Publication: Competitive marketing strategies in Turkish tea industry
Abstract
Çay yirminci yüzyılda sudan sonra en çok tüketilen tabii bir içecek olarak, başta üretici ve tüketici ülkelerin önde gelenlerinden Türkiye'de olmak üzere, üretildiği ve tüketildiği ülkeler pazarlarında önemli bir ürün haline gelmiştir. Ülke çay endüstrisinin Türkiye GSMH' na yıllık katkısı 350-400 milyon ABD Doları mertebesinde oluşurken, çay üretiminin istihdama olan doğrudan katkısı 203 000 kişiye erişmektedir. Bu tezin amacı arzdaki fazlalık ve satışlardaki zorluklar olarak tezahür eden problemlerin teşhisi amacı ile Türk Çay Sanayindeki rekabetçi pazarlama stratejilerini incelemek ve Şirketler perspektifinden çözümler önermektir. Bu temel amaç altında sanayide var olan şirketlerin pazarlama orientasyon seviyeleri, çağdaş rekabet konseptleri ile rekabetçi stratejilerdeki bilinçlenme seviyeleri ve varsa bunların pazarlama problemleri üzerindeki etkileri de ilaveten araştırılmaktadır. Konu ürün 'çay' ve onun endüstrisinin esasları, pazarlama stratejilerindeki teori özellikle Türk çayına atıfla ele alınmaktadır. Rekabet ve rekabetçi pazarlama stratejileri ile ilgili çalışmalar hem bu konudaki bilimsel yaklaşımların öne çıkarılması hem de bu endüstrinin rekabetçi perspektifle inceleneceği modeli tanımlamak amacı ile ele alınmaktadır. Konu üzerine evvelce araştırma yapılmamış olması araştırmacıyı problemlerin teşhisine yönelik bir çalışma yapmaya yönlendirmiştir. Endüstri ortamında derinlemesine mülakat tekniği ile kalitatif bir araştırma yapılmıştır.Bu çalışmada temin edilen bulgular Türk çay sanayindeki problemlerin pazarlama orientasyonu ve stratejik pazarlama anlayışının yokluğu ile rekabetçi güçlerin dikkate alınmaması üzerine daha da kritikleşen endüstri ortamının olgunlaşma aşamasında bulunmasından kaynaklandığını ortaya çıkartmıştır.
Tea as a natural beverage only second to water in consumption in twentieth century evolved to become an important commodity in markets of producing and consuming countries especially in Turkey, which is a leading country both in production and consumption. Annual contribution of tea industry to Turkey's GNP is about 350-400 million US Dollars while there are estimated 203 000 people being directly employed in its production. The objective of this thesis is to examine competitive marketing strategies prevailing in Turkish tea industry to diagnose the problems that are demonstrated in excess in supply and in difficulties in sales and recommend solutions from a corporate perspective. Marketing orientation, awareness of the modern competition concepts, competitive strategies among the industry competitors, and if they have any role on the problems are also explored. The product involved 'tea' and its industry specifics and theory in marketing strategies with particular reference to Turkish tea industry are studied. The coverage on state of the art on competition and competitive marketing strategies serves dual purposes of informing on state of the art on competition and on modeling how the industry is being analyzed from a competitive perspective. The lack of prior research has led the researcher to conduct an exploratory research in an attempt to diagnose the problems. A qualitative study is undertaken in the industry via in-depth interviews. The findings of this study reveal that environment of transition to industry maturity aggravated by lack of marketing orientation and strategic marketing awareness, and disregard to competitive forces is the major source of problems in the Turkish Tea Industry.
Tea as a natural beverage only second to water in consumption in twentieth century evolved to become an important commodity in markets of producing and consuming countries especially in Turkey, which is a leading country both in production and consumption. Annual contribution of tea industry to Turkey's GNP is about 350-400 million US Dollars while there are estimated 203 000 people being directly employed in its production. The objective of this thesis is to examine competitive marketing strategies prevailing in Turkish tea industry to diagnose the problems that are demonstrated in excess in supply and in difficulties in sales and recommend solutions from a corporate perspective. Marketing orientation, awareness of the modern competition concepts, competitive strategies among the industry competitors, and if they have any role on the problems are also explored. The product involved 'tea' and its industry specifics and theory in marketing strategies with particular reference to Turkish tea industry are studied. The coverage on state of the art on competition and competitive marketing strategies serves dual purposes of informing on state of the art on competition and on modeling how the industry is being analyzed from a competitive perspective. The lack of prior research has led the researcher to conduct an exploratory research in an attempt to diagnose the problems. A qualitative study is undertaken in the industry via in-depth interviews. The findings of this study reveal that environment of transition to industry maturity aggravated by lack of marketing orientation and strategic marketing awareness, and disregard to competitive forces is the major source of problems in the Turkish Tea Industry.