Technological improvements as the source of competitive adventage

ABSTRACT As globalization process becomes faster, the importance of international competition increases. As a result, the number of studies to determine the factors providing competitive advantage also increases. The results of the researches show that, new technology creation and usage are key factors in attaining competitive power among countries and firms. The competitive power of a country is measured by its ability to produce technological Knowledge and transfer this knowledge to the users. Technology is any kind of knowledge, skill and process that produces a new commodity or enables to produce the existing commodities more cheaply and with increased quality. Besides production of goods, services like management, marketing and knowledge accumulation are important for achieving technological improvements. Research and development activities, so universities and research centers are main institutions which play important roles in technological improvements. The technologies which create competitive power today are called generic technologies. Generic technologies, which have three main components -information technology, biotechnology and new materials technology- shape the economic, social and political environment by creating sinergy. The most important factors which affect a country's competitive power are Research and Development expenditures per capita, share of private sector Research and Development expenditures in total Research and Development expenditures and number of Research and Development personnel per 1000 population. Any increase in these three factors will increase the competitive power of any country. In order to compete in international markets and produce its own technology, Turkey must take some measures about institutions, infrastructure, sectors, macroeconomics, population and labor force. Otherwise, Turkey will become weak against developed economies.