Market analysis for glulam within the Swedish construction sector
Glulam’s position at the Swedish market for building constructions has been established over the past decades. Factors affecting glulam demand are found both in global and national contexts as well in customer attitudes and knowledge of the material. Arguments for environmentally friendly and sustai...
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| Formato: | Second cycle, A2E |
| Lenguaje: | sueco Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2014
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| Acceso en línea: | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/7102/ |
| Sumario: | Glulam’s position at the Swedish market for building constructions has been established over the past decades. Factors affecting glulam demand are found both in global and national contexts as well in customer attitudes and knowledge of the material. Arguments for environmentally friendly and sustainable construction processes and energy-efficient designs are nowadays common, which is something that should motivate increased usage of wood as a renewable material. For the glulam industry to increase its sales, improve profitability and thereby gain market share in present competitive climate, reliable market information and updated market intelligence is required.
The aim of this work was to enhance the understanding of factors affecting the demand for Swedish glulam on the domestic market. This by looking at the factors: glulam sales, construction activity, commodity prices and currency changes. It has been investigated how actors within the Swedish construction sector value their own possibility to affect construction material and also how these actors perceive existing glulam offerings in comparison to other construction materials.
The report shows that the market share for glulam increased in 2007 and has since then remained constant in relation to the total construction activity. Explanations to the market share gain can be contemporary increases in import prices of metal frames and an increased share of building activity related to industry/storage buildings. A contemporary strong SEK in relation to the Euro may also have justified an increased proportion of sales to the domestic market.
Of the total construction activity the share of multi-family and industry/storage buildings has increased while the share of single-family houses has decreased. Among all construction types the number of industry/storage projects is highest while multi-family houses are valued highest. Given that the total construction does not increase, market share gains can be made by approaching new customer segments or by increasing sales to existing customers.
Architects and constructional engineers perceive they have influence of material choices while developers feel they both influence and decide on what material to use. The study indicates that actors who previously bought glulam tend to buy again, while those who have not previously bought glulam do not intend to buy in the near future. The most prominent competitive advantages for glulam, in comparison to steel and concrete, are the environmental aspect and the experience for the end user. Toughest competition concerns construction technology aspects. |
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