Contents -- Preface -- Executive Summary -- Introduction -- From Agricultural to Multi-Sectoral Countryside -- Main Concepts -- Links to Earlier Studies -- FORWARD Project -- Purpose and Objectives of the Report -- Theories -- From the 1950s to the Key Issues in the 1990s -- The Multifaceted Nature of the Forest Sector -- Production Types -- Regional Development Theories and the Forest Sector -- A broad framework -- The relevance of theories -- Multi-Causal Explanation of Development -- The Role of Human Agency: Innovation or Adaptation -- How Much Does the Proactivity of Locals Matter? -- The Framework of Research -- Limits to Research: Uncertain Future -- Quantitative and Qualitative Methods -- The Combination of Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches in FORWARD -- Quantitative Data and Analysis -- Regional forest resource and socio-economic data -- Multivariate statistical analysis -- Qualitative Data and Analysis -- The potential of qualitative approaches -- A Boolean approach for qualitative comparative analysis -- Deductive process for the development of hypotheses -- Data collection for qualitative analysis -- The Role of the Forest Sector in Employment and Income -- Forestry and Socio-Economic Structures in EU Countries -- Regional Variation in Forestry and Socio-Economic Variables in the EU -- Results for Comparative Qualitative Analysis -- Conclusions -- Theoretical Findings -- Relevance of the theories -- Theoretical considerations based on the quantitative results -- Theoretical considerations based on the qualitative results -- Conclusions on the Success Factors -- Timber resources -- Industries -- Services -- Know-how -- Policy Implications -- Regional lessons -- Public intervention -- Human resources -- Future Research Needs -- References.