This book transfers the newest service research concepts, such as value co-creation, to family forestry context. The book is aimed at as learning material for higher-education students in Western economies, and as a handbook for forest scientists worldwide. It has a strong theoretical base, but also a practical orientation with examples of novel forest services from different regions and contexts. The five parts of the book are: I Conceptualization of Service Approaches in Family Forestry; II Market and Policy Environment; III Public Service and Business Innovations; IV Communication, Cooperation, and Organizations for Services; and V Transitions Governance. Each part begins with a chapter that is more conceptual and thus sets the stage for the subsequent chapters, which then focus on a regional perspective or some more specific theme under the part’s coverage.
With this book, the reader will become familiar with services and service research as evolving phenomena in private, non-industrial family forestry. Targeted as learning material for higher-education students in Western economies, and as a handbook for forest scientists worldwide, the book has a strong theoretical base, but also a practical orientation with examples of novel forest services from different regions and contexts.
Conceptual foundations of service dominant logic (S-D logic) will introduce the reader to the service research lenses, through which the subsequent chapters scrutinize services designed and offered to family forest owners. These publicly funded or market services typically help owners fulfil various land ownership objectives through forest management. Increasingly, these services are helping landowners to secure and improve ecosystem services provision from their forests and helping to meet demands from the various stakeholders.
While the book essentially approaches services as a continuous, value co-creation activity by forest owners and service providers, it recognizes and analyses the role of supporting institutions and policy frameworks in service evolution. Moreover, the book takes a step further by contemplating the wider societal transitions that may be required to enable service ideas to become service innovations as part of paradigmatic changes of markets, entrepreneurship, and customer behavior that help society move towards more sustainable and responsible bio-based economy.
