Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Article
  • Business History

Business Groups, Entrepreneurship and the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

This article examines the emergence and development of what became the largest business group in Turkey, the Koç Group. This venture was an important factor in the emergence of modern business enterprise in the new state of the Republic of Turkey from the 1920s. After World War II it diversified rapidly, forming part of a cluster of business groups, which dominated the Turkish economy alongside state-owned firms. This article examines how the founder of the Koç Group, Vehbi Koç, formulated his business model and analyses how his firm evolved into a diversified business group. Although the case supports prevailing explanations of business groups related to institutional voids, government policy, and the importance of contact capabilities, this study builds on and extends the earlier suggestions that entrepreneurship needs incorporating as an explanatory factor. The article shows that Koç acted as both a Kirznerian and Schumpeterian entrepreneur to build his group, both in its formative stages and later in its subsequent growth into a diversified business group.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Governance; History; Strategy; Auto Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food And Beverage Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Service Industry; Turkey

Citation

Jones, Geoffrey, and Asli M. Colpan. "Business Groups, Entrepreneurship and the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey." Special Issue on Business Groups around the World. Business History 58, no. 1 (2016): 69–88.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Geoffrey G. Jones

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    International Business History and the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: How History Matters

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Teresa da Silva Lopes
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Bollywood, Skin Color and Sexism: The Role of the Film Industry in Emboldening and Contesting Stereotypes in India after Independence

    By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
    • December 2020
    • Faculty Research

    George Soros: The Stateless Statesman

    By: Geoffrey Jones and Grace Ballor
More from the Authors
  • International Business History and the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: How History Matters By: Geoffrey Jones and Teresa da Silva Lopes
  • Bollywood, Skin Color and Sexism: The Role of the Film Industry in Emboldening and Contesting Stereotypes in India after Independence By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
  • George Soros: The Stateless Statesman By: Geoffrey Jones and Grace Ballor
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College