Tree to Box: The Billion Dollar Cardboard Business

The world runs on cardboard. Produce, snacks, electronics, beverages, merchandise, household goods, everything is shipped in cardboard. Cardboard can be made into different properties, strengths, and shapes - everything from heavy-duty bins that can hold watermelons or merchandise, trays for fresh produce, food-safe boxes for pizzas, candy boxes that double as in-store displays, to Amazon boxes tough enough to survive the back of a Fedex truck. International Paper and WestRock are two biggest players who have taken a lion’s share of the American cardboard market in the past decade. The next time you come across a cardboard box, take a second to flip it over and look for a logo at the bottom, and you’ll likely find that it came from 1 of these 2 companies. International Paper and WestRock are massive business empires hidden in plain sight whose products not only enable American commerce, but also extend into the political landscape and shape foreign countries. In this episode, we’ll cover the business of cardboard, how it’s made, and the contrasting strategies of these 2 cardboard giants. 🎬 Support Modern MBA: https://buymeacoffee.com/modernmba ☕ Support Modern MBA on Patreon: https://patreon.com/modernmba 💬 Join Modern MBA on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/modernmba/ 🌎 Follow Modern MBA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570667949655 🕊 Follow Modern MBA on Twitter: https://x.com/modern_mba 0:00 The World Runs on Cardboard Boxes 5:07 Forests as Natural Resources 8:05 How Cardboard is Sold 11:50 The Slow King 15:50 Shaping Brazil & Russia 18:02 The Nimble Heir