An empirical exploration of the role of marketing in forestry education

Forest products managers indicate that it is important for college graduates to have an understanding of marketing in order to be competitive in the workplace. This research, in part a replication of a study completed 30 years ago, was conducted to elicit information that would be useful to faculty, students, administrators, and managers concerning the current role of marketing in forestry schools. A questionnaire was sent to 443 forestry professors at universities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Two interesting findings include the apparent existence of a misconception about the functions of economics and marketing in forestry education, and, although industry consistently calls for more marketing emphasis in forest products curricula, these results suggest that forestry schools could do much more to meet this need by encouraging and funding forest products marketing programs. Key words: marketing, forest education