| Resumo: | The forest issue in Portugal is very spoken. Unfortunately, not always for good reasons. Portugal is a chronic scenario for enormous wildfires, and the media focus on that year after year during the summer. However, the forest is much more than wildfires for the Portuguese economy. It supports a very important cluster where the exports are 4.094 billion euros, representing 9.0% of all goods exportation in Portugal. The trade balance for the forest cluster is very beneficial for Portugal, with a positive balance of 2.339 billion euros. We used the Porter’s Diamond model as the conceptual framework to evaluate the competitive advantages of the forest cluster. We identified several specific conditions needed to sustain a competitive advantage through that framework. We describe the status for each condition, giving suggestions to unleash the Diamond of competitiveness for those that are a constraint. The results indicate that the Diamond for the forest cluster is far from optimal. We found constraints in all determinants of the Diamond, problems in the factor conditions, in the demand conditions, in the related and supporting industries, and in the firm strategy, structure, and rivalry. Besides, the role of government is negatively influencing the Diamond determinants.
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