ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the studies of industry competitiveness, which include, or are particularly conducted about, Turkey. An examination of the broad characteristics of the business environment in Turkey reveals a domination by the small and medium enterprises, whereas big businesses are rather a recent phenomenon. A major line of thinking in the literature concerns the role of government and the effects of factors like exchange rates and subsidies on the competitive performance of Turkish industry. Studies linking the domestic demand conditions and international competitiveness are relatively rare for Turkey. Although Turkey is undoubtedly among the major exporters of unmanufactured tobacco, this only important item in the cluster can be considered as highly dependant on natural resources. Alternatives could be tourism or shipping; both are less interesting than the case of construction, since the major source of success is a relatively easily detectable factor advantage in both cases: Turkey’s favourable location.
