As is known skewness and outliers are frequently observed in return series, overlooking both concepts during the statistical analysis may cause misleading interpretations. In this paper similar movements of stock markets through the returns of developed and emerging stock markets are recognized and appealing portfolio diversification benefits are identified for investors of USA, UK and Turkey. Different from the previous studies, modified robust principal component analysis which considers skewness and outliers effects was used to investigate the best portfolio diversification. Sixteen stock markets are represented with five components according to findings obtained from analysis. Hence Egyptian, Hungarian, Polish, Thai and Indonesian stock markets provide appealing portfolio diversification opportunities for investors of Turkey. And for the investors of USA and UK, selected emerging markets except Mexican and Turkish offer good diversification benefit.

Keywords: Global portfolio diversification, Emerging markets, Outliers, Skewness, Robust principal component analysis.

As a result of the contributions to science and technology made by humankind, intellectual ability has given rise to knowledge economy that increases the importance of intellectual capital. The development of intellectual capital in corporate dimension provides a competitive advantage and increases the market value of the firms. This study aims to examine whether or not the intellectual capital calculated according to the intangible assets method is reflected in the values that investors accord to firms in the ISE (Istanbul Stock Exchange) banking sector. A new model is developed in this study in order to overcome the limitations of the existing model in the literature. The results suggest that the intellectual capital is highly positively correlated with the market values. The correlation is even stronger for the new model developed in this study. As the importance of the intellectual capital in banking sector is relatively higher than other sectors, firms should give importance to the management of intellectual capital which is not reflected by the traditional accounting method. The intellectual capital should be calculated and reported to the concerned parties.

Keywords: Intellectual capital, Intangible Assets Method, Market Value, Banks, ISE

This study aims to make out-of-sample forecasts of recessions using the data of Turkey between 1986-2010. Recession forecast is important for decision makers in every level since it increases efficiency of decision making. Forecasting method used in this study is Qual-VAR method which includes information obtained from qualitative and/or discrete variables into vector autoregressions (VAR). Qual-VAR method makes it possible to create dynamic forecasts of qualitative variable using standard VAR projections. The evaluation and interpretation of findings obtained with this method are very simple. The findings obtained indicate that a recession will not occur during next twentyfour months in Turkey. However, we can expect that the probability of a recession will be increasing after 2014.

Keywords: Recessions, forecasting, Gibbs sampling, state-space models, Qual VAR models

Recently, increase of the gold prices attracts interest again together with the affects of the latest financial crisis. Main objective of this study is to determine factors affecting the gold prices. The study includes montly data between June, 1992 and March, 2010. Oil prices, USA exchange rate, USA inflation rate, USA real interest rate data are included in the model as variables. According to emprical findings, highest correlation is found between gold prices and USA exchange rate negatively. Secondly, a positive correlation is found between gold prices and oil prices.

Keywords: Gold Prices, Dow Jones Index, Oil Prices, MGARCH Model, CCC Model

New product development is an important process for business’ sustainability. Making decisions that related to new product’s entering to marketing must depent on this product’s cost. Especially, at the design level new product’s standart cost is efficient for making decisions. Because of that cost determination an management activity is started from design level and continued through the product’s life cycle. Target costing is a cost management tool that is used at design level for cost determination and management. At this article, new product development process and at this process how to calculate costs in this process are examined.

Keywords: New Product Development Process, Target Costing

Because of the increasing importance of effective and productive management of public organizations, budgetary slack is started to be seen as an important problem for public organizations. In order to contribute the solution of this problem, the current study investigates the effects of budgetary control effectiveness, ethical work climate and managers’ procedural justice perception on propensity to create budgetary slack in pubic organizations. The data is obtained through questionnaire responded by 465 managers who work in different public organizations. The results of the analyses show that effectiveness of budgetary control, ethical work climate and procedural justice perception of managers have a statistically significant and negative impact on managers’ propensity to create budgetary slack in public organizations. Budgetary control and ethical work climate affect managers’ perception of procedural justice. In addition, it is inferred from the study that the perception of procedural justice has partial mediation effect between effectiveness of budgetary control, ethical work climate and propensity to create budgetary slack.

Keywords: Budgetary slack, Budgetary control, Procedural justice, Ethical work climate, Public organizations.

Article Information

Journal: Business and Economics Research Journal
Title of Article: Relative Poverty and Living Standards Perspective of Income, Housing, Health and Social Security in Turkey
Author(s): Kemal Aydin
Volume: 2
Number: 3
Year: 2011
Page: 189-206
ISSN: 1309-2448

Abstract

This study assesses the relative poverty and the quality of life in Turkey. The database used for the study is based on the raw data obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute Household Budget and Consumption Expenditure questionnaires between 2003 and 2006. In the article, those that are relatively poor according to the total annual income are illustrated in crosstabs in accordance with their socio-economic and demographic status, and then the ownership status of the houses of those in the relatively poor category is assessed, after combining the housing files with the socio-economic and demographic status, as well as other factors such as dwelling types, housing facilities, health insurance, and the social security institution they are connected to, which help to explain the relative poverty from different points of view. According to our calculations based on questionnaires completed by 51.423 households, the 14.5% that forms the lowest level of the income distribution throughout Turkey also falls within the relative poverty category. The average annual income for the 14.5% that falls under the relative poverty line during the same years is 1.828 TL. Out of the total 7.475 (14.5%) households that fall under the relative poverty throughout Turkey, 17% of the household heads live in rural areas, while 12.7% live in cities. The majority of those in the relative poverty category (40.7%) have an education level that is below primary school. The livelihood of those in the relative poverty category consists of mainly agriculture and husbandry and works not requiring qualifications. While the poverty rate for female household heads is 34.2%, this ratio is 12.4% for male household heads, and 21.5% for those over 60. Among the 15% that falls under the relatively poor category, 74% are homeowners, while 20% are tenants. In terms of the social security institutions, it is seen that 86% have no social security, while 39% have no health insurance. As opposed to unemployment, the nature of the jobs carried out stands out among the reasons behind poverty.

Keywords:Relative poverty and Turkey, Annual income, Housing utilities, Ownership of housing, Health insurance, Social security

JEL Classification:D30, D31

Article Information

Journal: Business and Economics Research Journal
Title of Article: An Investigation on Profiles of Private Employment Agencies in Turkey: What are their current characteristics?
Author(s): Emel Cetinkaya, Sumeyra Alpaslan Danisman
Volume: 2
Number: 3
Year: 2011
Page: 173-187
ISSN: 1309-2448

Abstract

This paper focuses on private employment agencies’ profiles in Turkey. These organizations were investigated in order to understand their role, functions and characteristics. The methodology of this study is based on qualitative research. After finding the number of private employment agencies, the sample group’s websites were investigated and the information about their features was analyzed by using a content analyzing method. The results have been categorized according to local or global status, services provided and differences in services provided. In this way, it is possible to give an overview of private employment agencies in Turkey. This paper provides a critical Turkish perspective on private employment agencies, and it also prepares a conceptual and empirical basis for private employment agencies’ literature.

Keywords:Employment Services, Services of Private Employment Agencies, Local and Global Private Employment Agencies, Turkey

JEL Classification:M12, M19

Article Information

Journal: Business and Economics Research Journal
Title of Article: Analysis of Trade and Employment in Manufacturing Industry Using Panel Data Method
Author(s): Ozgur Polat, Enes E. Uslu, Cahit Aydemir
Volume: 2
Number: 3
Year: 2011
Page: 161-171
ISSN: 1309-2448

Abstract

The increasing importance of unemployment in the world economies has led to investigation of impact of foreign trade on employment. In this respect there are several studies concerning employment impact of foreign trade. In this study, employment impact of foreign trade is estimated with panel data analysis using annual data of 22 manufacturing industries of Turkish economy according to two digit level of NACE Rev. 1.1 classification for the period of 2003-2008. Since the dataset has both cross-sectional and time series elements, fixed effects estimators and random effects estimators were used for the estimation of models. Results of this study show that while production has positive and wages have negative and significant impact on employment, foreign trade has no significant impact on employment for the period of analyzed. This implies that impact of wages and production on employment consistent with economic theory and the measures of foreign trade policies to improve employment are insufficient in the period of analyzed.

Keywords: Exports, Imports, Employment, Panel data analysis, manufacturing industry

JEL Classification: F16, C33

Article Information

Journal: Business and Economics Research Journal
Title of Article: Floating Exchange Rate Regime and Changing Dynamics of the Foreign Exchange Market in Turkey
Author(s): Senkan Aldemir
Volume: 2
Number: 3
Year: 2011
Page: 139-159
ISSN: 1309-2448

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the changes caused by the implementations of currency basket peg and floating exchange regime on domestic foreign exchange market dynamics through the estimation of weights for the reserve currencies in the currency basket. Elasticity coefficients of Turkish Lira against seven currencies were estimated for two sampling periods (1995:01-1999:07 and 2002:01-2008:01) using generalized vector autoregression method. The study focuses on Turkish economy. The scope of the study represents a quite new field of investigation which is analyzed only to a limited extent in the literature. The main contribution of the study was that the study extended the empirical model which was taken as a basis in the majority of the studies on currency basket and the analyses which estimated using vector autoregression method whose sampling was limited to Asia countries, using generalized impulse response normalization approach. The findings obtained from the first period support the weights of currencies in announced basket of currencies. It was observed that Pound Sterling had a significant weight in domestic foreign exchange market dynamics in the second period.

Keywords:De facto exchange rate policy, Floating exchange rate regime, Currency basket, Currency, Generalized VAR, Turkey

JEL Classification:E31, E58, F31