Within the scope of our “White Goods Suppliers Strategy Document” project launched in 2011, the first document was revealed with a participatory structure after the Search Conference, the first of which was held in 2012, by the White Goods Suppliers Association (BEYSAD).  New revisions were prepared and shared with the industry at the Search Conferences held in 2013, 2015 and December 2017.  In line with the direction and activities determined in these documents, the studies continued within the scope of associations and committees, with the participation of stakeholders.

Regarding the event, BEYSAD President Mr. Ş.  Burak Özaydemir said, "As BEYSAD, we are advancing our contributions to the country and the sector within the scope of our strategy documents that we have created with search conferences. We are very pleased that our conferences, which enable us to analyze the needs and priorities of all our stakeholders with a common mind approach, and to create activities together, have a wide participation. We will continue to work together with our members and stakeholders in our events and projects, according to the outputs of our conference."

BEYSAD Vice President of the Board of Directors D. Yasemin Aksu made a statement on the subject;  “We came together again in Bolu to hold the 6th of our search conferences, the first of which was held in 2012 with the principle of reaching common sense. A team of 70 people consisting of BEYSAD members, main industry representatives, Ministry of Industry and Technology officials and other stakeholders carried out research on important issues that concern Turkey and the White Goods Suppliers Sector for 2.5 days. 

Within the scope of the search conferences, these studies are synthesized and the BEYSAD Strategy Document emerges, and this document is considered as the homework of the BEYSAD Board of Directors in the upcoming period, and our activities are planned.”

Since the beginning of the project, we aim to publish our Strategy Document for the Period 2022-2024, which will guide the works of our sector and our Association, after this Search Conference, which has been organized to update the targets and actions and prepare a new document, since the Strategy Document of the Sector is intended to be a living document.

The Search Conference is a working order that enables to create a common view, find solutions to common problems, determine what needs to be done to achieve better, develop, and select common goals.  In classical conference settings, one or more people come out and talk about certain topics and the rest listen, at the Search Conference, however, all the participants reach a conclusion by speaking in an orderly manner.

The Search Conference was moderated by Kerim Han Milar, the manager of Milar Business Advisory Services and was attended by the representatives of the white goods suppliers industry, the main white goods industry representatives (Arçelik, BSH, Vestel) and the public and bureaucracy (T.C. Industry and Ministry of Technology), media, academics, and people who represent the business world close to the white goods sector and who can contribute to the conference with different perspective, with the said awareness.

On the other hand, with the year 2020, a pandemic process has begun in the world and in Turkey, and this process has deeply affected the way companies and associations do business.  In this direction, the 6th Strategy Document of the White Goods Suppliers Industry was carried out for the first time through a HYBRID (online & physical) Search Conference process.  With the hybrid process, the phases were carried out in a virtual or conference environment and the questionnaire, which was the first stage of the study, was shared with our members.  Namely;

 • The answers to the first survey on Phase 1 “Trends Affecting the White Goods Suppliers Industry in the World and in Turkey” were examined and analyzed in detail.

 • 3 separate working groups were formed for Phase 2 studies and virtual brainstorming sessions were held on Google Meet under the moderation of Milar Business Advisory Services with these 3 groups.  In these sessions, the participants had the opportunity to examine the Stage 1 results and benefited from the Stage 1 outputs in their conclusions.

 • Afterwards, a second survey was conducted, aiming to prioritize Phase 1 and Phase 2 outputs.  The answers to this questionnaire have been very important for the Stage 1 and Stage 2 SWOT-PESTE Analyses.

In the survey, regarding the most important items among the trends (Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological and Environmental) and the strengths and weaknesses of the White Goods Suppliers Industry, Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological and Environmental Opportunities and Threats, prioritization was noted.  In this way, all these conclusions were noted by the Common Mind and the most important items were listed according to the Common Mind.

In addition, it was the first time to work with sponsors in this search conference; and we would like to thank the Electrical and Electronics Exporters' Association (TET), which supported us in this special study, Egebimtes, Kuka, Festo and InfoTron. We hope that our cooperation will continue to increase.

The first day of the meeting, which started at noon on Friday and ended at noon on Sunday was completed with the presentations of Phase 1-2, BEYSAD event presentation, OzuBEX presentation, Egebimtes presentation and Stage 4 group studies.

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to listen to GUEST SPEAKER Economist Cevdet Akçay, along with Kuka, Festo and Stage 4 group presentations. Mr. Akçay touched upon the following topics in his speech.

Although the high growth environment, which came into effect globally with the end of the pandemic, was realized through a serious demand explosion, it also brought the problem of high inflation due to the supply constraints due to both the high demand and the still not normalization of the supply channels.

As the Russia-Ukraine war brought new energy and food cost pressures on existing difficulties, especially in developed countries, inflation data that were long forgotten came into action.

Despite the considerable cost pressures, major central banks have put into effect the "jumbo" rate hikes that they would have activated in case of overheating in this environment.

How long will this continue?  What are the recession and hard recession probabilities?  How will DMs be affected, how will EMs be affected?

Is there a Turkey included in the EM story or is it a unique Turkey story on its own?

What are the possible scenarios of Turkey in the next 2-3 years?

The following topics were addressed in Phase 4:

 • Group 1:

 In the light of the results in Stage 2, what are your possible future predictions for the White Goods Main and Suppliers Industry in the next 3 years?

 What are the innovation expectations and surprise developments in the sector?

 • Group 2:

 What should be the digital transformation goals of the White Goods Suppliers Industry companies? What investment strategies can increase competitiveness and profitability?  How can strategic collaborations be realized in this process?

 • Group 3:

 What should White Goods Suppliers Industry companies plan for products and production processes that comply with environmental expectations and regulations during the transition to the Circular Economy?

 • Group 4:

 What can be done to increase the export and competitive power of the White Goods Suppliers Industry companies?

 • Group 5:

 What should be the Financial Risk Management strategies of White Goods Suppliers Industry companies?  Interest and currency risk, credit risk, cash flow etc.

 • Group 6:

 What can be done to protect and provide the human resources needed in the sector?

The Sunday session also passed with the phase 5 study.  The following topics were covered in the study.

 • Activities that will serve the Industry 4.0 transformation of the sector with the opening of the Center of Excellence

 • Activities that can be done for the increase of international investment and direct export of the White Goods Suppliers Industry

 • Activities aimed at ensuring compliance of White Goods Suppliers Industry companies with environmental expectations and regulations

 • Activities that can be done to improve the financial risk management of suppliers

In the conference, which was extremely constructive and productive, mutual views that will carry the industry forward were opened for discussion.  The results of these studies will be converted into action plans, and our periodic follow-up will continue as in our previous studies.  We are working to share a new workbook with our industry in the near future.

We would like to thank all those who contributed and participated in this meeting with great sacrifices.