A research on the competitiveness of Duzce hazelnut sector

Besides there are many factors in the development of a country, a development plan that prepared considering regional sources has high potential of being successful. In this direction, we focused on hazelnut sector which is an important source of income and support for West Black Sea region. In the cities that produce hazelnuts in the region, the industrial sector is at the forefront, while the hazelnut sector in Düzce appears to be in the foreground. Therefore, Düzce city was chosen as the research area. The main purpose of this research is to demonstrate the competitiveness of Düzce hazelnut industry with the help of Porter's "Diamond Model". Qualitative research method was preferred in the research and data were obtained using the interview technique. The universe of the research consists of such as players (Chamber of Agriculture, Commodity Exchange, Düzce University, Chamber of Commerce, Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, Fiskobirlik and Hazelnut Enterprises) that are the foremost players in the hazelnut sector in Düzce. Obtaining data with thirty people were planned to be interviewed, but interviews were made with twenty-four people. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis method. As a result of the analyzes for each factor in the model; factor conditions have moderate level, demand conditions have medium-high level, firm strategy, structure and rivalry factor has very low-low level, related and supporting industries have moderate level, government factor has low-moderate level and chance factor has high level of competition power. Generally, the hazelnut sector of Düzce has a structure close to the middle level of competitiveness. But it is foreseen that competition power of the sector will decrease unless precautions are not taken against the unstable factors (climate, price policy, new production areas, new competitors) in the sector.