To meet the objectives of the project, an extensive secondary literature search was conducted of the forest products industry in Chile. This included identifying the important sectors of the industry, current trade practices, major companies, major universities and government agencies involved in forest products, as well as determining historical market growth and the availability of marketing education.
A Virginia Tech Wood Science and Forest Products faculty member visited the University of Bío-Bío in Concepción, Chile, in August 1999 to discuss the project with the Director of International Programmes. During that period, he was provided with a list of major universities and agencies that could be included in the study. Also, interviews with the Manufacturing and Marketing Faculty at the University of Bío-Bío conducted during the visit also supported the need for the research.
During October 1999 scientists from Fundación Chile visited Virginia Tech and discussed the project. FAO provided past forest products marketing training needs assessments that were conducted in Brazil, the Philippines, North-Western Russia, Indonesia, and Eastern and Southern Africa. These reports were reviewed in the process of developing this project.
Based on the secondary literature search, personal interviews in Chile and the FAO past projects, a plan for the collection of primary data was developed. This plan included the use of a questionnaire that was divided into two sections. One section was intended for collection of qualitative data during the personal interview process, while the other section was used to collect quantitative information. The questionnaire was reviewed by the Forest Products Marketing Faculty at Virginia Tech, personnel at FAO, and the Faculty at the University of Bío-Bío. Based upon the comments of these reviewers, revisions were made to the questionnaire (Appendix 2) and it was sent to the University of Bio-Bio in December 1999.
A convenience sample of 16 organizations was used for this study. The Director of International Programmes, University of Bío-Bío, contacted each organization and asked if they would participate in the study. If they agreed, a cover letter explaining the purpose of the research and estimated time frame for the interview was transmitted to the participant and the quantitative portion of the questionnaire was sent at the same time. It was explained that the participant would have time to fill out both sections of the questionnaire during the interview but, if they wanted, they could review it before the interview. A sample frame of over 30 individuals in 16 organizations participated in the study (see Appendix 3).
The University of Bío-Bío provided travel for all the site visits for the interviews. If the interviewee did not speak English well, the Director of International Programmes, University of Bio-Bio, acted as the interpreter for the interview. After introductions of the various individuals, the purpose of the study was explained and it was asked if the conversations could be taped. The researchers asked questions directly from the prepared qualitative portion of the interview and recorded responses.
Upon completion of the open-ended questions, the quantitative portion of the study was conducted. However, a few respondents chose not to answer some of the quantitative portion due to an expressed lack of knowledge of forest products marketing programmes in Chile. The interview process varied in time from 45 minutes to over two hours.