A comparative analysis of Design Turkey industrial design award winners and their performance in international award systems

The importance of branding is increasing day by day all over the world & in Turkey and the requirement to remain on the market is also emerging as a consequence. Competing firms should meet the expectations of the modern age by keeping up with the conditions. These conditions individually affect the competition conditions between brands, the companies they are affiliated with and all these firms and users. One of the most important determinants of competitive success for firms is industrial design awards. These competitions and awards are valid worldwide which shape the industry are important documents that reveal the institutional performance measures. In order to introduce the Turkish brand, these awards are considered as a guide the consumer to the Turkish brand and to increase the export capacity, Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards which implemented the first national design competition was launched in 2008. This research aims to measure the international performance of products which received the Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards. Within the scope of the study, the reputation of various design competitions worldwide were examined, the reputation of Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards was questioned and a comparison was made among those examined awards. This research explains the emergence of industrial design awards system both in the world and Turkey and states the need for a national industrial design awards system for Turkey. By identifying the most preferred three international design competitions apart from Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards among Turkish companies, design award performance of Turkish companies in international design competitions were examined. At the end of the study, the participant profile of Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards was questioned and sectors of the competition which are open to development were determined by examining the winners of Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards.Many suggestions have been made on how to increase the reputation of the Design Turkey Industrial Design Awards and it is stated how this study will be an input for other research.