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.

0:00 The World Runs on Cardboard Boxes
1:36 The Science Behind the Material
3:40 How Cardboard is Engineered
5:07 Forests as Natural Resources
6:29 Supply Chain of Raw Materials to Finished Goods
8:05 How Cardboard is Sold
9:28 Tree to Box Vertical Integration
11:50 The Slow King
14:32 The Secrets of Recycling Paper
15:50 Shaping Brazil & Russia
18:02 The Nimble Heir
20:02 Supply Chain & Product Differentiation