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Description:
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In this dissertation we present a theoretical and empirical analysis of price and non -price competition of firms in the Turkish Automobile Industry . In the past , this industry has been highly protected from foreign competition and shielded from competitive developments of the world market . The 1990's , however , brought about significant changes in the Turkish Automobile industry with respect to quality standards , degree of competition , and degree of product differentiation as a result of relaxed trade restrictions .
An important question to ask is what , if any , are the effects of these changes in the market environment with respect to the price and non -price competition of the firms ? We are trying to find an answer to this question by applying what is known as the New Empirical Industrial Organization "NEIO" . While using this new approach is by itself an important contribution , an additional and perhaps even more important contribution of this study lies in the fact that there are no empirical studies with respect to the Turkish Automobile Industry . The few studies that do exist do not go beyond a mere description of the industry structure . Therefore , the research at hand is rather unique in both its methodology and scope . The empirical work is based on a game theoretic model and the utilized data set is rather unique and not readily available .
By estimating alternative hypothetical market games and testing the validity of these games for the Turkish Automobile industry , we conclude that the Turkish Automobile industry is best viewed as an industry in which there is a leader -follower relationship between the firms . |