Determining the innovation abilities of medium and large scale furniture enterprises; Marmara, Ege and Middle Anatolian Region sample

Turkish furniture industry is among the most significant industries since it generates employment, production capacity in terms of added value created with large contributions. With the rapid development of technology, major changes have started to take place all over the world in recent years. These conditions, in which developments are experienced in every sector, have had an impact on the furniture sector as well. Now the perception of furniture has changed all over the world and high-tech designs started to come to mind when we talk about furniture. These developments have led to a more competitive environment in the markets and this technological transformation has revealed the importance and necessity of innovation in enterprises. For this reason, determination of innovation targets and methods of enterprises is an important issue to be emphasized. This thesis has been carried out in order to put forwad the innovation abilities of medium and large scaled furniture enterprises in Turkish furniture sector. The research population is formed by 60 middle and large scaled furniture enterprises operating in Marmara, Ege and İç Anadolu, and the sample is formed by 42 furniture enterprises. The data were obtained by survey method. In analysing the data descriptive statistic methods, Mann-Whitney U test for comparison of two groups of quantitative variables, Pearson Chi-Square test and Fisher's exact test for the comparison of qualitative data were used in the research. In the study, the decision trees technique, which is one of data mining methods, was applied. The prominent factors on the innovation activities were analyzed through decision trees modeling and the realized scenarios. Based on the results, it was understood that almost all of the enterprises performed the improved product/service innovation. Younger enterprises were found to be associated with application of new or significantly improved presentation/sales and distribution methods. Collaboration was made with other institutions for innovation activities; however, collaboration with universities, higher education institutions, and public and private research centers among these institutions was quite low. It was determined that enterprises received support from various organizations in order to actualize their innovation activities, and this support had a positive effect on organizational and marketing innovation. The strengths of the firms in turn were observed to positively affect their innovation activities. In conclusion, it was understood that the innovation activities contributed positively to other activities of the enterprises, as well. Keywords: Determinants of innovation, Furniture Industry, Middle and Large Scale Enterprises, R & D, Data Mining,