Measuring the international competitive advantage of Turkish food industry by using the double diamond approach

This study measures the competitive power of Turkish food industry by using the ?double diamond? approach. Firstly, the study introduces the food industry in Turkey and summarizes the alternative theories that are used to measure competitive power. Later, empirical analyses are carried out by using the ?double diamond? method. In the analyses six countries, including Turkey, are covered and year 2005 data are used. In ?double diamond? approach both domestic and international conditions are utilized to measure the competitive power and each of these conditions is composed of four components namely factor markets, demand, supporting industries and firm strategy and structure. Each component covers at least two indicators. The analyses show that food industry in Turkey has the weakest competitive power among the other countries, with regard to both domestic and international conditions. Both in domestic and international markets factor market components seem to perform the poorest performance when all the components and indicators are considered. Again, both in domestic and international markets, Turkey performs relatively better in firm strategy and structure indicators however she is still behind the other countries. It seems that improvement both in domestic and international firm strategy and structure components may yield a relatively fast and easy development in overall competitiveness. The study suggests Turkey should give priority to domestic conditions and to institutional deregulations.