Anatolian Tigers and the Emergence of the Devout Bourgeoisie in the Turkish Manufacturing Industry

It has widely been asserted that an important dimension of social dynamics that eventually carried the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) to political power is the emergence of a “devout bourgeoisie” especially in the new growth centers of Anatolia. This chapter uses firm-level data since the 1980s to trace the economic and especially productivity dynamics in the manufacturing industries of new growth centers in Anatolia (“Anatolian Tigers”) in comparison to traditional growth centers (the “West”). It observes that what happened in the 1990s in the Tigers was a significant change in the size distribution of employment with the emergence of a significant number of medium-sized enterprises. In the late 2000s, there was a more visible convergence between labor productivity in the Tigers and the West and this convergence was more visible among large firms. The chapter examines the evolution of members of religious business associations among the largest 1000 manufacturing firms in Turkey, observing that the number of such firms increased substantially especially after the mid-1990s. These firms are export oriented, on average smaller than firms associated with business associations that represent the traditional industrial elite, and more concentrated in relatively labor-intensive industries that display lower productivity. The chapter argues that the evidence is broadly consistent with a story of increased inclusion and competition in manufacturing. It discusses the role of political connections and concludes that they possibly had a more diminished role in the emergence of devout businesses in manufacturing compared to rent-thick activities such as public procurement, construction, or regulated industries.

10 KAPLAN GÜCÜNDE KOBİLER Mİ? SOYU TEHLİKEDE İŞLETMELER Mİ?: ANADOLU KAPLANLARIN DÜNÜ, BUGÜNÜ

Recently, new industry focuses, improvement of small and big organizations and economical development in cities in which those organizations are located have become significantly important. Anotolian Tigers has been in literature since 1980s till today, as a group of cities portions of which are conspicuously developing and growing in terms of Turkey economy and industry productions, and as a term that is used for SMEs that trigger them. Within this framework, factors that are very important in the development of Anatolian Tigers and general characteristics of them within our country have been interpreted. In the last chapter, The largest 50 companies properties in the list of the Anatolian Tigers were investigated in years; 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Anatolian Tigers: Are They for Real?

What is the export-oriented manufacturing potential of provinces that have historically claimed a minuscule share of Turkey's industrial output? The answer is relevant to the ongoing re-evaluation of the country's growth strategy. On one side are the optimists who see the spatial expansion of the industrial base as evidence of Turkish entrepreneurs' ability to respond to new opportunities in an increasingly globalized market. On the other are the pessimists who read the same evidence as proof that Turkey's place in the global division of labor is as shaky as ever because it rests on low productivity-low wage labor.