The impact of Turkish iron and steel sector's export performance on competitive strategies

With the globalization of the world market, mainting a competitive advantage has become increasingly difficult for companies. In order to remain in an advantageous position within their markets, companies must be highly competitive. According to Michael E. Porter, who is an important figure in explaining competitive strategies, obtaining a persistently competitive advantage in a global economy, is based on local factors such as knowledge, bilateral relations and motivation. National growth and development is proportionate to the development of industries and sectors in the relevant regions. Especially nowadays, competitiveness within sectors has become more crucial each day. In order to maintain national and international competitiveness, it is vital for nations to focus on sectors in which they can gain a competitive advantage. The competition analysis requires an examination of the relevant sector from an internal and external perspectives, taking into account the specific characteristics of a nation. In this research, the competitive strategies of the iron and steel industry, which is a leading sector in Turkey, were evaluated based on Porter's Diamond Model. The iron and steel industry was evaluated using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and a hierarchical structure was created in order to determine the most suitable competitive strategy for this sector. Based on Porter's Diamond Model, the AHP hierarchy was transformed into a questionnaire by considering current issues. Following this, 20 experts working in Turkish iron and steel companies were interviewed using said questionnaire. The experts were asked to rank six main criteria, 23 sub-criteria and three alternatives/strategies according to their relevance and the data obtained was then analyzed. At the end of the analysis and as a result of the research carried out, the most important alternative/strategy for the Turkish iron and steel sector has been identified as: "Focus on Research-Development and Innovation".