Diomond model of competitive analysis of the ceramic indudtry with bilecik

The term ?cluster? is one of the leading terms for the economists and especiallyafter the researches that Alfred Marshall and Michael Porter had made. In general terms,cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses in a particular field.According to Porter (1998) cluster means that the competitiveness between thecompanies which interconnected with each other in a specific geographical region andarea. In this context, clusters can create a competitive advantage in this geographicalarea and generate great advantages for the companies in this cluster. According to that,the strategies and politics for improving the clusters and related with that thecompetitive power and advantages has also important roles for the countries.In this thesis, first of all the competitive advantage is analyzed in detail in termsof Porter?s diamond model, double-diamond model, value chain and their relations withthe clusters. Moreover, the cluster examples in the World and in Turkey are given andfor Turkey the ceramic industry examples are tried to given. In terms of the ceramicindustry, the place of the ceramic industry in the world and in Turkey is defined andspecifically the city of locomotive of ceramic industry, Bilecik, is given as an exampleand with Porter?s diamond model.For this purpose, firstly a literature survey was made on the clustering conceptand the stance of clustering within the context of changing regional developmentpolicies is described. In the literature survey stage the printed materials and publicationsare searched thoroughly, the researches which are published from different authors arescanned and analyzed and lastly, the data and documents are collected from relatedpeople and corporations. After all the documents had been collected, the interviews hadbeen made with the leading corporations and ceramic firms to analyze the relationbetween the competitive advantage and cluster in Bilecik ceramic sector.Keywords :Cluster, Porter?s Diamond Model, Competitive Advantage, Ceramic Industry, Bilecik.