THE EXPORT EFFICIENCY OF TURKISH TEXTILE AND APPAREL FIRMS: AN INVESTIGATION EMPLOYING DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS (DEA) AND ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP) METHODS

Abstract

In this study, we examine the export efficiency of textile and apparel firms listed in the 2012 Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) 500 report. The export efficiency of 30 textile and apparel firms with complete data for 2012 was evaluated via Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods. Output-oriented DEA method was applied using four input variables (number of employees, net assets, number of exporting countries and export experience) and one output variable (export sales) to determine firm export efficiency levels. Based on the analysis results, four firms were identified as efficient units. The AHP method was employed to identify the extent to which qualitative and quantitative factors affect the export efficiency of efficient firms. Pairwise comparisons were made through in-person interviews with managers of efficient firms using DEA. "Product policies" were found to be the most influential factor affecting the export performance of Turkish textile and apparel firms. Overall, apparel firms are found to be more efficient than textile firms.