Kenan Aydın

The AKP’s Approach toward Non-Muslim Minorities: Constructivist and Rationalist Insights

Since the Justice and Development Party (the AKP) came to power, it has expanded the rights of non-Muslim minorities. In order to provide a comprehensive theoretical perspective of the AKP’s policies toward non-Muslim minorities, this article utilizes constructivist and rationalist insights (the logic of appropriateness and the logic of consequences, respectively). This article argues that the AKP’s policies toward non-Muslim minorities are linked to its normative commitment to religious freedom. In addition, by drawing upon the literature of political marketing, this article argues that the AKP’s policies toward non-Muslim minorities can be analyzed as a strategy to expand its voter base.

A Qualitative Study on Perspectives of Retailers about RFID System in Turkey

Technological innovations and developments force businesses to be much more aware about global developments. Because real competitive advantage is dependent on technologic differences of the business. For example, with the help of IT(information technology) technology, new marketing and sales method can be used in every kinds of business sector such as database marketing, relationship marketing, viral marketing. Businesses which adapted themselves for new technologies, can have a great market share. So there is no suspicion about the need of technological innovations for businesses. Technology helps businesses to improve their functions and reduce their costs. In this point, RFID(Radio-Frequency Identification) technology is one of technological innovations that businesses have just began to use it. Because RFID technology is still a new system for retail businesses and this technology isn’t known greatly by them. This study aimed to explain RFID implementations and benefits in retail sector. Also it was discussed how could RFID technology help retail businesses. The qualitative data was collected via in-depth interview method. Participants were selected via purposive sampling method and 4 retailers joined to our study from Istanbul in Turkey. We conclude the results of in-depth interview with literature. It is thought that this study can help businesses to know and understand RFID technology for their business.

Exploring the impact of marketing culture on job satisfaction: Evidence from the Turkish banking sector

Purpose The literature has shown that organizational culture influences job satisfaction in various industries such as tourism, banking and retail. As a result, investigating the impact of culture and organizational structure is a topic of growing interest. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether marketing culture has a positive effect on job satisfaction in banking firms. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a survey methodology. Surveys were conducted in Istanbul, Turkey, with service industry employees of private banks and insurance companies. To measure the marketing culture, Webster’s (1990) marketing culture model with 34 items was adopted. Six basic dimensions of “service quality, interpersonal relationships, selling task, organization, internal communication and innovativeness” were measured using the survey instrument. Job satisfaction was measured using the 20-item Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire on the following two dimensions: intrinsic satisfaction and extrinsic satisfaction. The data were analyzed with SmartPLS 2.0 and SPSS 21 programs. Findings It was found that marketing culture had a significant and positive effect on job satisfaction. In particular, the marketing culture factors had a greater effect on extrinsic satisfaction in banking firms. In this regard, service quality, organization, selling task and innovativeness had a positive effect on extrinsic satisfaction. Originality/value This study supports the argument that the concept of marketing culture is different from the market-oriented culture type. In addition, this study shows that marketing culture has a positive effect on job satisfaction in banking firms.