Classification of forest enterprises

Freiburg im Breisgau

2010

S. 135-144

5 Abb.,1 Tab., 4 Lit. Ang.

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

200166407

In forest literature there are various approaches to classifying forest enterprises. Often the classification is oriented towards ownership type, ownership size class or composition of tree species. But models which reflect the internal response to changing external legal and economic conditions are missing. This study aims to generale such model enterprises. The analysis is based on the forest accountancy network of the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. This database provides Information, amongst others, about natural structure, income and expense structure of the participating forest enterprises. The analysis tried to categorize the observed enterprises in terms of their intemal structures or management goals. Because the first approach did not lead to a satisfying result another approach was chosen. Cluster analysis was used as Statistical approach to better match the model to the diversity of the enterprises. Key figures which can indicate a specific goal are used as input variables. The basis for the chosen input variables is the sustainability concept, which is based on economical, ecological and social factors. It is assumed that sustainable forest enterprises consider each of the three aspects. But they might have different focuses, depending on the individual goal of each enterprise. As a result of the cluster analysis six clusters can be determined. Discriminant analysis is used to validate the classification of these six clusters.