Dilek Çetindamar

What the numbers tell: The impact of human, family and financial capital on women and men's entry into entrepreneurship in Turkey

Entrepreneurship contributes to economic development in countries worldwide. Entrepreneurial activity is beneficial for both men and women, including those in developing countries. However, men and women may not engage in entrepreneurship to the same extent because of differential access to (various forms of) capital. This study examines the relative importance of three types of capital – human, family and financial – in pursuing entrepreneurship. Using data collected in Turkey, we find that regardless of sex, all three forms of capital influence the likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur in varying degrees. Contrary to expectations, the impact of human capital on the likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur is higher for women than men. Data also revealed that family capital facilitates womens entry into entrepreneurship only when family size is very large (i.e. seven or more). No gender differences are observed in the impact of financial capital on the likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur. Findings suggest that to encourage entrepreneurship in Turkey, policy-makers should emphasize access to human and financial capital. Furthermore, findings suggest that womens likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur will be especially encouraged if they have increased access to education, as well as the skills necessary to take advantage of their family capital.

Competition through collaboration: insights from an initiative in the Turkish textile supply chain

Purpose – To gain an understanding of the benefits, bridges, and barriers associated with supply chain collaboration.Design/methodology/approach – Insights from extensive field research of a successful collaboration example in the Turkish dyeing and finishing industry.Findings – The competition among firms is increasingly shifting from company vs company to supply chain vs supply chain. The insights obtained from the collaborative model in this textile supply chain provide a good understanding of the benefits, bridges, and barriers associated with supply chain collaboration. Benefits can be grouped as customer‐oriented benefits, productivity benefits, and innovation related benefits. Factors supporting collaboration are observed as trust, common goals for cooperation, and existence of cooperation mechanisms, while barriers are related to three factors: lack of trust, risk‐benefit evaluation, and lack of common goals for cooperation.Research limitations/implications – Findings are based on interviews and q...

Measuring the competitiveness of a firm for an award system

Purpose – Competition is of interest to both policy makers and managers. However, existing studies concentrate on the measurement of national competitiveness while neglecting firm competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by developing a comprehensive and generic measurement model to understand firm competitiveness. The model is used to develop an award system to help companies in the self‐assessment of their competitiveness.Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical base of the measurement of firm level competitiveness is driven from two national competitiveness models, namely World Competitive Yearbook and Global Competitiveness Index, while the assessment structure is based on the well‐known European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Award. The competitiveness model developed in this paper is put into use in Turkey. The measures of the model are used for assessing the competitiveness of ten firms, in order to choose the most competitive firm of the year. The study in ...

Policy issues for Turkish entrepreneurs

While it is becoming clear that there is a positive relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development, the topic of entrepreneurship in developing countries has been neglected in the literature. This paper assesses the problems and expectations of entrepreneurs in Turkey. Its main findings are as follows: Turkey underutilises youth and women entrepreneurial resources; there exists a large informal economy that tends to support self-employment rather than entrepreneurship per se; entrepreneurs do not have the kinds of ties with organisations that might be helpful when they are first starting out; entrepreneurs see as their main problems bureaucracy and unstable state policies. Based on these findings, the paper concludes with a policy discussion regarding the development of entrepreneurship in Turkey.

E-Learning in a Competitive Firm Setting

This paper explores the use of e‐learning technologies for organisational learning within a commercial environment. A model has been developed to represent those factors that determine organisational learning. This model has been embedded within a case study based on the use of an e‐learning program that was developed in order to enhance employees’ knowledge and endorse corporate values within a Norwegian company. The results of the study reflect the high performance of the e‐learning program. They also highlight critical issues concerning the successful implementation of e‐learning technologies to achieve the knowledge sharing that is required for organisational learning.

Innovation performance and partnerships in manufacturing firms in Turkey

Purpose – This paper aims to shed light on the relationship between partnerships and innovation efforts of the firms. The goal is to understand whether Turkish firms collaborate for innovation or not and, if they do, what is the impact of partnerships on the innovation performance of firms?Design/methodology/approach – In this research, a survey methodology is employed. The questionnaire is implemented through structured interviews conducted with 135 Turkish companies from the textile, chemical, food and machinery industries.Findings – The findings show that Turkish firms have high‐collaboration ties with other companies in particular but the existing partnerships have a weak impact on innovation performance.Research limitations/implications – As only one country is studied and data come from one year, the findings of this study are limited in terms of generalizing the results for a wide variety of developing countries.Practical implications – Non‐materialized performance is to a degree due to low quality...

The role of regulations in the diffusion of environment technologies: micro and macro issues

Analyzes the impact of regulations on the process of the diffusion and development of environment technologies from the perspective of both firm and technology policies. Based on a case study in the Turkish fertilizer industry, observes that regulations and public pressures are the main determinants both in the transfer and in the diffusion of environment technologies, indicating the importance of the institutional infrastructure, namely the interplay among firms, government and non‐governmental organizations. Thus, attempts to integrate the findings of the study and concludes with some technology policy issues both at the micro and macro level.

Measuring the Creativity of a City: A Proposal and an Application

Cities are considered to be the major drivers of the global economy for many reasons, including their creative and innovative potential in generating sustainable economic growth. Istanbul is one of the global cities searching for a long-term growth strategy. This paper starts with a modest effort of composing an index to be used in the evaluation of the creative potential of cities. Our proposed index, “global creative index”, consists of five main criteria: (1) creativeness, (2) innovativeness, (3) intellectual development, (4) global network connectivity and (5) world cityness emphasizing multinational corporate economy, international division of labour and high intensity of producer and financial services. The use of the index is illustrated through the comparison of nine cities: Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Shanghai, Singapore and Toronto. The analysis of these nine cities shows that Istanbul is building an innovation environment, but it still lacks research and development infrastructure, technical support and investment in higher education. This comparison offers guidelines for policy-makers to sketch the growth of Istanbul along the lines of creativity and innovativeness.

Growth Dynamics in the Biomedical/Biotechnology System

This article aims to understand the dynamics of growth in the biomedical/biotechnology system that consists of a variety of actors ranging from universities, medical supplies firms, and drug research firms, to clinical service suppliers. Based on a comparative study made in Ohio and in Sweden, we have analyzed three main factors: technology competencies, technology transfer, and networking capabilities. Our findings show a set of differences that can be grouped into two categories, viz. management and agglomeration externalities. Differences in management appear at three points: the resources allocated to technological competence development, managerial skills in the technology transfer phase, and the use of technology councils. Ohio seems to offer a better environment for starting up new firms and enabling these firms to successfully commercialize their technological assets. The agglomeration externalities that make a difference between the two regions might be grouped into two categories: increasing returns arising from network externalities and the advantages of networking with a variety of supporting organizations in the system.

Technology Management Activities and Tools: The Practice in Turkey

The diffusion of management techniques is as difficult as the diffusion of technologies. This paper aims to find out how technology management is perceived and utilized in Turkish firms. The research is based on a survey that consists of 89 company responses out of the biggest 500 firms in the Turkish industry. The investigation consists of 1) the degree of diffusion in terms of technology management activities such as technology planning as well as 2) the techniques and tools used in technology management such as simulation. The literature review indicates 11 technology management activities ranging from strategy to utilization and 36 technology management techniques/tools. The results show that Turkish managers try to utilize technologies rather than creating them and they use 11 techniques more often than others and many important tools such as technology life cycle are not diffused yet. The paper ends with a discussion of findings