The value chain in an enterprise starts with the producer and ends with the consumer. Throughout the chain, there are two types of actors: direct actors and indirect actors.

Direct actors are the members of the market chain through which the product moves, such as harvesters, traders, manufacturers and consumers. Indirect actors, are those who can influence the marketing of the product, such as policy-makers, technical researchers and environmental advocacy groups. These include both private- and public-sector companies and agencies.

Solid links and alliances within the chain are very important. If one of the parties in the chain is weak, the whole venture can be affected and may even collapse. The formation of effective alliances is therefore a key issue.

Here follow the findings on how small and medium forest enterprises ca be successfully integrated into global value chains  , identified by the conference participants, including private forest sector representatives, community-based entrepreneurs, researchers, non-profit providers of technical, business and financial services, funding and donor agencies.