COLLABORATIVE RELATIONS AS THE BASIS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THE TALE OF DENİZLİ

Burak BEYHAN (Middle East Technical University)
Bilge ARMATLI KÖROĞLU (Gazi University)

The aim of this paper is to unveil the economic development of Denizli with a special emphasis on the contexts within which conditions of local collaboration reveal itself. The paper conceptualizes evolution of the textile production and collaborative relationships in Denizli as an autopoietic system. In this evolution process, firstly, the establishment of local collaboration relations beginning from the early years of the Turkish Republic to the 1980s is analysed within a historical context. Following this, exploitation of collaboration relations in the 1980s is examined so as to highlight the efforts spent for the integration to the global production networks. And lastly the textile-boom of 1990s is analysed as a transformative pressure upon the textile production organisation and institutional structure. After revealing the basic characteristics of the transforming nature of local collaboration relations, some concluding remarks are drawn in relation to future economic growth of Denizli. What is evident from the paper is that the base of collaborative relations has been weakened during the last two decades. But the tradition of local collaboration in Denizli is so strong that it is possible to argue that there may be still some hope for its reproduction.