FIRM ORGANIZATION 



Ownership Patterns 



Retail lumljcr yards in the Northeast fall under three major types 

 of ownership: corporations, single ])roj)rietorships. or j>artnerships I Fig- 

 ure 1 I . These comprise 99 percent of all ownerships in the region, with 

 corporations owning 67 percent, single proprietorships owning 21 per- 

 cent, and partnerships controlling the remaining 11 percent. Ahout one 

 percent of the firms are under unspecified types of ownership. 



FIGURE 1. OWNERSHIP PATTERN OF REGIONAL RETAIL YARDS 

 AS A PERCFNT OF TOTAL YARDS. 



In general, the corporation yards are larg(% efficient enterprises, 

 selling in quantity and serving relatively large consumer areas. Although 

 many of these yards purchase from local marke^t inlermediaries or 

 wholesalers, some are retail hranches of v(>rticallv integraled corpora- 

 tions which nuinufacture liimher and wood prodiu-ts. In such cases, tlu< 

 retail yard may serve as outlet for company produced goods. 



The corporation has gained a strong position in the r(>tail yard in- 

 dustry in the northeast, i'heir success lies in tlu- sev<M"aI advantages in- 

 herent in large s<ale merchandising. Fhoe inclufle greater personnel 

 (efficiency, mechanization, more and varied services, wider service areas 

 and henefits of corporation advertising. 



A hreakdown of r<'tail yards l»v gross dollar sales vohime indicates 

 the |)ositions of the three ownersliips relative to the size of the yard 

 (Figure 2). 



