Evaluation of regional competitiveness of nuts 2 regions in Turkey

Nowadays, "Competitiveness" is one of the most important concepts of changing and renewing economic system which is affected by globalization. The term of competitiveness can take place in every scale from firms to nations. In recent years, regions are defined as the most important locations that competitiveness occurs. Regions have great importance as geographical areas that define competitiveness of nations and firms. Regions, which are defined as a place of economic activities and the economic activities of the places where the actors or the firms perform. Regions are required to incorporate the features necessary for competition of the firms. At the same time, regions shape future policies of the countries with the potential for competitiveness. This study identified the main components and variables that affect the competitiveness of NUTS 2 regions in Turkey. Study aims to evaluate competitiveness of NUTS 2 regions with these components and variables. In this context, the theoretical framework of the study have been created and the concept of regional competitiveness have been identified. The definition of the concept of regional competitiveness were based on the study conducted on the concept of world literature. As well as the definition of the concept, the position of regional competitiveness and the most important factors affecting regional competitiveness are explained in the theoretical framework. After the theoretical framework of regional competitiveness concepts described in a comprehensive manner it has switched to the evaluation part of the regional competitiveness in Turkey. To evaluate the competitiveness of regions in Turkey, first of all, the greatest impact of the competitiveness of the country's variables are identified within the framework of regional competitiveness factors commonly used in the world of literature. Competitiveness variables of NUTS 2 regions were determined according to various empirical studies have been done on the regional competitiveness. These variables have been identified under the headings; economic, physical and social environment and human capital. These variables are specified in the study were a total of 36 units. Of these, 11 were in the economic environment, 16 of the physical environment, 4 of them social environment and 5 of them are composed of variables related to human capital. Better able to evaluate regional competitiveness in Turkey and in order to interpret the situation in the countries of the region for regional competitiveness easier, principal component analysis was applied on the specified variables. A plurality of variables associated with each other, has been reduced to fewer and more significant components with applying the principal component analysis. Analysis obtained two important components which is affecting regional competitiveness in Turkey's NUTS 2 regions. Variable data under these components named as "Strong Economic Structure" and "Human Capital" were evaluated in Turkey NUTS 2 regions. No components have a significant impact on regional competitiveness in the country were examined under a separate heading. The most important factors of competitiveness in Turkey is associated with economy. "Strong Economic Structure" has been the most important component that principal component analysis revealed along with. This component affects the level of competitiveness of regions in Turkey significantly. "Strong Economic Structure" component explains almost half of the regional competitiveness in Turkey. Therefore, strong economic structure which is also identified as a strong causal component has a significant share in the field of region's competitiveness. Strong economic structure component is divided into three main groups according to the host of variable properties in the study. Accordingly, the most important groups affecting regional competitiveness has been the group of variables related to private capital. This group is followed by the group of variables that make up the innovative structure and the group where variables are associated morely with labor force. According to the results of the principal component analysis, competitiveness of the regions in Turkey appeared to be closely related with private capital, innovative structure and labor force. The second most important component of regional competitiveness in Turkey have been human capital. Human capital component has a share of about 17% in a statement to the regional competitiveness of the country. Human capital which is the second most important component in explaining regional competitiveness after strong economic sturucture is defined by number of higher education graduates in the number of employees and in total population. The two main components which explain regional competitiveness in Turkey were obtained in the study. According to the results of principal component analysis it showed that 6 more components outside these two components contributed explaining regional competitiveness in Turkey. However, there is a significant diffrence between each these six components' share of the contributions they have made to explain the regional competitiveness and the two main components' share of explanation. Therefore, it was concluded that six components are inadequate in explaining the competitiveness of the region's in Turkey. These components which do not make a significant contribution to the competitiveness in Turkey are generally related to quality of life, sea transportation, internet accessibility and cultural structure. In conclusion, the level of competitiveness of the NUTS 2 regions in Turkey has been assessed under the conceptual framework, findings and country policies. According to the findings, the potential competitiveness of the regions in Turkey depend on the necessity of creating a strong economic structure of private capital, with its innovative structure linked to increased human capital and labor factors. Within these factors there are significant differences between NUTS 2 regions which are examined by their regional competitiveness. Generally, the high potential of competitiveness in the western regions of Turkey is experiencing a significant decline in the eastern regions of country. TR10-Istanbul has emerged as the strongest competitive region in strong economic structure component related to private capital, innovative structure and labor force factors across the country. The level of competitiveness of region in the human capital component is low according to the strong eceonomic structure component. Istanbul is followed by TR51-Ankara in area of strong economic structure. Ankara showed a much better performance than Istanbul in the human capital. TR41-Bursa, Eskişehir, Bilecik and TR61-Antalya, Isparta, Burdur came to the fore as strong regions in human capital and labor force respectively. When examining other regions with regard to strong economic structure and human capital which are the most effective components of regional competitiveness in Turkey, regions which have the potential in competitiveness has been identified. These areas are usually located in the west of the country. In innovative structure and private capital TR31-İzmir, again in private capital TR41-Bursa, Eskişehir, Bilecik and in labor force TR42-Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Bolu, Yalova has attracted the attention as a region with significant competitiveness potential. It is seen that regions which are generally located in the west side of the country come to the fore in regional competitiveness. However, TRA1 Erzincan, Erzurum, Bayburt region which is located in the east side of the country and has important human capital potential shows that it can have a say in the competitiveness between regions. As well as Turkey has strong and potential competitive regions, there are also weak regions in competitiveness. According to the assessment emerged in the study, weak regions of the regional competitiveness in Turkey generally covers the eastern and southeastern areas of the country. TRC2-Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, TRA2-Ağrı, Kars, Iğdır, Ardahan and TRB2-Van, Muş, Bitlis, Hakkari regions which are located in this area have taken place in the last three of regional competitiveness rankings across the country because of their poor performance in economy and human capital. While the overall standings in the economic field occurs that way, no significant change was the result in private capital, innovative structure and labor force title. In private capital and labor force TRA2-Ağrı, Kars, Iğdır, Ardaha region and in innovative structure TRC2-Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır region took place last row in the regional competitiveness standings across the country. Competitiveness of the regions in Turkey has been assessed under the factors affecting regional competitiveness and also have been adopted in the context of world literature with this study. According to the assessment that regions placed in the west of the country have strong competitive structure, while regions placed in the east of the country were found to be weak in regional competitiveness. Competitiveness which has an important place in the country policies in recent years shows significant differences according to NUTS 2 regions in Turkey. The failure to fully implement the policies that have been developed to increase the competitiveness of Turkey is one of the most important causes of the emergence of differences in regional competitiveness. Therefore, to improve competitiveness realistic strategies aiming to create an innovative environment that can attract private capital and workforce should be applied to spread to all regions in the country.