Turkish Trailblazer: Boosting Rural Areas through Business Investment

B065_heytextil
Authors Murat Cokgezen
Lead Organization Hey Textile
Type of Organization Large Domestic Company
Country Turkey (Eastern Europe and the CIS)
Business Sector Consumer Products
Role of the Poor Employee
Theme Public-Private Partnerships Women's Empowerment
MDG 1: End Poverty and Hunger 3: Gender Equality
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Abstract This is a study about a female entrepreneur in Turkey who achieved business success by breaking from the conventional practices preferred by others in her industry and investing in poorer parts of Turkey. Clothing, the industry in which the entrepreneur is operating, is one of the Turkish economy’s locomotive sectors in terms of industrial production, employment and export earnings. Increasing competition, along with the elimination of trade barriers around the world, forced her to look for opportunities to reduce her business's costs in order to survive. Her solution was shifting her production units to Turkey's poorer regions where labor costs are lower and the government provides incentives. As a result, she opened four new production units around the country in six years. These investments and jobs created in Turkey's poorer districts have changed economic and social life there for the better, especially for women. All of the entrepreneur's investments have become successful business entities. The cost of production, especially for certain products, has been reduced drastically, which has helped the company respond quickly to the recent global economic turmoil.
Citation Cokgezen, Murat. "Turkish Trailblazer: Boosting Rural Areas through Business Investment." GIM Case Study No. B065. New York: United Nations Development Programme, 2010
Reference B065
Source GIM 2010
Type Case Study
Language English