Small-scale producers currently manage approximately half of the plantation forest area in Vietnam; and 80% of the plantation wood is processed into woodchips. To promote higher value uses of the plantation wood, the Vietnamese government has released a number of policies that aim at stimulating the domestic industry, especially the production of furniture and the development of timber value chains (VCs). This paper compares the financial and economic performance of three typical Acacia hybrid timber VCs, comprising woodchip, non-FSC furniture, and FSC-certified furniture in Thua Thien Hue province, central Vietnam. Data were collected from the interviews with 26 key informants, 30 timber producers, eight timber traders, one woodchip, and one furniture processing and exporting company. Results describe main actors in the analyzed timber VCs, their characteristics, functions, profits, and added value. The total added value is 26.3 USD/m³ in the woodchip VC, 557.2 USD/m³ for non-FSC furniture, and 663.7 USD/m³ for FSC-certified furniture. Our comparative analysis also shows that the woodchip VC is financially profitable. However, regarding economic aspects, its performance is lowest, while the FSC-certified furniture VC contributes fundamentally to economic development. This research proves useful for generalization in terms of the analytical framework and the phenomenon of interactions between economic, social, and environmental aspects. The approach of transition towards high added value products, which is expressed in our paper, can further be applied in other comparable contextual cases searching for sustainable utilization of timber and forest-based products at large. A main theoretical proposition is proposed (P1) Stakeholders/VCs that face uncertainty or high competition in terms of essential resources and/or markets can enhance their financial performance through vertical and horizontal coordination.

目前，小规模生产者管理着越南大约一半的人工林面积；80％的人工林加工成木片。为了促进人工林的高价值利用，越南政府发布了一系列旨在刺激国内产业的政策，特别是家具的生产和木材价值链的发展。本文比较了越南中部Thua Thien Hue省的三种典型的相思混合木材VC的财务和经济绩效，包括木片，非FSC家具和FSC认证的家具。通过与26位主要信息提供者，30位木材生产商，8位木材贸易商，1位木片以及1家家具加工和出口公司的访谈收集了数据。结果描述了所分析的木材风险投资的主要参与者，它们的特征，功能，利润和附加值。总增加值为26.3美元/平方米³在木片VC，557.2 USD /米³的非FSC家具，和663.7 USD /米³用于FSC认证的家具。我们的比较分析还显示，木片创投在财务上是有利可图的。但是，就经济方面而言，其性能最低，而经过FSC认证的家具VC对经济发展做出了根本贡献。事实证明，这项研究对于分析框架以及经济，社会和环境方面之间的相互作用现象具有普遍性。本文所表达的向高附加值产品过渡的方法可以进一步应用于其他可比较的情境案例中，以寻求木材和森林产品的可持续利用。