First published in 1999, this volume applies Professor Michael Porter’s diamond framework (1990) to the Turkish glass, construction, leather clothes, automobile and flat steel industries. Özlam Öz aims primarily to contribute towards an improvement of this framework, and thus towards a better understanding of the sources of competitive advantage. Her research presents a new approach to evaluate the competitiveness of the Turkish economy, given that alternative studies usually focus on factors like exchange rates and the cost of labour and raw materials as the determinants of competitive advantage. The author begins her book by providing an evaluation of the diamond framework linked to the debate created by the publication of The Competitive Advantage of Nations. She then identifies the pattern of advantage in Turkey by specifying the internationally competitive industries and clusters. This is followed by a detailed examination of the five Turkish industry case studies - glass, construction, leather clothes, automobile and flat steel industries. The findings are generally supportive of Porter. The results suggest, however, several major areas in the framework - especially domestic rivalry and the role of government - where one or more of the Turkish cases question Porter's hypothesises. The book ends with the implications of the study for the sources of competitive advantage in general and for the Turkish economy in particular. Porter and his diamond framework are both unquestionably influential. Improvements upon it forwarded in this book will be of use to academic readers as well as strategic planners and policy makers.

This title was first published in 2002: This compelling text is the first major application of Michael Porter's diamond framework to identify the sources of national competitive advantage in the case of Greece. Offering a useful evaluation of Porter's theory through an extensive literature review, the book also draws on empirical evidence from five selected Greek industries. It also provides information and commentary on many aspects of the Greek economy, its historical evolution and its current trends. International and Greek investors, international organizations, business consultants and financial institutions will certainly benefit from this analysis of the Greek economic environment. Moreover, universities and researchers will be interested in the evidence supporting or refuting parts of the widely used and cited "diamond" framework.

Examines the development and role of small business clusters from a variety of disciplines - economics, marketing, management, and information systems. This book aims to prove that there is an approach suggesting that cluster analysis is truly interdisciplinary. It gives case studies illustrating the variety of clusters throughout the world.

This book develops foresight techniques to turn future societal challenges into opportunities. The authors present foresight approaches for innovation policy and management. Future developments in fields such as education, energy, new materials, nanotechnologies are highlighted for different countries. Readers will discover tools and instruments to capture the potentials of the grand societal challenges as defined by the United Nations. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and scholars with an interest in foresight methods and gives practical hints for policy makers and managers to take account of the grand opportunities in their business and policy strategies.

There is a growing realization that business development is the most effective weapon in fighting world poverty. How the for-profit model can be harnessed to provide the poor with a share in the world's prosperity is discussed through actual cases, and nested in innovative theories of business, social sciences, and philosophy.

This book addresses the roles played by food co-operatives in the attempt to build alternative food networks, drawing on an in-depth analysis of case studies in Turkey. While many existing studies focus on food co-operatives and alternative food networks in the Global North, this book provides an important insight into a country from the Global South and, in doing so, not only provides a novel perspective but also challenges the rigid North–South categorization. The book provides a rounded view by examining both a producer and a consumer co-operative: BÜKOOP is a university-based consumer food co-operative, and the Vakıflı co-operative is a food-producing co-operative located in the Hatay province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. These two co-operatives, which have been working together for more than ten years, share the dream of establishing a network of co-operatives, in which producers exist in solidarity with consumers, blurring the dichotomy of producer versus consumer as well as rural versus urban. In addition to contributing towards a better understanding of the urban–rural divide, within the framework of alternative food networks, the in-depth analysis of these two cases enables us to explore how food co-operatives develop and how they keep their commitment to their original goals and ideals so as to help build an alternative food system. The lessons we learn from these two working case examples highlight the successes and areas of improvement for food co-operatives. They also provide evidence against the pessimism about alternative food networks by demonstrating that co-operatives can democratize both production and consumption. This book will be of interest to students and scholars studying alternative food networks, food justice, food sovereignty, transformation towards sustainable food systems, social movements, and the urban–rural divide.