Turkish Towel's Place in the Global Market

Abstract:

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to review the competitive advantage of Turkey in the global towel market by using Porter's Theory of Competitive Advantage of Nations (J 990) as a conceptual framework

Methodology: A comprehensive review of secondary data sources, both research and trade are reviewed.

Keywords: towel, marketing, Turkey, global competitiveness, nation's competitive advantage, Porter's Diamond

Introduction

The trade in textiles and apparel has become more and more liberalized over the years. This trade liberalization has yielded a globalization effect on the global textile and apparel market. There has been significant research in the factors influencing trade liberalization or in understanding or analyzing the bases for globalization of trade. The theories related to international trade include Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage as Classical Trade Theory (Ricardo, 1817), Heckscher-Ohlin Trade Theory of Factor Proportions as NeoClassical Trade Theory (Heckscher & Ohlin, 1991), Posner's Technology Trade Gap Theory (Posner,1961) and Vernon's Product Life Cycle Theory (Vernon,1966) as Post-Neo Classical Trade Theory, and Porter's Competitive Advantage of Nations Model as Modem Trade Theory (Porter,1990).

David Ricardo developed the Classical Trade Theory in the early 19th century that describes trade patterns between countries that should be based not on absolute efficiency but on relative efficiency. Ricardo believed that a country only has to have a relative advantage which is determined by the relative productivity of labor to benefit from trade (Ricardo, 1817). Even though Ricardo's theory has important fallacies, it is considered to be the basis of international trade thought, and comparative advantage is generally accepted as a valid viewpoint by economists (Coleman, 1986).

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