Would not it be nice?

In our previous article, we made a broad assessment on the trade situation of the textile and mattress sector, the importance and future of marketing. If we briefly recall this evaluation, we mentioned that there has been a significant increase in the commercial demands of other producing countries to Turkey as the production giant China abandoned the textile sector. In this context, when we follow the political and economic balances in the world, it seems certain that our country will be one of the new production centers for the Western market in the next five to ten years. Moreover, if we itemize the main headings that determine this:

1. West attempts to control the pressure done by China that has grown with the power of trade as it shifts the potential trade to other countries.

2. That the freight is reached Western routes faster and at affordable costs due to Turkey’s geopolitical position.

3. That the workforce in our country is cheaper and of higher quality than other competing countries.

Of course, many other reasons can be added, but these three reasons are the most determining factors that our country, especially the textile industry, will create a rapidly rising trend in the coming period. As can be understood from the summary we mentioned above, it is obvious that textile and many other sectors in our country will be subject to very serious investments in the near future and our country will turn into a large production base.

When we look at the industrial zones and free zones in Turkey, it is possible to see that foreign investors have started with various partnership methods or direct investment processes. We see that especially European and American bed and furniture manufacturers have started to establish factories not only in port cities such as Istanbul and Izmir, but also in Anatolian provinces such as Kayseri and Konya. In addition, we witness that Chinese companies buy some furniture and textile companies in our country or try to export the goods they bought from our country directly to western markets, in order not to lose their customer portfolio. We are witnessing that IKEA, one of the biggest retail chain companies in Europe, has started field studies with the big mattress and furniture manufacturers of our country to determine quality standards in order to transfer their production in China to Turkey.

In addition to these field movements, that the world’s largest bank, the State Bank of China, ICBC Bank, while dealing with scaled investments such as bridges and dams in Turkey, is now dealing with medium-sized manufacturers over SMEs, issuing limits and entering the Turkish market financially with credit opportunities is the most obvious indicator of the investment and trade tendency towards our country. The events we mentioned here and the examples we gave are indications that the trade opportunities coming to our country may be medium-term. That the political authority, recognizing these dynamics, constantly tries to offer low-cost investment and working capital opportunities to exports and exporters, that they abolish the tax almost in export-oriented businesses with various tax concessions, and that they give many supports with practices that increase employment stand before us as the aspects that express the development of the event from another perspective.

Here is the critical question at this stage:

In this process, will we be the owner of new businesses to be established in our country, or will we be employees?

Of course we should own it. But the main issue to consider here if it is enough to buy the best machines, build the biggest factory buildings, and produce the most goods to own it? Or should we add the concepts of R&D, design and quality to these processes and establish the world brands whose registration belongs to us? Of course, we should take out our own brands and express ourselves in the world. Otherwise, it may not be possible to evaluate the commercial opportunities brought to our country by the changes in the world. It is very sad to witness that they come from the other side of the world and exploit our country’s resources, even by appointing us as employees and workers within their own companies.

Well, let’s imagine what we should do about R&D, which is the first of the concepts, to get rid of this spiral. If all of our companies had R&D centers, we would work with good academics from the relevant departments of our universities in these centers. If high-tech products were included in our structure then we would sell our own brands to the world with added value by obtaining their registrations. If company owners and senior executives spare time for commercial conversations about producing high-tech products with our universities and science centers, as well as the time they spend with banks for financing processes; if we make friends with scientists, professors, associate professors, listen to dozens of ideas or studies they have produced for us, and of course, we make the decisions as those who closely follow the market; however, if we give these valuable minds the opportunity to contribute to our country. If we make contracts with distinguished science centers in Turkey and the world’s leading science institutes, we can move our country one step further with studies that will add the latest technology to our own products.

If all these assumptions I mentioned come true, wouldn’t it be nice both for the qualified minds grew up in Turkey and for the future of the country?