Turkish Entrepreneurs Research Articles

What Makes an Entrepreneur and Does it Pay? Native Men, Turks, and Other Migrants in Germany

This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial endeavors of immigrants and natives in Germany. We pay closer attention to Turks, since they are the largest immigrant group with a strong entrepreneurial tradition, and the self-employed Turks in Germany represent about 70% of all Turkish entrepreneurs in the European Union. We identify the characteristics of the self-employed individuals and understand their underlying drive into self-employment. At the same time we investigate how immigrant entrepreneurs fare in the labor market compared to natives. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel 2000 release we find that the probability of self-employment increases significantly with age for all groups albeit at a decreasing rate. Among immigrants, Turks are twice as likely to choose self-employment as any other immigrant group. The age-earnings profiles of self-employed German and immigrant men are concave and surprisingly similarly shaped. While for self-employed German men hours of work and Treiman prestige scale scores increase their earnings, for self-employed immigrant men it is the longevity of the business that makes a difference. Everything else equal, the earnings of self-employed Turks are no different than the earnings of the self-employed Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, ex-Yugoslavs, Polish or other East Europeans, including those immigrants who have become German citizens.

Economic Integration and the Tourism Industry of North Cyprus

As a result of non-recognition, economic embargoes and political isolation, hopes for a federal solution have diminished and the economic integration of North Cyprus with Turkey is now on the agenda. In the study discussed in this paper, academics and top managers in the private and public sectors were interviewed to ascertain their expectations concerning the possible impacts on the tourism industry of North Cyprus of such economic integration. The consensus was that economic integration would improve marketing and promotion, transportation, and investments in the tourism industry. However, the success of the industry depends heavily on increasing the competitiveness of the North Cyprus tourism product in terms of price, quality and marketing, and on the successful establishment of joint ventures with Turkish entrepreneurs.

The Challenge of New Markets–Some Experiences of British, Canadian and Turkish Entrepreneurs in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

ABSTRACT Since 1989 the former communist economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) have opened their markets to providers of foreign goods and services. This article, using a critical situation approach, investigates the experiences of nine British, Canadian and Turkish SMEs exporting to CEE and the FSU. A typology of push, pull and inhibitor factors for SMEs is developed. The effects of geographical proximity and types of external support vary between the countries but the main determinants of export decisions are identified as the push factor of entrepreneurial management and the pull factor of awareness of market opportunities. It is argued that these key factors can overcome the effects of inhibiting factors like limited resources and fears over payment, when entering unfamiliar markets.

Regionalism and globalization in the context of Euro‐Mediterranean agreements

Regionalism can be used as a stepping stone towards more global or multilateral relations. The world has changed and it would seem that globalization is the new reality. The great expansion of foreign direct investment is an indispensable agent for globalization. The EU, NAFTA, ASEAN and many other associations try to create environments in which globalization becomes possible. The base from which to operate has to be well integrated but the problem is that there are mechanisms in regionalism that work in both directions, closing it up like a fortress or opening it to globalization. Turkey has been linked to the EU since 1963. After a difficult start in 1980, it launched a major process of liberalization and changed its economy to one of export orientation. But Turkish entrepreneurs were expecting more from the customs union with the EU (agreed in 1995): after an initial period of positive growth the situation has since stabilized.

Turkish clothing in Amsterdam: The rise and fall of a perfectly competitive labour market

While the Dutch textile industry declined rapidly, Turkish entrepreneurs created a growing industry for fashion goods with highly flexible demand in an informal sector that was initially tolerated by the authorities and attracted many undocumented immigrants. It led to the unusual spectacle of a labour market visibly in perfect competition; predictions of that model are clearly supported. Crackdown of the authorities led to the demise of the sector: production, capital, and labour all proved internationally mobile.

Anatolian Tigers: Are They for Real?

What is the export-oriented manufacturing potential of provinces that have historically claimed a minuscule share of Turkey's industrial output? The answer is relevant to the ongoing re-evaluation of the country's growth strategy. On one side are the optimists who see the spatial expansion of the industrial base as evidence of Turkish entrepreneurs' ability to respond to new opportunities in an increasingly globalized market. On the other are the pessimists who read the same evidence as proof that Turkey's place in the global division of labor is as shaky as ever because it rests on low productivity-low wage labor.