Developing Istanbul into a Regional Business Hub
Abstract
Globalization has urged many big corporations to operate in foreign countries to access world markets and produce at lower costs. Many countries and cities compete with each other to become business hubs in their regions so that they can benefit from huge Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows. In this study, the authors used Value Net analysis to determine Istanbul's ability to attract foreign investors, and SWOT analysis to examine its capabilities, advantages, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities with regard to becoming a regional business hub. The results show that Istanbul has great potential for becoming a regional business hub for MultiNational Corporations (MNCs) that want access to huge markets in Europe, Caucasia, and the Middle East as well as the emerging market of Turkey itself. However, Istanbul also possesses several weaknesses and faces some threats that cause the inward FDI flows to remain much lower than the desired levels. Political and economic stability is the biggest obstacle facing Turkey (and Istanbul) in terms of attracting foreign investors. The authors recommend that the governments of these two areas avoid populist policies and focus more on structural and economic reforms. (4 tables, 17 figures, 51 refs.)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA429365
Entities
People
- Muharrem Aydin
- Ufuk Canoz
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School