Efficiency analysis of Turkish agricultural enterprises within the scope of circular economy: A study with multiple criteria decision making techniques

Technological developments and intense competition that have emerged with the globalization experienced today require businesses to use their resources more effectively and efficiently and to reveal their strategic positions against rival companies. In this direction, the main purpose of my research is to investigate whether these enterprises use their resources effectively and efficiently in terms of circular economy by making use of the financial data of the enterprises in the agriculture and food sector traded in Borsa Istanbul (BIST) in the years 2016-2021. It is to draw attention to the potential benefits of the circular economy and raise awareness by identifying the possible changes in the activities of the enterprises that have implemented the "Circular Economy", if any, and by comparing the activities of the enterprises that give importance to the circular economy and those that do not. For this purpose, financial data were taken into account by using the financial statements of Turkish agricultural enterprises listed on Borsa Istanbul and their efficiency in the sector was revealed by Data Envelopment Analysis and Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis. Multi-criteria decision-making techniques such as Cluster Analysis were used to identify businesses with common characteristics and TOPSIS to rank business performance from best to worst. The findings were compared with the circular economy approach and the results were interpreted. Our research consists of three parts; In the first chapter, the concept of "Circular Economy" and circular economy practices are mentioned and the importance of agriculture in development plans is emphasized. Within the scope of the second part; Data Envelopment Analysis, Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis, TOPSIS and Clustering Analysis were examined theoretically. In the last part of the study; In order to investigate the cyclicality in the Turkish agricultural sector, the efficiency of 28 enterprises in the agriculture and food sector registered in BIST with Data Envelopment Analysis and Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis, their performance rankings with the TOPSIS method and the similarities between the enterprises with Cluster Analysis were tried to be revealed. With the analysis, it was tried to reveal the similarities between the businesses. It has been determined that five of the 28 enterprises subject to the analysis are registered in the BIST Sustainability Index and that these enterprises are exemplary to other enterprises in terms of both efficiency and performance, and that these enterprises have more similar characteristics compared to other enterprises.