Nostalgia does not bring prosperity
Güven Sak, PhD
12 February 2013
In 2013, what does a physicist do in Turkey, other than go abroad or tutor high school students studying for the university exam? Who deliberates on the future only can design its future. Those who waste their time on an obsession with the past eventually will realize that the ship has passed. I believe that Turkey’s main problem lately is that is it oriented toward the past rather than the future. A recent article in Nature journal has reignited the issue in my mind. According to the article, there are two types of countries: past-oriented and future-oriented. The study defines a future-orientation index. Turkey is still in the first group, which is yet another reason to be worried about the future. Anyway, the study, using the Google Trends dataset, defines two categories of countries an
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The dangers of praising
Fatih Özatay, PhD
09 February 2013
Industrial output growth was the lowest in the fourth quarter. Hence, GDP growth rate might be lower than expected. In December, industrial output shrank year-on-year by 3.8 percent. Just a month before, in November, industrial output grew by 11.3 percent, which was interpreted by many that “production having taken wings.” I am really astonished by some interesting comments on economic developments in Turkey. I am not talking about mistakes or something. Rather I am talking about odd comments. Maybe we can call this “praises” as in folk songs and literature.
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Terror financing bill not exactly in line with FATF recommendations
Güven Sak, PhD
09 February 2013
The Turkish Parliament has just passed a law for the prevention of terrorism financing. It is not exactly the law that the infamous Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has requested of Turkey. Not enough, why? There won’t be an automatic freeze in the Turkish case - as asked for by the U.S. and the FATF - as there is a cumbersome domestic decision-making process to freeze assets. Turkey wants to evaluate the FATF claims thoroughly, by scrutinizing the hard evidence. In other words, if an organization is claimed to have ties with terrorism, Turkey wants to see the hard evidence. Turks seem to be “cautious on harming civil liberties by extensive judiciary activism”! Good news? Yes, especially coming after the rather heavy handed treatment of the accused generals in the Ergenekon a
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‘Is there a place named Samsung?'
Güven Sak, PhD
08 February 2013
Why is Vestel not able to become like Samsung although Turkey smothers it companies with incentives? My nephew Sarp just turned 8 years old. He can read now and he likes reading everything he sees. The other day we were driving in Ankara, K on the Konya-Samsun road, when he asked me a question about the sign. In a confused tone, he asked “is there a place called Samsung?” Such is the world today. An eight year old child living in Turkey learns about Samsung before he learns about the Turkish province Samsun. Playing Sugar Rush on a Galaxy S3, children learn about Korea’s Samsung, but they do not know Turkey’s Samsun. Turkey’s electronics giant Vestel, for instance, does not have a prominent place in their lives, but Samsung’s products come into their lives before you know it. Product dive
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The current picture concerning the CB's targets
Fatih Özatay, PhD
07 February 2013
If the appreciation pressure becomes more prominent by the time of the next MPC meeting, the CB will start to respond more aggressively. Today I would like to address the recent developments concerning the three targets of the Central Bank (CB) and the possible responses to these developments. I would like to stress in advance that I am interested in what the CB “will do” rather than what it “should do.”
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Waiting for new waves of terror
Nihat Ali Özcan, PhD
07 February 2013
The suicide attack at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara put Turkey in the spotlight. The police quickly identified the perpetrator. It was immediately announced that the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) was responsible for the act of terrorism. Most Western analysts had a difficult time making sense of the DHKP/C. That the act was committed by a “Marxist” organization, not a jihadist one, was confusing.What made it difficult to understand the attack and explain the organization behind it was the classic Cold War classification of the “left-wing/right-wing terrorist organization.” This classification, based on Western perceptions and motivations, was not very useful in classifying the terrorist groups in Turkey. A focus on ideological labels leads to partial analyse
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Reducing the entire year to December
Fatih Özatay, PhD
05 February 2013
In the last months we were told that inflation decreased remarkably although nothing had changed in the course of inflation since 2009 The inflation figures for January were released: consumer price index was up beyond expectations, reaching 7.3 percent. Does this imply an upwards trend in inflation? No it does not.
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More LC Waikiki Stores
Güven Sak, PhD
05 February 2013
A country that has and maintains global brands is one that has global organizational skills If you don’t have organizational skills, you cannot create a brand. And without global organization skills, you cannot create a global demand. LC Waikiki, a Turkish brand on this course, has 370 stores in Turkey and 45 stores abroad. And when I say abroad, I don’t mean Northern Cyprus or something. The company opened its first store abroad in Romania. This was followed by Egypt, Albania, Iraq, Kazakhstan, and Poland. LC Waikiki has developed organizational skills. It has been taking firm steps to becoming the Zara or Mango of children’s wear. Does Turkey support the company in becoming a global brand? Not really. On the contrary, it directly sabotages the process of brandization. The latest example
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Foreign trade figures and growth
Fatih Özatay, PhD
02 February 2013
Recent developments did not alter the 4 percent growth forecast for 2013. Foreign trade figures for 2012 were released on Thursday. In line with the global circumstances, export growth weakened significantly overall in 2012. Non-gold exports increased only by 4.3 percent in 2012 against 17 percent average growth over the 2010-11 period.
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Doing business in Greece and Kurdistan
Güven Sak, PhD
02 February 2013
Turkey’s Doğuş Holding, a conglomerate active in several businesses including media and banking, has moved into the Greek maritime business. Its “D-Marine” group acquired a 50 percent stake in Flisvos Marina, one of the largest in Athens. The Hürriyet Daily News carried the news just at the end of last year. Early 2013 brought more investments by D-Marine in Greece. After investments in Turkey’s Aegean coast and on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, D-Marine has also become active on the other side of Greece as well. Having heard the good news, I decided to have a look at the figures. They appear rather good at first. The level of economic connectivity between Greece and Turkey is doubling. The trouble starts when you start making comparisons. Compare, for example, the rising connectivi
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