A decision support methodology to enhance the competitiveness of the Turkish automotive industry

This is the post-print (final draft post-refereeing) version of the article. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Three levels of competitiveness affect the success of business enterprises in a globally competitive environment: the competitiveness of the company, the competitiveness of the industry in which the company operates and the competitiveness of the country where the business is located. This study analyses the competitiveness of the automotive industry in association with the national competitiveness perspective using a methodology based on Bayesian Causal Networks. First, we structure the competitiveness problem of the automotive industry through a synthesis of expert knowledge in the light of the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness indicators. Second, we model the relationships among the variables identified in the problem structuring stage and analyse these relationships using a Bayesian Causal Network. Third, we develop policy suggestions under various scenarios to enhance the national competitive advantages of the automotive industry. We present an analysis of the Turkish automotive industry as a case study. It is possible to generalise the policy suggestions developed for the case of Turkish automotive industry to the automotive industries in other developing countries where country and industry competitiveness levels are similar to those of Turkey

International competitiveness power and human development of countries

Human development should be the ultimate objective of human activity and its aim should be healthier, longer, and fuller lives. It is expected that if the competitiveness of a country is suitably managed, human welfare will be enhanced as a consequence. The research described here seeks to explore the relationship between the competitiveness of a country and its use for human development. For this purpose, 45 countries were evaluated using data envelopment analysis, where the global competitiveness indicators are taken as input variables and the human development index indicators as output variables. A detailed analysis is also conducted for the emerging economies

Fire station location selection for İstanbul

Makale Endüstri Mühendisliği dergisinin "YA/EM 2009 özel sayısı"nda yayımlanmıştır.Özellikle acil hizmetler veren polis, hastane, itfaiye gibi kurumlar için yer seçimi büyük önem taşımaktadır. Uygun bir yer seçimi gerçekleştirilmediği takdirde bunun sonuçları insan hayatını tehlikeye atabilir niteliktedir. İstanbul gibi büyük metropollerde, artan nüfus ve trafik yoğunluğunun yanı sıra bir de metropolün deprem kuşağında olması durumunda, itfaiye araçlarının olay yerine en hızlı şekilde ulaşması hayati önem taşımakta; bu da itfaiye istasyonu yerinin etkin seçimine kritik bir rol yüklemektedir. Bu çalışma; İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi tarafından kararlaştırıldığı gibi, itfaiye teşkilatının her bölgeye en çok beş dakikada erişebilmesi ve kapsama alanının %100 olması hedeflenerek yeni kurulacak olan itfaiye istasyonlarının küme kapsama modeli yardımıyla konumlandırılmasını içermektedir. Bu amaçla bir tamsayı programlama modeli kurulmuş, coğrafi bilgi sistemlerinden elde edilen verilerle model çözülmüş, seçilen yerler için itfaiye kurulması durumunda yangın hizmet düzeyinin değişimi incelenmiştir.For emergency services such as ambulance systems and fire departments, location selection plays a critical role due to the direct impact of these services on human lives. Timeliness plays a primary role in location selection decision of fire stations for large metropolitan cities such as Istanbul with increasing population with a high level of congestion coupled with an imminent earthquake risk. This study is based on a set-covering model for locating new fire stations, which target to serve each area at most in five minutes and improve their coverage area to 100% for Istanbul Municipality Fire Department. Accordingly, a set-covering model is built and solved using the data retrieved from geographical information systems. Finally the change in service level with proposed fire station locations is investigated and further suggestions are provided

Analyzing competitiveness of automotive industry through cumulative belief degrees

Ülengin, Füsun (Dogus Author) -- Önsel, Şule (Dogus Author) -- Kabak, Özgür (Dogus Author) -- Conference full title: 10th International Fuzzy Logic and Intelligent Technologies inNuclear Science Conference, FLINS 2012; Istanbul; Turkey; 26 August 2012 through 29 August 2012This study aims to analyze the automotive industry from competitiveness perspective using a novel cumulative belief degrees (CBD) approach. For this purpose, a mathematical model based on CBD is proposed to quantify the relations among the variables in a system. This model is used to analyze the Turkish Automotive Industry through scenario analysis.SEDEFED (Federation of Industrial Associations), REF (TÜSİAD Sabanci University Competitiveness Forum), and OSD (Automotive Manufacturers Association

Are road transportation investments in line with demand projections? A gravity-based analysis for Turkey

This is the post-print version of the article which has been published and is available at the link below.In this research, an integrated gravity-based model was built, and a scenario analysis was conducted to project the demand levels for routes related to the highway projects suggested in TINA-Turkey. The gravity-based model was used to perform a disaggregated analysis to estimate the demand levels that will occur on the routes which are planned to be improved in specific regions of Turkey from now until 2020. During the scenario development phase for these gravity-based models, the growth rate of Turkey's GDP, as estimated by the World Bank from now until 2017, was used as the baseline scenario. Besides, it is assumed that the gross value added (GVA) of the origin and destination regions of the selected routes will show a pattern similar to GDP growth rates. Based on the estimated GDP values, and the projected GVA growth rates, the demand for each selected route was projected and found that the demand level for some of these road projects is expected to be very low, and hence additional measures would be needed to make these investments worthwhile

A decision support system to evaluate the competitiveness of nations

The measurement of competitiveness and strategy development is an important issue for policy makers. The aim of this paper is to explore methodological transparency as a viable solution to problems created by existing aggregated indices as well as to conduct a detailed analysis on the ongoing performance of nations’ competitiveness. For this purpose, a methodology composed of three steps is used. To start, a combined clustering analysis methodology is used to assign countries to appropriate clusters. In current methods, country clustering is generally based on GDP. However, we suggest that GDP alone is insufficient to define the stage of competitiveness a country belongs. In the proposed methodology, 135 criteria are used for a proper classification of the countries. Relationships between the criteria and classification of the countries are determined using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). ANN provides an objective method for determining the attribute/criteria weights, which are, for the most part, subjectively specified in existing methods. Finally, in the third step, the countries of interest are ranked based on weights generated in the previous step. Beyond the ranking of countries, the proposed methodology can also be used to identify those attributes that a given country should focus on in order to improve its position relative to other countries, i.e., to transition from its current cluster to the next higher one. As a final analysis, the dynamic change of the rank of the countries over years has also been investigated

Logistics service providers in Turkey: a panel data analysis

The companies competing in today's business environment are forced to re-engineer their supply chain management in order to meet the increasing needs of the customers. Today’s trend for industrial firms is to have a variable cost system by receiving logistics services through outsourcing and focusing on core competencies. This study aims to analyze the logistics service providers sector in Turkey comprehensively and to reveal the sector profile clearly by comparing the data collected in year 2001 and 2007. For this purpose, initially, an empirical research study was carried out to assess the profile of companies operating as logistics service providers and the logistics services already being purchased by real sector and the nature of sector-specific services. The companies to participate in the research were selected so as to form a homogeneous distribution with respect to their turnover, number of employees and geographical locations, therefore aiming to achieve a complete portrait of the Turkish Logistics Providers Sector as a result of the research. The field study involves face-to-face interviews with 71 companies for the year 2001, and 101 companies for the year 2007. The results indicate that although the number of 3rd party logistics providers (3PLs) increase in total, when the number of different sectors they are providing services is analyzed, it is found that especially for the top served sectors, the number of logistics service providers is significantly decreased. This can be interpreted as the 3PL companies are focusing on a limited number of different sectors to provide services.Doğuş Üniversitesi; TÜBİTA

Optimizing fire station locations for the Istanbul metropolitan municipality

Copyright @ 2013 INFORMSThe Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) seeks to determine locations for additional fire stations to build in Istanbul; its objective is to make residences and historic sites reachable by emergency vehicles within five minutes of a fire station’s receipt of a service request. In this paper, we discuss our development of a mathematical model to aid IMM in determining these locations by using data retrieved from its fire incident records. We use a geographic information system to implement the model on Istanbul’s road network, and solve two location models—set-covering and maximal-covering—as what-if scenarios. We discuss 10 scenarios, including the situation that existed when we initiated the project and the scenario that IMM implemented. The scenario implemented increases the city’s fire station coverage from 58.6 percent to 85.9 percent, based on a five-minute response time, with an implementation plan that spans three years

A new perspective on the competitiveness of nations

The capability of firms to survive and to have a competitive advantage in global markets depends on, amongst other things, the efficiency of public institutions, the excellence of educational, health and communications infrastructures, as well as on the political and economic stability of their home country. The measurement of competitiveness and strategy development is thus an important issue for policy-makers. Despite many attempts to provide objectivity in the development of measures of national competitiveness, there are inherently subjective judgments that involve, for example, how data sets are aggregated and importance weights are applied. Generally, either equal weighting is assumed in calculating a final index, or subjective weights are specified. The same problem also occurs in the subjective assignment of countries to different clusters. Developed as such, the value of these type indices may be questioned by users. The aim of this paper is to explore methodological transparency as a viable solution to problems created by existing aggregated indices. For this purpose, a methodology composed of three steps is proposed. To start, a hierarchical clustering analysis is used to assign countries to appropriate clusters. In current methods, country clustering is generally based on GDP. However, we suggest that GDP alone is insufficient for purposes of country clustering. In the proposed methodology, 178 criteria are used for this purpose. Next, relationships between the criteria and classification of the countries are determined using artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANN provides an objective method for determining the attribute/criteria weights, which are, for the most part, subjectively specified in existing methods. Finally, in our third step, the countries of interest are ranked based on weights generated in the previous step. Beyond the ranking of countries, the proposed methodology can also be used to identify those attributes that a given country should focus on in order to improve its position relative to other countries, i.e., to transition from its current cluster to the next higher one

CT-guided transthoracic biopsy: histopathologic results and complication rates

PURPOSEWe aimed to investigate the effectiveness and complications of transthoracic CT-guided biopsy techniques.METHODSA total of 94 CT-guided percutaneous transthoracic biopsy procedures performed in 85 patients were retrospectively evaluated. Core biopsy technique was used in 87 procedures and transthoracic fine-needle aspiration biopsy was used in seven procedures.RESULTSDiagnostic results were achieved in 79 of 94 biopsy procedures. Pathology results were malignant in 54 patients, suspicious for malignancy in three patients, benign in five patients, and benign nonspecific in 17 patients. Specific diagnoses were obtained in 59 patients (62.8%) using core biopsy, but no specific diagnosis could be reached with transthoracic fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Complications included pneumothorax in 27 patients (28.7%) and parenchymal hemorrhage during and after the procedure in eight patients (8.5%). CONCLUSIONSCT-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy is a highly accurate procedure for histopathological diagnosis of thoracic masses. In addition, percutaneous transthoracic biopsy has an acceptably low complication rate and it reduces the need for more invasive surgical procedures