Examination of standards and certifications within the scopeof sustainability principles for the furniture industry inTürkiye

This thesis aims to conduct a multidimensional analysis of sustainability practices adopted by companies in the furniture industry, along with the factors influencing these practices. The research was structured through an in-depth examination of companies' sustainability awareness levels, the challenges they face, the certifications and documents they possess, the sustainability strategies they implement, and the performance indicators of these strategies. The results of the research reveal that companies in our country's furniture sector have high awareness on issues such as sustainable supply chain, renewable energy use and carbon footprint management and that their application tendencies in these areas are strong. However, the study has determined that there are significant development needs in areas such as the use of biodegradable materials, innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions in production, green logistics practices, renewing and remarketing used furniture, the use of sustainability guides, production of environmentally labeled products, campaigns for the sale of environmentally friendly products, sustainability training programs on digital platforms and specific sustainability certifications. One of the original contributions of the research is that it emphasizes the existence of high costs and bureaucratic obstacles that restrict sustainability efforts. In addition, when the economic effects of the practices are examined, an increase in production, energy and raw material costs is observed; In terms of ecological effects, it was determined that the use of ecological and recycled materials and ecological material designs increased. In terms of social effects, it was concluded that there was an increase in customer relations. The study shows that raw material preferences are related to company market share and ecological material design, and that the use of recycled materials contributes to the recognition of companies as ecologically friendly in the market. It is an important finding that companies that care about reducing energy consumption have a high rate of application for environmental certificates and that the TS EN ISO 10002 certificate is related to customers' acceptance of paying high prices for ecological products. On the other hand, it was determined that the effect of the TS EN ISO 9001 certificate on market share was limited. The importance of critical elements such as eliminating information deficiencies, establishing financial support mechanisms and making process improvements in the sustainability transformation of the furniture sector was emphasized. In this field, important inferences and suggestions were developed as a guide for the sector and relevant stakeholders; trainings to increase awareness, bringing people competent in sustainability to the business in recruitment and career planning, increasing incentives such as tax reductions, low-interest loans and grant programs for SMEs.