This paper considers two important aspects of joint venture (JV) activity between Western firms and local partner firms in Turkey. First, the strategic motivation for JV formation is investigated for a sample of Western partner firms. The relative importance of a set of strategic motives is identified and discussed with respect to the nationality of foreign partner. Second, the paper considers partner selection criteria for the sample using a typology that distinguishes between partner‐related and task‐related selection criteria and also examines the relationship between the relative importance of selection criteria and the nationality of foreign partner.
PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the relationship between board process attributes and company performance of family‐owned companies within an emerging country context.Design/methodology/approachA survey questionnaire was developed and conducted on a sample of privately‐held Turkish companies where a total of 386 usable questionnaires were returned. From the original data set a sub‐sample of 266 firms with majority family ownership was created. Based on the extant literature, a set of 18 directors' collective attributes and 15 directors' individual attributes were identified as potentially relevant for company performance. Relying on the perceptions of the respondents, multiple subjective measures of company performance were adopted.FindingsCompany performance is found to be positively related to the directors' collective and individual attributes which are associated with access to information, effectiveness of board, observance of fiduciary responsibility and performance evaluation.Practical implicationsThe essential implication of the study for establishing a desirable board climate is the necessity of having a keen focus on information. Sticking to fiduciary responsibility and application of performance evaluations are also indispensable attributes of high performance companies. These attitudes all combined seem to culminate in effective board process.Originality/valueWhile the subject of corporate governance is gaining an increasing attention from both academic and business circles, there is a dearth of research on board process attributes and their impact on company performance. This paper, therefore, aims to fill this lacuna by examining the relationship between board process attributes and company performance within a big emerging country context.
This paper examines the causal relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth in Turkey using annual data for the period 1968‐2002, by means of cointegration, error‐correction models (ECM) and the augmented vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995). Johansen (1992) cointegration test results indicate that these two variables are cointegrated. The empirical results from Granger causality tests based on error‐correction models and the augmented level VAR suggest that there is a strong evidence of bi‐directional Granger causality between FDI and economic growth, corroborating the feedback hypothesis for Turkey over the sample period.
This paper investigates the nature and extent of Internet use and the role of firm‐ and industry‐specific factors affecting Internet adoption by SMEs in an emerging market economy, Turkey. Based on the evidence from a sample of 237 manufacturing SMEs with Internet access in Turkey, the highest ranked Internet applications with the largest frequency of usage were found to be principally concerned with external communication and gathering information for market and product research. Of the five relevant firm‐ and industry‐specific subgroups, the most significant differences were found for two of the characteristics: amount of resources allocated for export development and international experience of the SME. In general, the SMEs have positive attitudes regarding Internet use. The SMEs are of the opinion that the Internet will become more attractive in future in terms of enhancing company image and being an important tool of doing business electronically.
This study delineates overall financial characteristics of the Turkish non‐financial firms listed in the Istanbul Stock Exchange across a variety of ownership variables. It essentially compares the performance of affiliates of diversified Turkish business groups with that of unaffiliated firms. The article notes that firms affiliated with diversified Turkish business groups do not differ significantly from unaffiliated firms in terms of accounting and stock market measures of performance. The findings also indicate that the performance measures of family‐owned firms are not significantly different from those of non‐family‐owned firms. Results also suggest that foreign‐owned firms perform significantly better in terms of return on assets than domestic firms, but not in terms of other performance measures.
Expects that the entry of Turkey into the customs union with Europe in January 1996 will spur the flow of European foreign direct investment (FDI) to Turkey with European companies being attracted by the relatively fast‐growing Turkish market. With Turkey likely to become an ever‐more important location for European FDI, provides a timely account of European equity venture formation in Turkey. Explains that, since 1980, the trend of European FDI in Turkey has been commensurate with the legal and institutional reforms which have been undertaken to encourage FDI. Drawing on a Turkish Government database, examines several dimensions of European FDI: trends in FDI over time; country of origin of investment; sector of investment; capital size of investment; geographical location and company type. Claims that this set of characteristics provides a more detailed account than previously has been made of European FDI in Turkey.
This book explores the internationalization of Turkish multinationals by examining a set of firms from various industries and providing eleven detailed case studies. The authors aim to discover the reasons behind the drive for internationalization within the firms, and how their internationalization processes work. By focusing on a medium-sized emerging country, which is strategically located at the intersection of European, Asian and African markets, Turkish Multinationals provide a significant contribution to research on multinational firms in emerging countries. Topics discussed include: strategic motives for and drivers of internationalization at multiple levels (firm, industry and institutional); the location, ownership and entry modes of multinational firms; and their market entry and post-acquisition strategies, which are critical to the evolution of the internationalization process. This innovative book will offer an alternative perspective to current debate on emerging markets, and will be of great interest to both academics of global strategy and international business, and policy-makers.
This paper attempts to fill the knowledge gap in the area of foreign direct investment (FDI) research in the regions of Caucasus and Central Asia. Various dimensions of FDI were analyzed from a comparative perspective drawing on a number of selected case studies of inward investors in Georgia and Kyrgyz Republic. The results indicated that the FDI activity in Georgia and Kyrgyz Republic was a market‐seeking type focusing heavily on location‐specific attractions of the two countries. Although the issue of corruption affects foreign investors, it does not act as a major deterrent of FDI infl ows. The most serious problem influencing the performance of FDI firms was found to be inefficiency of local labor force, excessive bureaucracy and red tape, and differences inherent in the business practices of host countries. In general, however, it was found that foreign investors have been satisfied with their performance largely due to the relatively smooth competition and the availability of several market niches in both host country markets.
This study provides new evidence on the nature of value creation in M&A activity based on a sample of giant pharmaceutical M&As and independent non‐M&A rival firms. Relying on multiple indicators of performance, their post‐M&A performance was compared with their pre‐M&A performance as well as with the performance of other major pharmaceutical firms that have not been involved in M&A activity. Based on three measures of operating M&A performance, it has been noted in general that no value creation was realized in the sample M&As in terms of research productivity, return on investment, and profit margin. The sample M&As had lower research productivity than that of both pre‐M&A and independent non‐M&Arival firms. In a similar vein, with regard to return on investment, M&As were not better than their pre‐M&A firms, but performed relatively better than their non‐M&A rivals. As far as the profit margin is concerned, the sample M&As, however, appeared to have better performance than pre‐M&Afirms and almost on par with the non‐M&A rivals.
