The Effects of quality function on Turkish pulse exports

vııı ABSTRACT Lentil, chickpea and haricot bean, taking part in the pulses category, have considerable importance for Turkey both in production and exporting. Especially, as a result of the applied policies dated from the second half of the 1980s, production and exporting have developed dramatically and Turkey has become one of the important pulse exporting countries. As an important export product category in the Turkey, and the importance it carries for both effectively utilizing the farmlands and for nourishment, the pulses industry is one of the industries that should be extremely dwelled upon. This study is conducted for the purpose of analyzing the quality aspect as a fundamental issue in the continuity of pulses exporting in Turkey and identifying the factors composing the quality function in exporting. The importance attached by Turkey to the quality in food exporting is an essential issue enhancing the export development and contributing to the competitiveness of the exporting firms in the global market. Inadequate attention to the quality causes market loss, cost increase and sometimes disappointing exporting efforts. Some of the underlying reasons attaching importance to it are the diffusion of quality in exporting, enhancement in trade volume, protection of the prestige of the exported products in foreign countries, and the increase in the quality of export products. This thesis consists of four sections. The population of the study involves pulse processing and exporting 68 firms. The response rate of the field study is 70 %. The research findings are evaluated under six factors as a result of factor analysis, namely: quality in marketing, quality in production, quality in design, quality in packaging, storage and transportation, and quality in service. The relative importance of each factor highlighted by the multiple regression analysis are also interpreted.