taiwan's exports to different areas were constructed\ud for testing an hypothesis that higher-quality higher-priced\ud products were likely to be exported to higher transport-cost areas