M. Kamil Kozan

Growth Plans of Small Businesses in Turkey: Individual and Environmental Influences

The intensity of small‐business owners and the environmental difficulties they encountered were investigated as predictors of growth intentions in Turkey. Data were collected from 526 small businesses in 14 major cities using the Entrepreneurial Profile Questionnaire. Factor analysis showed environmental difficulties and growth intentions to be multifactor constructs, while intensity emerged as a single factor. A canonical correlation analysis found owner intensity to be significantly related to the three growth plan factors of technology improvement, resource aggregation, and market expansion. Among the difficulty factors, only lack of know‐how and financing problems showed a significant relation to growth plans. Financing difficulties hindered technological improvement and resource aggregation, while know‐how negatively affected market expansion. Other difficulty factors such as entry barriers, family‐business role conflict, and ethnic prejudice were not among the predictors of growth plans. The article draws out the implications of these findings for government policy and for future research.

Cultural Influences on Styles of Handling Interpersonal Conflicts: Comparisons Among Jordanian, Turkish, and U.S. Managers

This study reports the results of surveys of conflict management styles of 215 Turkish and 134 Jordanian managers. Managers in both countries showed a resemblance to each other, and to their U.S. counterparts, in reporting a clear preference for the collaborative style in handling conflicts. The two countries differed both from each other and the U.S. in preferences for the remaining styles, notably forcing and accommodation. Conflict management styles were also found to be affected by the position of the other party, i.e., whether he/she is a subordinate, superior, or peer in both countries. Once again, differences between the two Mideastern countries were as marked as differences between them and the U.S. The paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for comparative management.

Buyer‐supplier relationships in the Turkish automotive industry

Purpose – Using a baseline model of buyer‐supplier relationships, the study aims to identify the types of relationships in the Turkish automotive industry, and to test predictions as to how these relations would differ across contextual, managerial, and social climate variables.Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire data from 51 buyers in automaker firms and 72 supplier firms were subjected to K‐means cluster analyses to establish relationship groups in the two samples. Differences across the groups were tested using ANOVA and Scheffe tests.Findings – Three relationship types (captive supplier, market exchange, and strategic partnership) were identified both in the buyer and supplier data. Significant differences were observed in terms of contextual (product and supplier characteristics), managerial (information exchange and cooperation), and social climate variables (mutual understanding, payoff equity, and satisfaction). Turkish buyers were found to strategically segment their suppliers based on pr...

Preference for Third Party Help in Conflict Management in the United States and Turkey An Experimental Study

One hundred twenty student subjects from the United States and Turkey participated in a prisoners dilemma type game where subjects were given a chance to communicate with their adversary either directly or through an intermediary. Turkish subjects were found to significantly prefer the intermediary, whereas United States subjects chose direct communication. An interaction effect with gender was also found: Reliance on intermediaries was particularly high for female Turkish subjects. Contrary to expectations, the preference for mediation in Turkey did not increase when, under one experimental condition, the subjects gains from cooperation was higher than that of the other player. These findings are interpreted in terms of differences in individualism-collectivism between the two cultures.