Technology and the Canadian Forest-Product Industries ... - ArtSites

of the R&D system and influence the nature, extent, and effectivenessof R&D conducted by university, government, and cooperative laboratories.Also, R&D groups can identify and apply technologies thatincrease a firm's competitiveness."Medium-sized and large forest-product firms in Canada fall intothree main categories as R&D performers: each category has potentialto establish or increase in-house R&D. First are those that are alreadyinvesting considerable sums of money, and that may be in a positionto establish small, specialized R&D groups to support diversificationinto, for example, chemicals, energy, or new paper products or possiblyto develop expertise in an emerging technology such as biotechnology.Second, there are several firms with R&D groups that areviable but small (less than 15 professional employees) and/or areheavily engaged in service work. These groups could be moved overthe next few years to a position on the leading edge of forest-producttechnology. Third are Canadian-owned forest-product corporationsthat lack in-house R&D although their size would justify such aninvestment. Such firms should set up R&D groups to handle bothshort-term, relatively low-risk ventures and longer-term higher-riskventures. Firms that have set up new R&D groups have generallydone so adjacent to an appropriate manufacturing facility with adistinct "project" in mind (for example, aspen utilization in the case ofCanFor).Smaller firms should establish or increase in-house R&D, throughaggressive technology strategies focused on high value-added products,such as remanufactured wood products, treated wood products,specialty papers, and miscellaneous products.There is little point in suggesting to a foreign-owned subsidiarythat it conduct in-house R&D, unless it is for a project that does notduplicate the parent's R&D activities. However, it might be appropriateto encourage Canadian-owned Abitibi-Price to move its woodprocessingR&D group from the United States back to Canada,especially since this laboratory is seeking to develop value-addedproducts (and Abitibi-Price has a large R&D laboratory in Mississauga).What subjects would be investigated were in-house R&D to beincreased would depend upon the specific investment and marketingplans of individual firms. In general, in-house R&D on pulping processesis well represented in the Canadian forest-product industries.By contrast, only MacMillan Bloedel has a major in-house R&D effortin forestry, and R&D in product development, both wood and paperproducts, has been neglected by Canadian forest-product firms. Thereare only three in-house R&D groups, for example, that do important110