Clustering effect on competetive advantage in SMEs: Does it really give an advantage?

Taşseven, Özlem (Dogus Author) -- Confeence full title: Sixth International Conference on Business, Management and Economics 07-09 October 2010, Çeşme, İzmir, Turkey.According to Michael Porıer's Diamond Mode, a business cluster is defined as geographic concentratian of inter-connected companies and institutions working in a common industry. In addition. clusters encompass an array of collaborating and competing services and providers that create a specialized infrastructure. which supports the cluster's industry. The economic cluster model. represents a synergy, a dynamic relationship and a network between not only the companies that comprise a cluster but also the successful partnering of the stakeholders. Today in all over the World. successful clusters have established a greater competitive advantage and wealth creation for their regions when compared to companies not in a duster. Given this success more policy makers and regions are considering fostering cluster development as building blocks of regional economies. Research is planned and performed for understanding the clustering in SMEs Industrial Estate in Istanbul if it gives a competitive advantage to the Cluster members or not. lt is performed to determine and satisfy the lack of knowledge about the smail and medium enterprises' issues, technologic systems. production quality standards. capacity usage ratios, interactions with other firms, habits of following the technologic improvements and clustering effects on the members

CFSs in turkish construction projects

Taşseven, Özlem (Dogus Author) -- Conference full title: Sixth International Conference on Business, Management and Economics, 07-09 October 2010, Çeşme, İzmir, TurkeyIn this study, we have investigated the Critical Success Factors (CFSs) of the Turkish construction sector. The Turkish construction sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Turkish economy and it deserves a special attention to understand what determines success in this area. CFSs are few key factors that ensure the success in an organization. To determine these factors we have inverviewed 102 executives in the Turkish construction sector. The results are anlayzed with the help of statistical tools, such as Chi_Square tests. The analysis of the data indicates that demographic variables associated with a project leader (such as age, and the years of education and the degree in engineering) are some of the important factors in this area

Nanostructural Evolution and Self Healing Mechanism of Micellar Hydrogels

Understanding the nanoscale structure and dynamics of supramolecular hydrogels is essential for exploiting their self healing mechanisms. We describe here nanostructural evolution and self healing mechanism of hydrogels formed from in situ generated hydrophobically modified hydrophilic polymers and wormlike sodium dodecyl sulfate SDS micelles. We observe a conformational transition in wormlike SDS micelles upon addition of hydrophobic as well as hydrophilic monomers. Several hundred nanometer long SDS micelles completely disappear after the monomer addition, in favor of spherical micelles with a radius of 2.4 nm. After conversion of the monomers to hydrophobically modified polymer chains via micellar copolymerization, the spherical shape of the micelles remains intact but the radius increases to 2.8 nm. The interconnected spherical mixed micelles consisting of SDS and hydrophobic blocks of the polymer self assemble to form a layered hydrogel structure. Self healing response of the damaged hydrogel samples begins by reshaping the injured area into circular holes and ends by complete healing due to the intra and interlayer mobility of the mixed micelles, respectively

An overview of biodiversity and conservation status of steppes of the Anatolian Biogeographical Region

The Anatolian Biogeographical Region is unique in the Palearctic realm, with high plant and butterfly species richness and populations of globally threatened birds, mammals and herptiles (amphibians and reptiles). It is a place of diverse land-use practices, dating back to the earliest farming practices in the world. Among 10,930 species of vascular plants, birds, butterflies, mammals and herptiles distributed in Turkey, we identified 1130 living predominantly in steppic environments and being classified either as threatened, near-threatened or data deficient at the national level, if not globally. A total of 28 effective protected areas were present in the region, covering 1.5 % of the 391,597 km(2) land area. Only 16.2 % of the threatened and near-threatened species (n = 809) were distributed within the protected area network, ranging from 94.1 % for birds to as low as 12.9 % for vascular plants. The total area of steppe and steppe forest vegetation has been reduced by at least 44 % of its former extent due to diverse habitat destructive activities. The most significant threats arise from unsustainable agricultural activities including overgrazing, conversion to croplands and afforestation. To maintain steppe diversity, we propose a "to-do list", including mainstreaming biodiversity, effective implementation of Turkey's Rangeland Act, conducting effective environmental impact assessments, establishing an effective site network for steppe biodiversity conservation and filling gaps in scientific knowledge