Investigation of public relations activities used on Turkish jewelry sector in the context of excellent public relations theory

In this study, how the Turkish jewelry sector companies' structures and applications in the field of public relations meet criteria of Grunig Excellence Theory has been aimed to investigated. In the first part of the research the literature has been reviewed. Statements related to the historical development and current status of the jewelry culture in Turkey, Turkish jewelry sector's position in the world, production, foreign trade, employment and exports have been made. In the second part, by conceptually explaining public relations, Grunig and Hunt's four models of public relations and literature about Excellence Theory have been reviewed and components of Excellence Theory have been explained. In the third part of the study, Public Relations structures of companies operating in the Turkish jewelry sector have been examined in the context of the Excellence theory. The first 100 companies with the highest gold jewelry exports in the year 2014 have been the population of the study. There are 36 companies of population expressed that they carried out promotional activities. 8 companies carrying out promotional activities which would like to contribute to this research have been the sample of the study. In-depth interviews have been carried out by public relations representatives of sampled companies in the context of qualitative research techniques. In result of the research, in the implementation of promotional activities in Turkish jewelry sector two different structures emerged have been observed. The majority of companies have been mainly performing their promotional activities by advertising with a traditional approach. Nevertheless, it was also extrapolated that there were companies in the public relations sector creating public relations structures, operating strategically planned public relations activities and having modern public relations mentality. When structures of public relations of these firms and their applications examined in the context of Excellence theory, although it has been observed that public relations departments havent't met all the criteria, they have been carrying out a public relations structure and activites close to perfect.