Theses supervised by Prof. Dr. Ali Murat Ferman
11 theses · Feyziye Schools Foundation Işık University
An exploratory study on the dynamics of localization of renewable energy industry among the managers of a leading company
Utilizing localization as a strategy has increased especially in the energy sector due to the ever-growing need for being sufficient for survivability and sustainability. Governments have started to take energy needs into consideration when planning for the future, and finding local sources of energy as well as managing them became a priority in this context. Therefore to provide the required level of energy, not only MNEs but also governments have been working on the localization process for their energy needs. Following this framework, renewable energy production is a new trend to provide a clean and sustainable energy, appealing to both the governments and entrepreneurs with a shorter pay-back time and longer lifetime of the investments, grabbing the attention of private and governmental sectors alike. This dissertation aims to be an exploratory study that shows the dynamics of the localization strategy on the renewable energy sector. There are two different phases for the conducting of the research. The first phase is collecting all the necessary information about the energy market of Turkey and the governmental position on the renewable energy with relevant policies. Primary and secondary data will be used in this stage to set the correct data . In the second stage, a multinational company will be evaluated in order to ascertain how willing it is to comply with localization strategy in a new and developing market. A leading company's managers who are directly involved and in point of fact, one of the determinants to achieve the success for the adaptation of the localization in the renewable energy market in Turkey, will be interviewed to accomplish this objective. In-depth interviews is the chosen method to get the critical opinions and the perspective of the small number of respondents who play a critical role for the determination of the strategy of the aforementioned MNE. Using their first hand experiences in the energy sector will also prove to be more effective as a primary source material to be collected for the qualitative analysis part of this study. A comprehensive review of the existing literature will take part as the secondary data collective in the qualitative analysis.
A comparative study among Turkish and American consumers on the relationship between cultural dimensions and the two important outcomes of consumer society: Conspicuous consumption and online compulsive buying behavior
Culture is considered to be one of the core mechanisms that drive people's behavioral patterns and the need for understanding consumer's cultural orientations and their effects on consumer behavior becomes even more crucial every day. This study was designed to address the gap in the literature and attempts to investigate the influence of cultural dimensions on the two important outcomes of today's consumer society; conspicuous consumption and online compulsive buying behavior. Also, another aspect of this research is to see if conspicuous consumption orientation has connections with online compulsive buying behavior. Lastly, it attempts to show whether conspicuous consumption orientation and online compulsive buying behavior varies across cultures and the role of demographics. In order to achieve these goals, the study employed two samples from two nations (Turkey and United States) that have distinct cultural orientations at the national level. Based on the models tested in two samples, the findings show that collectivism, power distance and masculinity had significant effect on conspicuous consumption orientation in both nations yet the most impactful cultural dimensions varied based on nation. Also, it has been discovered that collectivism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance were in relation with online compulsive buying behavior in both nations yet masculinity was not. Finally, conspicuous consumption and online compulsive behavior were found to be correlated and the correlation was moderate and positive.
Influence of social media in formation of positive brand attitude among different user groups in sports video analysis - a case example 'SPRONGO'
In todays' world, social media enjoys a phenomenal success in terms of adoption and current usage levels. We can say that they cause paradigm shifts on how people interact and communicate with each other as well as, on how they like to express and share ideas, and even on how they engage with different products, brands, and organizations. Further than that, we see how social media became significant networks of consumer knowledge. The phenomenon that is going to be discuss later on in this study is mainly social media and its effect on the formation of positive attitude on the consumers. We can see the examples in many are in our daily lives even such as video analysis and sports, the impacts of social media have already been described as unique, primarily due to the experiential nature of sports products, and especially of video analysis: purchases are considered to be risky and that is why decision making processes are information intensive. Many studies attempt to point out the role and impact of social media on aspects of brand attitude during the sport video analysis process that is before, during, and after the analysis. However, almost all of them tend to employ a micro approach, focusing either on a specific type of social medium (e.g. consumer review and rating websites), or on a specific application (e.g. SPRONGO), or on a specific stage of the decision making process (e.g. information search), or on a specific stage of the analysis process (e.g. Dartfish) In order to get clear results, I've selected a specific social media – Instagram and a personalbrand which is the common brand that is popular on social media sport platforms, which is called "Sprongo". Due to relevance with the topic, It is correct to use seven independent factors that were selected for their influence which was also later tested onto two different groups. The first group were representing the fans of the Sprongo Brand that are also subscribed as such on Instagram, while the second 5 group was chosen due to their content of random people who were also both familiar and aware as well as in a position of recognizing the brand. Two questionnaires were prepared to hand out – the first one was for the Sprongo Fan Group and second one was for the SprongoNon-Fan Group.After the data was collected, SPSS program Version 19.0 was used in order do the certain correlation analyses in order to identify the relationship both between the different independent variables and the dependent variables and Brand Attitude was the key dependent variable in this study. Moreover, to test these selected seven hypotheses, the two- way of variance ANOVA was used for checking which one of the two groups is eliciting a better brand attitude under the social media influence. It was shown out that SprongoFans who are using social media for a long period of time, have experience with the brand on a certain base, have positive opinions and they think that It is necessary to use and be surrounded by social media is eliciting more positive brand attitude than NonSprongofans with the similar characteristics. In addition to this finding, NonSprongoFans who are longer using a certain brand and mostly are engaged in socialmedia activities, compareto other brands that show more positive attitude than Fans group. There is a possible scenario for both a limitation and another are to work on for future studies from the variable "Social Media Engagement" where no significant correlations were found. Keywords:Brand awareness, social media, social networks, SPRONGO, Instagram
A practical multiple factor index model for shopping center investment decisions in Istanbul
Istanbul shopping center market is currently dealing with problems in the social and environmental spheres, in addition to its challenges at the commercial side. This thesis presents a genuine multi-factor evaluation model that can be used by all stakeholders of the market. While doing so, the model has its base on the paradigm of strong sustainability and the principles of sustainable development. First of all, an extensive literature review has been conducted in this respect. Accordingly, the model is built on Commercial, Social and Environmental Pillars and their industry-related sub-factors (nine sub-factors that are corresponding to a total of twenty-six underlying headlines) are determined. Afterwards, an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) survey model has been developed based on these pillars, sub-factors and underlying headlines and it is performed face-to-face on the top decision-makers of twenty-one (out of twenty-five eligible entities that answered back) members of the Council of Shopping Centers Turkey (AYD) which have at least one self-developed Istanbul shopping center in their portfolio. Commercial Pillar has been selected by the decision-makers as the most important component with %58.1; while Social and Environmental pillars stayed behind with 22.8% and 19.1% respectively. Following this result, another primary research setup has been formulated in order to create a more objective ground. This time, a panel comprised of three experts working on the field of sustainability is assembled and individual structured face-to-face interviews which included two open-ended questions are conducted and recorded with each participant. As a result of the constructive insights that have been in line with the literature review, assigning ethical protection to the Social and Environmental Pillars of the model is deemed reasonable. This decision is also reflected in the visualization of the model. The model also offers an open source, practical Project Checklist. This thesis also acts as an overview of the foundations of sustainability, development of shopping centers, Istanbul's urban development and its shopping center market.
Evaluation of innovativeness of Turkey with respect to european union integration
This thesis consists of four main parts. The first part presents information about the definition and classification of innovation. Product innovation, process innovation, technical innovation, administrative innovation, organizational innovation, radical innovation and incremental innovation are major headings in this part. The second part of the thesis mainly focuses on innovation process. In addition to various innovation process methods, Schumpeterian, Neo-Classical and Porter's approaches are studied and the basic of the National Systems of Innovation is presented. The third part of the thesis includes European Innovation Scoreboard 2002 (EIS). This scoreboard analyzes statistical data in four areas, which are human resources; knowledge creation; transmission and application of knowledge; innovation finance, output and markets. The scoreboard's statistical data are prepared for 21 indicators of innovation for each EU member states as well as 13 candidate countries including Turkey. The fourth part concentrates on the analysis of innovation on enlargement countries. According to Innovation Scoreboard, the Candidate countries perform favorably compared to the EU for the share of the working-age population with tertiary education (with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia and Lithuania equal to or above the EU mean), the employment share for high-tech manufacturing (with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia close to or above the EU mean), ICT expenditures (with the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia close to or above the EU mean), and the stock of inward FDI (with the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Malta above the EU mean). For 3 indicators, these candidate countries are above the best performing EU member state: Lithuania for both working-age populations with tertiary education and high-tech venture capital, and Malta for sales of 'new to market' products. Innovative capabilities in the Candidate countries are dominated by less than half of the countries, with 88% of the leading slots taken by six countries: Estonia (8), the Czech Republic and Slovenia (7 each), Lithuania and Hungary (5 each), and Malta (4). Latvia occurs twice, and Cyprus, Slovakia and Turkey once. Poland, Romania and Bulgaria are never among the top three performing Candidate countries. This thesis point outs some unrevealed facts of the Innovation Scoreboard 2002. The data, which are taken from EIS, originally developed in order to form the following tables: the comparison of the GDPs, population of candidate countries, business expenditure on R&D and public expenditure on R&D. Those figures yield that Turkey has the highest rank in GDP, population and public expenditure on R&D and second best in business expenditure on R&D. The current performance and the results of Swot Analysis of Turkey are also presented in the final part of the thesis. Turkey's SMEs innovating in house and new to market production are above the European Union mean. Public and business R&D in Turkey has good grades among all the indicators. In Swot Analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in innovation point of view of Turkey are given. The discussion about the results is summarized in the conclusion part of this thesis.
Effects of industry 4.0 on automobile marketing strategiesa research among auto executives in Turkey
The world is at the edge of the much expected digital transformation orchestrated by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In recent years, the industry has been going through a process that involves fully digitizing production processes, especially the automotive manufacturing industry. Intelligent production technologies such as autonomous robots, laser cutting, 3D printers, as well as new technologies such as big data, cloud data, augmented reality (AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have entered our lives with the Industry 4.0 revolution. To face the increasing complexity and greater flexibility in production processes in the mar-kets, it is necessary to pay more attention to customers. Recent literature shows that Industry 4.0 allow manufacturing firms to achieve such results quickly customized products and time to market response with higher efficiency and productivity rates. The concept of Industry 4.0 appears for the first time in Germany in 2011 as a concept that has been studied in economic policies. It can be considered as a strategy related to high technology and internet systems. The potential revolution called "4.0" is followed by the footsteps of the three previous industrial revolutions. The concept of Industry 4.0 can be explained as the industrial revolution based on cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT) and therefore concepts and technologies that support communication over the internet or involve continuous internet communication. This revolution means data exchange and unlimited interaction not only between consumer and consumer (C2C) but also between consumer and machine (C2M) or between machine and machine (M2M). Industry 4.0 describes the widespread integration of information and communication tech-nology in industrial manufacturing. However, it is not enough to address the developments associ-ated with the fourth industrial revolution from just a technological perspective, companies also need to transform their organization and their marketing strategy and their culture as well. While ad-vanced technologies do make it possible to access a much wider range of data, the ability to lever-age the underlying potential of this data is just as dependent on a company's organizational struc-ture and culture. From this point of view, the ultimate goals of companies are to adapt to a changing environment continuously and quickly and to increase their learning skills. In the future, cars, road signs, traffic lights, car parks and other types of transport infrastruc-ture will use sensors and processors to automatically collect, analyze, process and share data. Vehi-cles will themselves become nodes on the web (smart cars), enabling intelligent traffic flow man-agement (smart traffic). This process will be driven by especially Internet of Things (IoT) and big data management. A company's main goal should focus on understanding and fulfilling its customers' needs. This is one of the main topics of Marketing Management. As always repeated, the marketing de-partment plays a critical role in actively guiding customers to the purchase decision. By integrating individual purchasing processes into digital purchasing processes, adding value to the customer and creating customer loyalty from an early stage and placing the customer in the center of the company. This study focuses on marketing strategies in the adaptation of Industry 4.0 technologies. Industry 4.0 is an industrial revolution that occurs at the factory level and changes the way products are produced, but it is also a digital revolution. Marketing plays a crucial role in providing feedback to the production function. Therefore, it can be emphasized once again that firms should pay more attention to their marketing strategy. As briefly, marketing is additionally developing similar to new digital technology referred to as industry 4.0. To support the new digital challenges, to form cost reduction and to extend market growth, majorities of the firms are getting to change their marketing strategy alongside industry 4.0. So, it requires a next generation of marketing and sales for the organization. Industry 4.0 can be considered as market-oriented technologies that help companies improve the standard of relation-ship with buyers, as well as reduce production costs, reduce cost in terms of marketing and sales, and increase market growth with flexibility. The hypotheses of the dissertation are related to this subject. In summary of the above explanations, this study analyzes the relationships between Indus-try 4.0 and the automobile marketing strategy. In this analysis, determinants are organized with the help of technological, organizational and environmental research model. Six indicators have been investigated and examples of auto companies were investigated in Turkey.
An exploratory research among fashion business leaders and neuromarketing company executives on the perception of applied neuromarketing
Since almost two decades conditions that influence consumer purchase behaviour keep on changing in a dynamic manner which result in faster, better, more accurate and more precise managerial decisions' necessity that are based on deep marketing insights. Although Kotler's 4Ps and related policies do bare still the same importance to contribute to these marketing insights; How academicians interpret these according to varying conditions of the market structure and human needs, how companies acquire this data , how they apply it to their final solution to make the edge and deliver the superior value, how fast and how much resource they allocate to it, are thoroughly altered by the birth of neuromarketing methods. Having stepped further from baby steps to a more mature but still evolving marketing platform, neuromarketing methods such as fMRI, EEG, Eye Tracking, Virtual reality, Facial Coding and Biometrics make it possible to fill in the gap between how to reach needed consumer intrinsic perceptions and a product's or service's quality and/or price evaluation by the consumers amongst other marketing mix elements. This dissertation aims to be an exploratory study and targets to evaluate the perception and attitude among high ranking executive leaders in Turkish Fashion Industry towards applied neuromarketing along with how neuromarketing companies in Turkey that apply these methods and deduct meaningful strategic marketing and management pathways while interpreting the intersection and expose findings about current status along with possible future business solutions for both sides by using in-depth interviews.There are three different phases of how the research was conducted. The initial phase includes a comprehensive review of current knowledge on academical databases about theoretical and applied neuromarketing globally as well as locally which aims to shed light on the definition, borders and usability of neuromarketing. The second stage covers in-depth interviews with fashion business leaders and neuromarketing company executives in Turkey which investigates how well neuromarketing is known, applied and what kind of future potentials as well as possible threads it may create for both sides Primary and secondary data are used in those stages to set the correct data. Final stage of the dissertation is about cross-matching the first-hand data with the neuromarketing review with a qualitative analysis and intends to summarize the current status on the perception of neuromarketing on business and the perspective of applicability of it in short- and long-term future. .
A comparative field study in four emerging markets; Turkey, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt on e-health development challenges and expected utilization capabilities
The implementation and utilization of e-health in the healthcare sector has great potential to improve healthcare practices in general. The use of e-health becomes increasingly crucial for developing countries, that are confronted with many problems in healthcare and medical services such as; access, financial needs, limitations in resources and competent healthcare professionals. Even with these types of efficiencies that e-health would bring to the healthcare system, which are likely to be accepted by many healthcare stakeholders, there is still no consensus among healthcare professionals, government decision-makers and the users such as doctors, hospital staff, and patients for implementation and utilization. Furthermore, even if e-health can improve healthcare decision-making both for healthcare providers and patients, as well as providing speed and accuracy of information upon which healthcare decisions are made, there are still challenges surrounding investment and implementation decisions. These challenges become more significant in emerging countries where governments have initiatives for e-health implementation and utilization. This field study presents an original contribution to knowledge, by evaluating e-health challenges and needs for development and utilization of e-health and its possible adaption capabilities in four selected emerging countries; Turkey, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, based on user insights.This research constitutes a distinctive approach by comparing the similarities and differences across those selected countries regarding their e-health implementation practices. The study also puts forward a new framework of a solution model to existing challenges for an impactful development of e-health facilities in those markets. This unique model is based on the outcomes of the field survey and face to face interviews conducted with authorities of health ministries and healthcare professionals in selected countries.The results of this research, emphasize significant contribution of information communication technology infrastructure readiness, and governmental regulations in a country for e-health development and implementation. The study also shows that as the level of trust to electronic applications for healthcare increases, e-health development and implementation will increase. Another result is the requirement of cultural adaptation of related e-health stakeholders such as clinicians, healthcare professionals and patients for an impactful e-health development. This research also guides in understanding the positive effects of financing and supply chain management, on e-health development and implementation in that selected country, based on user insights.This study is an inventive comparative evaluation of user perspectives by analyzing clinicians' views versus information technology healthcare professionals' views, on expected positive outcomes of e-health for the country. This research study also presents a genuine user foresight for a healthcare e-commerce approach and buying criteria of users, providing guidance for the healthcare industry. Key Words: E-health, User Insights, Emerging Markets, E-health Development Model
An application of niche marketing from Turkish pharmaceutical sector; orphan drugs
Within this research, with the application of niche marketing to the Turkish pharmaceutical sector the issue of orphan drugs and treatment of rare diseases which are not only Turkey's but also other countries' problem are evaluated from the marketing point of view. The point which the private and public organizations play crucial role, the aim of this cooperative work is not only to increase its revenue but also its goodwill at pharmaceutical sector. Different areas where public and private organizations work, importance of new product development and R&D, importance of public health, and importance of public education about the usage of appropriate medicine in an appropriate way (rational usage of medicines) are some of the examples. Throughout this research, the subject of orphan medicines and treatment of rare diseases are being evaluated from the perspective of a private pharmaceutical company's niche marketing applications. Within context of this research, the subjects of legislation contents and market dynamics which are assumed to have a direct link to the niche marketing application of orphan medicines and treatment of rare diseases. A course of action and possible research made within the context of niche marketing applications which are believed both to increase the goodwill of the company in the market and to alleviate a public health concern while putting forth improving the health conditions of public with maintaining the financial returns at a sufficient level are emphasized with detailed explanations.
Yükselen bir hizmet pazarlaması uygulaması olarak butik pastane işletmeciliği ve İstanbul'daki butik pastaneler üzerine kapsamlı bir araştırma
Consumption of food and beverages always holds a place at the top of the list when we analyze the daily habits of consumption of human beings. The different behaviors of consumers towards food and beverage products force the relevant producers to define their consumer profiles and most appropriate marketing strategies in accordance with their target group. In food industry, customization of products can also be observed in addition to the traditional massive production strategies. Therefore, the number of enterprises like boutique pastries which produce customized products that both possess an artistic value and aims complete contentment of their customers as well is increasing very rapidly day by day in Istanbul. Although boutique pastries exist in service sector, they are forced to develop marketing strategies that are specific to their need due to the several reasons such as market demands and infinite diversity of the product opportunities, which carry artistic value.With this research, certain phenomena are explored: boutique business making, customization of production and adding artistic value to the products. While conducting interviews with managers of boutique pastries provided us with information about the current state of the business, the surveys enabled us to learn more about purchase behaviors of boutique pastry customers. By converting the information derived into statistical data, impact analyses have been made which shows the impact of the demographic backgrounds of boutique pastry customers over their related purchase behaviors. As a result of this research, the most appropriate marketing methodologies for boutique pastry businesses are defined in accordance with the analyses consumer behaviors.
The impact of host country environment and headquarters on strategic human resource development practices at mne subsidiaries: A survey from Turkey
Today, the acceleration in globalization and competition has given rise to an increased emphasis for MNEs in managing their international human resource base. One of the most important concerns for MNE subsidiaries is whether they adapt their human resources practices to local context (local responsiveness or isomorphism) or their HR practices are similar to those of their parent company. MNEs operating in multiple countries face the pressure for taking the demands requested by country-specific environmental forces into consideration. The objective of this study is to examine the influence of MNE organizational factors, environmental factors, subsidiary characteristics and MNE characteristics on local responsiveness of strategic human resource development (SHRD) practices of overseas MNE subsidiaries?wholly foreign owned MNE subsidiaries ? operating in Turkey. Considering the significant increase of FDI in Turkey and the potential of further exploration about pressures for global integration-local responsiveness of MNEs, the main objective is to investigate the distinct forces for global integration and local responsiveness and to explore the strength of the existing relationship. The study tests the influencing dimensions on the SHRD practices through considering Institutional, Resource Dependence and Contingency Theories. Moreover, the strength of the significantly observed relationships is also examined. The evidence presented showed that local responsiveness of strategic HR practices being management of performance appraisal, management of career planning and also recruitment and selection criteria are dependent on the forces imposed from MNE organizational factors (national origin, control orientation, and international strategy) and environmental factors (the subsidiary?s dependence on the local context, relationship with local customers and competitors). In addition, moderating influences were found regarding certain categories of the sample. Finally, the study presented limitations and proposed recommendations for further studies.