1. What was GreenWood’s rationale for entering China in 2005? What entry strategy did GreenWood use to enter China? What were the advantages and disadvantages of the China entry decision?

2. What forces in the external environment might affect GreenWood’s choice of strategy?

3. What business-level and corporate-level strategies did GreenWood pursue? And how did GreenWood adopt entrepreneurial strategies in its quest for growth?

4. Which is the best investment partner: Luxi or Dongii?

GreenWood Resources, Inc. was founded in 1998 by Jeff Nuss, a bio-resources engineer. It was a Portland, Oregon, USA-based investment and asset management company with a worldwide focus on high-yield and fast-growing tree plantations (i.e. tree farms). In spite of its global vision, value proposition, and pursuit of environmental stewardship and social responsibility, GreenWood had struggled for almost ten years to obtain significant investment funds until 2007–2008 when the company successfully raised US$375 million for tree plantations in the United States and China. Through persistent effort, GreenWood built the key elements (people, resources, and business networks) for a successful venture despite the serious early financial constraints. GreenWood entered and navigated the Chinese market, deciding to establish its China operation with only a fraction of the funds it needed. Jeff Nuss seized an opportunity to organize a US$175 million private equity fund through his connections with the timber investment community to acquire a large poplar plantation in Oregon. The expanded scale and personnel resulting from the acquisition enabled GreenWood to become a visible player in the tree plantation industry and facilitated its securing an additional commitment of US$200 million of capital for use in the Chinese market.

Notwithstanding the availability of the capital and its cumulative knowledge of the Chinese market, the firm’s investment screening and negotiation process in China turned out to be complex due to the differences in business approaches and culturally embedded mindsets. In June 2010, Nuss and his team were weighing the pros and cons of two potential projects. They felt that GreenWood needed to proceed carefully to ensure its criteria of sustainable business (in terms of economic performance, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship) were met in China but also realized the company should show some progress to its major investor in China, Oriental Timber Fund Limited. Nuss and his senior management team needed to decide whether they should recommend investing in one of the two projects.