The role of the Akhi philosophy and system on today`s business organizations

ABSTRACT In business life, five important principles namely education and training, business ethics, communication, competition-pricing and standardization have existed. In addition to this, business life in Turkey consists of a unique blend that has been formed with the effects of Sufi trends and craftsmen guilds. This authentic synthesis is also being named as "futuwwa" and the type of "futuwwa" which was implemented in Anatolia is called "akhism". The akhi system was formed in context of the principles mentioned above. In this study the reflections of akhi system on today's business life and the importance that should be given to the principles mentioned above were tried to be stressed. With this aim, the history and the structure of the akhi system were studied and a small scale empirical research was carried out in order to display the reflections of akhi system for today's business life. The research consisted of a sample frame of the owners/ the managers of the 40 SMEs' (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) in OSTİM (Ortadoğu Sanayi ve Ticaret Merkezi= Middle East Industry and Trade Centre), Ankara. The study in extend confirms the rules and institutions of the akhi system, which consist of 5 dimensions such as education, business ethics, communication, competition-pricing and standardization, still have vitality for the business life in Turkey. VII