Clusters and Competitive Advantage_6 docx

Rather Denizli entrepreneurs deliberatelyconcentrated on the manufacture of these products and their export, aided by the economic infrastructure of Denizli, the main dimensions of which

104 Clusters and Competitive Advantage

civilizations This guaranteed an environment that was conducive to opment and commercial exploitation of the high-quality local cotton Althoughthe region’s fortunes waxed and waned over the centuries, invaluableexperience in the production of textiles was accumulated In the laterdecades of the twentieth century, development of the cluster was aided bycentral government measures (especially public investment in the 1970sand the provision of incentives in the 1980s) and the support provided bylocal institutions such as the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the smalland Medium-Sized Industry Association (KOSGEB) the Aegean Garment Pro-ducers’ Association and Pammukkale University The availability of capitalaccumulated through cooperatives and previous commercial activities, aswell as remittances from Turkish guest workers in Germany who were keen

devel-to invest in their home devel-town, was also beneficial devel-to the growth of the cluster.Yet another factor was Denizli’s favourable sociocultural environment, withstrong entrepreneurial skills going hand in hand with financial relationshipsbased on mutual trust and fellow citizenship One example of this wasprivate borrowing against the so-called ‘Babadag Banknotes’, or promissorynotes, which were always paid on the due date This traditional practice,although not as prevalent as it once was, still takes place in Denizli (Sengün,1998) Borrowing money from family members and friends (rather thanbanks), and borrowing and buying machinery from other firms owned byrelatives or friends were also common (Erendil, 1998), and of crucial import-ance during the early years of an enterprise Other types of support provided

by the social network included knowledge and technology transfers (Eraydin,2002a) The widespread use of subcontracting served to reinforce trust, espe-cially with respect to vertical relations among cluster firms, as evidenced bythe fact that firms still prefer to maintain long-term relations with trustedsubcontractors

Thus in answer to the question ‘Why Denizli?’, it can be argued thatfavourable historical circumstances, the availability of high-quality rawmaterials, the presence of talented craftspeople, a local demand for theirproducts, and experience and know-how accumulated over the centuries led

to the burgeoning of commercial activities in textile-related areas, aided bypublic investment, guest workers’ remittances and state incentives Withoutone final factor, however, the cluster might never have realized its potential:the entrepreneurial spirit of the people of Denizli One of our intervieweespointed out that Denizli was not in fact an ideal location because, amongother things, the quality of the water and the transportation services werepoor, and therefore Izmir would have been a better location However, giventhat the cluster emerged and developed in Denizli despite its locationaldisadvantages, it can be concluded that the factors identified above faroutweighed the disadvantages Besides, once the process of cluster formationbegins, the dynamics of this process can turn the cluster into a self-reinforcingsystem This will be discussed in a later section Here it is sufficient to say

that outside individuals, firms and institutions may be drawn into the localeafter seeing the success of others and the benefits of concentration, thusfeeding the reinforcement of the cluster

Turning now to the second question posed at the beginning of thissection – what brought about the specialization in towels and bathrobes? –although textile production in the region (including towels) had deephistorical roots, towel production became an important economic activity

in Denizli only in the 1970s.20 This was mainly initiated by two events: thelarge-scale importation of looms used for towel production from Bursa inthe 1950s, and the export success achieved by this product from the 1970s.One of the very first exporters of towels and bathrobes was a prominententrepreneur from Babadag, A Kadir Uslu, whose father was a merchant ofcotton yarn Uslu’s willingness to take risks was such that when he wanted

to import looms to produce towels his father was reluctant to help himfinancially, saying that he was ‘a bit crazy’ Despite the lack of support fromhis relatives, he duly imported the looms and later went to Germany with acontainer load of towels This venture was very successful, and he returned

to Denizli with a significant number of orders, which motivated others toenter this area of activity

The story of this entrepreneur raises the question of whether the emergence

of the towel and bathrobe cluster in Denizli was purely a chance event

I would argue against this contention It was no accident that Denizli came

to specialize in towels and bathrobes Rather Denizli entrepreneurs deliberatelyconcentrated on the manufacture of these products and their export, aided

by the economic infrastructure of Denizli, the main dimensions of whichwere a long history of textile production and the availability of major inputs,semiskilled workers and related/supporting industries In other words the localbusiness environment was conducive to such a development, and its potentialwas realized by the entrepreneurs of the region

According to our interviewees, towels and bathrobes are amongst the easiesttextile/clothing items to produce, which facilitated the entry of new comersand hence the enlargement of the cluster Another factor was the internationaldemand for these products Arguably, local demand was an important factoronly in the early stages of the cluster, although local customers are stilldemanding when it comes to the quality of textiles and clothing, forexample people from Babadag can judge the quality of a product at firstglance However it is the cluster firms’ export orientation that is nowputting pressure on the firms to upgrade Research and development aresometimes internationally driven, too: ‘The impetus for new product devel-opment comes from international customers A customer from the USA, forinstance, asked whether we could produce towels made of synthetic materials,and this triggered R&D activity as well as new investments in this area Thesame is true of quality- and design-related issues.’ Although internationalcustomers can be very demanding and ask for improvements in quality and

106 Clusters and Competitive Advantage

service, the Denizli producers have faced the challenge and specificallytargeted difficult, demanding customers in stable developed markets

Perceived costs and benefits of clustering

As mentioned previously, there are strong subcontracting relations among thecluster firms, enabling them to excel in their particular areas of specializationand to undertake work beyond the capacity of their firms This ensuressmooth and rapid production With regard to intermediate tasks such asembroidery in particular, it is important for firms to have easy access to therequired services and the degree of control afforded by geographic proximity

It is also important for the subcontractors to be competitive in their specialareas of activity As emphasized by one of our interviewees, ‘if they aregood, you do not need to worry about this part of the production process;you instead focus on the critical issues of your business such as quality andthe marketing of your products’

In a cluster environment, benefits accrue not only from vertical relations

in the value chain but also from relations with related and supportingindustries and competing firms Apart from obvious advantages such aslower transportation costs, the presence of related and supporting industriesalso enables operations to run smoothly, just as in the case of subcontractingrelations According to one manager, ‘It is reassuring to know that there arefirms nearby operating in complementary areas such as dyeing, machineryand packaging I think this also encourages people to choose Denizli whenthey think about starting a new venture in this area.’ Hence it is not surpris-ing that suppliers of high-quality inputs, dyes, packaging and so on emerged

in Denizli in parallel with the development of the towel and bathrobeindustry

With regard to the benefits associated with the presence of competingfirms, the cluster firms closely monitor each other in order to keep up withnew developments and innovations An interesting related observation isthat there is an unspoken agreement on maintaining price parity on themain products of the cluster, and if one firm substantially reduces the price

of, say, its bathrobes, this will immediately be brought to the attention of theother producers in Denizli In this regard the cluster environment acts as acontrol mechanism to prevent destructive price competition, since it is clearthat all producers will lose if such competition breaks out One negativeaspect of the colocation of rival firms is the immediate copying of ideas.However the managers interviewed seemed to agree that although thiscan cause some concern in the short term, it does not matter in the long term

as it prompts firms to strive to achieve what others cannot do, stimulating

a mutually reinforcing process of upgrading and the pursuit of best practice.All this is easier and more rapid in a cluster context, and is facilitated by theexistence of social networks and a sense fellow townsmanship that aid theflow of information

Thus information spillovers enhance the self-reinforcing process thatfeeds innovation in the cluster As mentioned earlier, new information isobtained from various sources, including trade fairs, catalogues, subcontr-actors, customers and the Denizli Chambers of Commerce and Industry.Moreover members of industry associations meet regularly to discuss theirproblems and find remedies for them Information on markets, strategies,customers and products are especially important – even more so than tech-nological information, according to some of the interviewees One inter-viewee mentioned that a few cluster firms prefer to register their exports not

in Denizli but in Izmir or Antalya to avoid the leakage of information onkey customers and products

In summary, the case of the towel and bathrobe cluster in Denizli showsthat a number of benefits can be derived from clustering Apart from beingconvenient for customers (see the next section), control over subcontractors

is much easier in a cluster context, ensuring smooth and rapid production.Social relations and relations of trust among the major actors in the regionalso contribute in this respect, as well as promoting a better flow of information.Further benefits are obtained from related and supporting industries, andeven competitors The only problems with the proximity of competitors arethe rapid imitation of key strategies and the possibility of a price war,although the latter is unlikely as all parties would incur high costs Similarlythe former, although annoying for innovative firms in the short term, canproduce fruitful results in the long term if it encourages firms to developmore sustainable sources of competitive advantage

The self-reinforcing nature of clustering

Once a cluster is formed and successfully functioning, a positive feedbackmechanism might come into operation, turning the cluster into a magnetthat attracts other firms in the same or complementary lines of business.This happened to the Denizli towel and bathrobe cluster in the 1990s, whenthe city became well known in the world market As towel production andexport only began in earnest in the 1970s, cluster formation in this particularcase took about 20 years

To illustrate the benefits of the self-reinforcing system that comes to operate

in a well-functioning cluster such as the one in Denizli, consider theexample given by one of our interviewees of a hypothetical entrepreneur inNazilli (an Aegean town about 80 kilometres from Denizli), who wishes toestablish a firm specializing in towel and bathrobe production Nazilli alsohas a background in textiles and a similar, if not better, infrastructure andworkforce than Denizli Let us assume that this person has already importedthe necessary machinery He is likely to have problems right from the start

of his endeavour; that is, setting up the right layout in the factory, for which

he will probably need to employ a master craftsman from Denizli Havingsorted this out, the next step will be to buy cotton yarn In order to do this

108 Clusters and Competitive Advantage

at favourable terms he will have to go to Denizli, where the numerousmerchants located in the city control this line of business These merchantsknow all their Denizli customers very well, as well as their families It willtake some time for the entrepreneur to establish such a close relationshipwith the yarn merchants and gain their trust Interpersonal relations are veryimportant in securing a competitive price, good-quality products and timelydelivery.21 Another problem for the entrepreneur is that textile machinesbreak down frequently, again requiring him to go to Denizli to find someone

to repair them He will also have to go to Denizli if he has to subcontractsome of his factory’s operations Moreover he will have to arrange the trans-portation of all inputs and products to and from Denizli Assuming that hemanages to overcome these obstacles, the next question he will face is how tomarket his towels and bathrobes in Nazilli As pointed out by the interviewees,the Denizli industrial zone also functions as a market, and customers visit manyfirms before finalizing their purchasing decisions The geographic concentra-tion of the firms makes it convenient for the customers to visit them ratherthan the other way round In addition the related services are organizedaccording to the needs of the cluster For instance the personnel working in thebanking sector in Denizli have detailed knowledge of the specific problems

of the manufacturers operating there In short, it will be virtually impossiblefor the hypothetical entrepreneur in Nazilli to keep up with the pace of business

in Denizli and compete with its firms

In light of the above it is not surprising that none of the intervieweesintended to leave his home town and change the location of his factory.Frequently heard statements in this regard were ‘We know how to do businesshere’, ‘We can follow the latest developments in our field here’, and ‘It isgood to know that there are other enterprises in Denizli you can turn to ifyou need help and support’ These statements are in conformity with thefinding of a survey by Mutluer (1995) that the locational advantages offered

by Denizli were the principal reasons why 65 per cent of entrepreneursdecided to establish their enterprises there

A key factor in the growth of the cluster is new business formation, whichusually takes place via spin-offs The process works as follows The growth

of an enterprise provides its partners (who are usually relatives or fellowtownsmen) with the financial means to found a business of their own, andwell established contacts give them the confidence they need to engage inbusiness operations by themselves They are also familiar with the particularway of doing business in the locale, which is by no means guaranteed to bethe same in another location It should be noted that although spin-offfirms tend to continue their contact with the original firm in the beginning,

a delicate dynamic arises as the former may well become a competitor of thelatter (Eraydin, 2002a).22

With regard to the relative importance of the factors that contribute tothe self-reinforcing nature of the cluster, external economies appear to be

the leading ones Given that many other locales in Anatolia have a longhistory of textile production, as well as similar infrastructural and factorconditions, why did external economies in towel and bathrobe productionemerge and turn into a self-reinforcing system in Denizli rather than some-where else? There are a number of possible answers to this, some of whichwere outlined above when discussing the reasons for geographic concentration.

If we consider one possible reason, entrepreneurship, the question then is,why are Denizli entrepreneurs better than entrepreneurs elsewhere? This, itcan be argued, is due to the characteristics of the local business environ-ment, competitive pressure in particular, which force people to sharpen theirentrepreneurial skills, so the challenge now is to identify these characteristics.This can only be done by combining the analyses of all the case studies inthis book, so the task will be left until Chapter 8

Before closing this section, it should be emphasized that a combination

of factors – ranging from historical circumstances and factor conditions tothe nature of competition and the sociocultural infrastructure – needs to

be considered when trying to understand the underlying reasons for the

emer-gence and subsequent development of this so-called ‘à la Porter’ cluster in

full (Küçüker, 1998, p 10) From a theoretical point of view, the towel andbathrobe cluster in Denizli resembles a number of geographic clusters inItaly in respect of the largely spontaneous nature of its development, itsspecialization and its strong export orientation An entrepreneurial outlookand the rapid pace of new business formation, especially via spin-offs, areother noteworthy commonalities The exact nature of the link between theself-reinforcing dynamic attained by the cluster over the years and thesustainability of its competitiveness is of special interest when attempting tounderstand the relation between clustering and competitiveness moregenerally, and it is to this that we turn to in the final section of this chapter

Concluding remarks and future prospects

The analysis in this chapter has highlighted the important part played byhistorical circumstances, favourable factor conditions, related and supportingindustries and a favourable context for firm strategy in the success of theDenizli cluster Specifically, the low cost of labour, relatively cheap buthigh-quality raw materials (especially cotton), government incentives, theentrepreneurial ability of Denizli businessmen and a clear focus on qualityhave been instrumental in this success Although some deficiencies remain,such as the lack of qualified personnel and capital and the need for infra-structural improvement, Denizli has been one of the world’s leading centres

of towel and bathrobe production since the early 1990s Its contribution

to the Turkish economy is also noteworthy For instance each year around

10 textile firms from Denizli are listed amongst the top 500 Turkish firms,ranked according to their sales revenues by the Istanbul Chamber of

110 Clusters and Competitive Advantage

Commerce In fact Denizli has been chosen as a model of local industrialgrowth by the State Planning Organization (TBMM, 2001a)

The success of the Denizli firms has attracted further investment to thearea, including banking facilities As a result the cluster firms, which previouslymainly relied on their own financial resources (and were proud of doing so),have gained access to external means of financing This, however, causedsevere financial – especially liquidity – problems for the firms in 2001, whenthe Turkish economy in general and banking sector in particular was hit by

a major crisis (ibid.) There was perhaps no better test of the resilience of thecluster than a crisis of this scale, a ‘test’ that it managed to survive

In fact the February 2001 crisis came on top of a series of crises that hit theTurkish economy in the 1990s and badly affected many industries across thecountry Specifically, in the early 1990s the Gulf crisis had a negative effect

on profit margins Then in 1994 the Turkish financial crisis had a lar impact on output, employment and domestic sales, and resulted in an

particu-increase in the cost of financing (Temel et al., 2002) This was followed by

the Asian and Russian crises of the late 1990s In response to all these crisesthe cluster firms developed the ‘Free Trade Zone’ and ‘Transformation 2000’projects The purpose of the former was to provide tax advantages to firms,and the second was aimed at improving their level of technology (Eraydin,2002a) According to our interviewees, compared with many other regions

of Turkey, Denizli was less damaged by the crises, mainly because the clusterwas highly export-oriented and its exports were directed towards stable,developed market economies Apparently they learnt the art of crisismanagement very well, which was a must under the circumstances One ofthe interviewees stated that he had been working as a manager for sevenyears and could not remember a single year going by without a seriousnational economic crisis

Any discussion of the present situation of and future prospects for thecluster must include the strategies followed by the firms There is an under-standing amongst the firms that any strategy based on cost advantages such

as cheap labour and low-cost inputs is not sustainable in the long term.According to the interviewees, the advantages of low-cost labour andgood-quality but cheap raw materials were enough to secure a satisfactoryexport performance for the cluster firms until the end of the 1980s Thereafter,however, new competitors emerged, especially in Pakistan, India and China,which prompted the Denizli firms to put more emphasis on quality as theprice-sensitive segments were gradually lost to them A major factor in therealization of this shift was the significant amount of capital that hadbeen accumulated in the 1980s, when mostly standard products had beenproduced This capital was used to finance new investments, especially intechnology, thus enabling the cluster firms to improve the quality of theirproducts As touched on earlier, demanding international customers alsoplayed a key role in this respect, as evidenced by the following statement by

an interviewee: ‘We have come to the point where we cannot compromisewith quality This we have learnt from our international customers .We donot run away from their tough requirements and stringent standards When

a customer demanded fireproof baby clothing made from terry fabrics, forinstance, we worked on it and brought it about.’ The interviewees arguedthat they had improved the quality of their products to such an extent thatproducers in other regions of Turkey were finding it difficult to keep pace.They had also done much to improve service quality

The cluster firms are aware that their future prospects will not be brightunless they find more sustainable sources of competitive advantage To thisend they have not only improved their product quality but also increasedtheir product range In strategic terms there are two possible courses thatthe firms can take: develop a brand of their own, or become producers forglobal brands The former is the subject of considerable debate amongst thecluster participants Some of the interviewees were of the opinion thatdeveloping a brand was a must, while others considered it to be an unneces-sary and unrealistic target One of the managers in favour of developing

a brand offered the following illustration of his point: ‘We sell a bathrobe tothe USA for $30, and it ends up in a luxury store in New York where it is soldfor $120.’ To capture some of the $90 margin, he argued, it was essential tobuild up a brand name In fact some leading cluster firms have already madeprogress with this There are, however, problems with marketing and devel-oping professional strategies, which are in turn related to the limited availa-bility of qualified personnel and finance: ‘Building a brand is expensive,requires time and finance Most importantly, however, it requires an aes-thetic, an ability to develop a style, a cultural base, and an ability and will-ingness to follow developments in the world.’ The major challenge, in otherwords, is to overcome the limitations imposed by the current resource base

of many firms, especially with regard to qualified personnel

A related concern is the risk involved in building a brand, and to dateonly a few firms have been successful in this endeavour One of our inter-viewees argued that this was a matter of specialization: ‘We tried to develop

a brand and we went bankrupt As Calvin Klein said, retailers should not

attempt to be producers, and vice versa.’ In fact, because the sector is

domi-nated by a large number of small firms it is unrealistic to expect that all firmswill be able to develop widely known brands According to one interviewee, itwill take some time but it can be expected that about five or six strongbrands will be established, and that will be enough to promote the image ofDenizli in the world market.23 Another interviewee suggested that instead ofindividual firms developing brands of their own, it might be a better idea topromote the name of Denizli in the world market The latter course andattempts by individual firms to build a brand of their own are not mutuallyexclusive, unless what is implied is the development of a single brand forthe entire network of firms.24

112 Clusters and Competitive Advantage

It is often claimed in the literature that clusters in developing countriesare locked into serving as low-cost subcontractors to firms in developedeconomies, which is not always desirable Moreover it is difficult for devel-oping-country subcontracting firms to sustain their relative positions in theworld market since they can easily be displaced by others offering evenlower prices The need to develop more sustainable sources of competitiveadvantage is also imposed by the changing circumstances in the businessenvironment Only if this is achieved can a subcontractor be an indispensableassociate of a global firm The following statement by an interviewee isinformative in this respect: ‘If it turns into a relation based on mutualdependence, subcontracting is probably sustainable’, but this is only possible ifsubcontractors continuously improve their service and become irreplaceable

‘We should avoid doing too simple things’, he continued, ‘we shall onlyhave a chance in the future if we can produce textile items that low-pricecompetitors cannot.’

Yet another issue that should be considered is that there is concern aboutthe high degree of specialization in the Denizli economy,25 that is, it isdependent on the textile industry in general and the towel and bathrobecluster in particular Some organizations consider that the dominance of thetowel and bathrobe cluster constitutes a serious constraint on the local eco-nomy and warn that the lack of variety is risky and might create problems

in the long term (DTO, 2003; IAV, 1997) One suggestion is to encourageinvestment in the other sectors in which Denizli has a strong potential:food and beverages, iron and steel, marble and tourism If a crisis shouldaffect the cluster it would be reassuring to know that there were other areas

to turn to, but our analysis shows that the benefits of clustering are significant.One should also be careful about sweeping generalizations such as theargument that the sector should be abolished since it is old-fashioned andmature and therefore has no future This argument is raised for the textiles/apparel sector more generally, which is one of the leading sectors in theTurkish economy Italy offers an illustrative example of a country that hasachieved a considerable degree of development as well as retaining an impetusfor further growth despite its specialization in ‘old fashioned’ or ‘mature’industries It is how these industries compete – that is, their strategy – thatreally matters (Porter, 1990)

Some researchers (for example Erendil, 1998) suggest that a likely quence of the recent tendencies observed in Denizli could be a gradual loss

conse-of economies conse-of agglomeration since, with the sector becoming more entiated and segmented, interfirm relations will change and the necessity ofcollective action and collaboration will diminish This reflects an incompleteevaluation of the reasons for geographic concentration: firms do not onlyagglomerate in order to cooperate Rather there are gains to be had from beinglocated close to competitors and sharing the same business environment,even if competing firms are unable and/or unwilling to cooperate when

differ-organizing production Besides the available evidence suggests that the cation of rivals might lead to differentiation but will not inevitably result inthe dissolution of clusters (Baum and Haveman, 1997)

colo-In summary, circumstances are changing and it remains to be seen howthe towel and bathrobe cluster in Denizli will react to recent challenges.Denizli has now reached the stage that can be observed in many other clusters

in the world: having confronted the consequences of its initial attempts tointegrate itself into foreign markets, it now faces the challenge of overcomingthe negative factors associated with less developed countries and integratingitself into international markets by means of higher value-added products(Eraydin, 1997) Although Denizli has been described as a typical example ofPorter-style clustering (Küçüker, 1998), it will have to find more sustainablesources of competitive advantage if it is to become a fully functioning,archetypal Porter cluster This will be of determining importance in definingits relations with global producers as a local production centre Transformation

is necessary, but it will not happen automatically Rather it will depend onfirms’ willingness to change, the availability of qualified human resourcesand local (private and public) institutions; that is, following the right strategies

in a business environment that is conducive to improvement The analysisprovided in this chapter has shown that there are reasons to be optimistic

6

The Carpet Cluster in Gaziantep

For many centuries Turkey has been one of the world’s top exporters ofcarpets It is competitive in all sections of the industry, although its position

is especially strong in hand-woven wool carpets and machine-woven carpets.The main competitors in the hand-woven sector are Iran, India, Pakistanand China, while Belgium, the United States, the Netherlands, Germanyand Italy are the leading competitors in the machine-woven sector Themonetary value of indirect exports of hand-woven carpets alone – that is,those sold to tourists visiting Turkey – amounts to more than $1 billion a yearSPO (2001)

As can be seen in Table 6.1, Gaziantep holds by far the largest share ofemployment in the Turkish carpet industry It specializes in the production

of machine-woven carpets and accounts for about 70 per cent of the try’s total production of items in this category (IGEME, 2002b) The leadingexport market is Saudi Arabia, followed by a number of EU countries (espe-cially Germany, Britain, Greece and Italy), the United States, Russia, the CIS(especially Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan), and Eastern and CentralEurope (mainly Romania) (SPO, 2001; ITC, 2002).1 Because of Gaziantep’sproximity to and historical ties with Middle Eastern countries there is con-siderable cross-border trade with that region Carpets produced in Gaziantepare also sold to small foreign traders in Istanbul and Trabzon

coun-The fact that Gaziantep is not amongst the traditional carpet-weavingcentres of Turkey (Figure 6.1) adds another dimension to this already inter-esting case, that is, why did the machine-woven carpet cluster develop inGaziantep rather than somewhere else in Anatolia, given the considerablenumber of long-established centres? This issue is a key subject of this chapter.Another concern of the chapter is to identify and analyse the cluster’smain sources of competitive advantage, as well as its evolution over time.This analysis will enable us to discuss the future prospects of the cluster inrespect of the sustainability of these advantages, which will in turn furtherour attempt to understand the link between clustering and competitivenessmore generally

In order to put the analysis of the carpet cluster in Gaziantep into

con-text, the next section presents a brief history of Turkish carpets, summarizes

the origins and subsequent development of the cluster in Gaziantep, and

provides an overview of the city’s economic structure

Table 6.1 Employment in the Turkish carpet industry (ISIC 1722)

Notes:

1 Top ten provinces in terms of share of national employment and provinces

with an LQ of more than one

2 Concentration ratios for the first four and eight provinces, respectively

Province

Share of national employment

in the sector (%) Location quotient 1

Manisa 8.56 3.9834 Kayseri 6.86 5.1696

Afyon 4.07 6.2326 Isparta 3.66 7.2111

Konya 3.03 1.2563 Kocaeli 2.51 1.5281 Burdur 1.46 4.7572

Kayseri Aksaray Konya Aksehir Isparta Burdur

Figure 6.1 Traditional Anatolian carpet-weaving centres

Source: Adapted from Quataert (1999).