Fluctuating demand and its impacts to a paper producer: Customer analysis

•Paper consumption has been on decline in USA and West Europe for years.•Significant capacity reduction in manufacturing capacity has taken place.•To manage such environment successfully information systems and customer base require attention.•Even mature industries offer price differentiation potential among customer base.•Customer base changes can be extremely rapid in markets on the decline.

For the Nordic paper industry the years 2001–2007 were a culmination point as to paper production and deliveries. The study uses plant level empirical time series data from these years from one large integrated Finnish paper mill. The research data covers complete customer data and cost components, and a major supplier for European paper markets. The case company worked actively with a customer base and concentrated on the most profitable markets. However, some unprofitable deliveries, which still covered the variable and fixed costs, also supported the operation of the mill and the continuing of the 24/7 shift. The results indicate that even with matured and bulky products like paper, it is still possible to operate on the basis of separated pricing, some bargaining power, and customized focus. In this respect, the markets do not seem to follow the economic theory expectation entirely, that is, for such a mature and bulky product market price differentiation should not be possible. However, to utilize this, it requires up-to-date information system concerning internal cost accounting, together with an emphasis on the management to have an active role with the customer base.