The Strategy Paper for the White Goods Industry has been created in the aftermath of 1.5-year painstaking work and is the result of the joint work of all the leading thought leaders of the appliance industry. The Strategy Paper helps us create the roadmap for the sector’s future. However, in order to secure the industry’s future, we have thought that people who will take on responsibility in the future should start to be involved in these activities.

As a step to avoid the sustainability risk, which affects almost all the sectors, BEYSAD has started the initiative named “Young BEYSAD Members” with the participants of the second generation executives of the BEYSAD member firms. Consisting of five members at the outset, we were aiming to increase the number of members in this group and with the support of BEYSAD members, we continue to accept new members to this initiative.

Much praised by the main industry firms, as well, this initiative will ensure young BEYSAD members start to know one another and build relationships with the main industry officials, thereby increasing their awareness about the sector.

We invite the second generation executives to the “Young BEYSAD Members” initiative

In this issue of our magazine, we have wanted to give a pause to interviews with main industry officials and inform you about young BEYSAD members. The below interview was originally made by Vedat Gökçe and Ersan Üngüder from the SubconTurkey Magazine. We have decided to include this interview in this issue so that the BEYSAD magazine readers are informed about this initiative, too. Can Yalmaç, a young BEYSAD member, could not join the interview unfortunately.

We are very glad to let you know new members have joined the group in the aftermath of this interview and our invitation at the general assembly meeting. We would like to say welcome to Berrak Çekin (Hidrotam Makine), Gökhan Yüce (Ermak), Dinçer Adıgüzel (Arma Kalıp) and Tolga Başoğlu (Başoğlu Kablo) and wish them good luck in their works for this young and dynamic group.

We also would like to thank all the parties who have contributed to this interview.

BEYSAD has set a very good example for all the other industries by launching the initiative called “Young BEYSAD Members”.

We met the young BEYSAD members on 19 March 2013 just before the BEYSAD’s Board of Directors meeting at the Marriot Hotel. The group comprises Murat Öney (Technocast), Sedat Can Ar (ATM Beyaz Eşya), Sayat Çakır (Gençler Kablo), Tunç Yeloğlu (Valfsan Dış Ticaret) and Can Yalmaç (Telas Lastik) for the time being.

Bahadır Balkır, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BEYSAD, Besim Oktayer, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Semavi Yorgancılar, member of the Board of Directors, first told us how the initiative started and then we learned the opinions of young BEYSAD members.

How did the idea for this initiative emerge? How did you further build on this idea? And how did you choose young BEYSAD members?
Bahadır Balkır: The white goods sector is a very important priority sector in Turkey. The white goods supply industry is a major pillar of this industry. Acting based on this awareness, BEYSAD has been taking significant steps for the future of the Turkish white goods sector and white goods supply industry for 2.5 years. We will soon share with you the details of these activities. In this respect, we aim to create the roadmap for the sector’s future, identify opportunities and threats, keep abreast of all the developments in the sector and be one of the actors shaping this future. In light of these thoughts, we came up with the idea for this initiative. We have been discussing in detail the sector’s next decade and even beyond that. When we look at the companies in the white goods supply industry, we see that most of the firms are managed by the first generation, that is, by bosses. There are many among these executives who previously worked for the main industry firms and then started their own business. The first generation is today around 55-60 years old, thus the second generation has started to be involved in operations. There is a current risk that not only concerns the appliance industry, but also all the other sectors: Whether the second generation executives of these enterprises will stay in this sector and if yes, to what extent will they be successful? While thinking about possible measures for this challenge, we came up with the idea of creating a group consisting of young BEYSAD members. This initiative has started with a view to bringing together second generation executives in the white goods supply industry, ensure they get to know one another and meet main industry officials and informing them about the issues in the sector. Thereby, these young people will get an insight about the sector’s future, take measure to stay in the same sector, which would lead to sustainable corporate structures for these firms. We have started from this point and shared this opinion with our members. We received very positive feedback both from our members and main industry firms. Our current board of directors already includes Sefa Böyet who can be called as a young BEYSAD member due to his young age. Five new members represented the core of this group.

Our goal is to include young BEYSAD members in our activities as much as possible and ensure they contribute to our works. I believe this initiative will be very useful for our industry in the future. This initiative can be regarded as a major investment in human capital in the white goods supply industry.

The young BEYSAD members initiative will combine energy with experience

Besim Oktayer: The idea for this initiative emerged a year ago. We have had the opportunity to include them in the works for the Strategy Paper. This project will prove very effective in building on existing corporate structures and ensuring new generations are intimately involved in the business and sector. We have started this initiative with the belief that it will lay the foundation for our changing board of directors and represent and manage our association in a more comprehensive manner. If you see this as a relay race, young BEYSAD members will be those to carry the flag in future.

Semavi Yorgancılar: The Turkish manufacturing industry consists of family businesses at 96%-97%. The percentage of firms which are taken over by the second or third generations is lower than 10%. Due to gaps between generations and conflicting expectations and perspectives, these companies either wind up their business, go bankrupt or are sold to third parties. I would like to personally thank the BEYSAD chairman for coming up with this idea in the first place. This initiative has been a good example not only for other BEYSAD members, but also for all the family businesses. The first generation usually behaves in a conservative manner, as they have founded the business, and display an aggressive attitude in transferring the authority. Although it is not true for all the businesses, the first generation sometimes discourages the second generation, too. With this initiative, we will involve young BEYSAD members directly in the business and sector. Thereby, these young executives will build strong relationships more easily and gain a broad perspective on learning about developments in other sector firms. This initiative is combining energy with experience. BEYSAD is now a 20-year old organization and owns its own culture. We should pave the way for young people and help them succeed us, when the time comes. And I believe BEYSAD is very successful in achieving this.

Besim Oktayer: In our generation it is very difficult for the company founders to hand over the business to the second generation and they usually approach the topic with an emotional state of mind. There are some cases when the second generation takes over the business at their 60s. We will both clear the way for the second generation and set an example to our generation. Of course, this is a transition process. Thus, the young people must also be ready and well-equipped. This initiative will be a vital platform for helping these people know one another, learn about the sector in detail and exchange information.

Have young BEYSAD members already submitted a project to the BEYSAD management?

Bahadır Balkır: We started this initiative by assigning these young people to a project at the very outset. We asked them to work for a specific project. So, they did not have any time to present a project to the management.

BEYSAD secures its future in its 20^th anniversary

Murat Öney: Actually, there is a project which we will present today. Our project focuses on paving the way for corporate structures and will serve as a roadmap for the companies in this respect. We will present this project at today’s meeting and start to work on it, if it is approved by the management.

Will young BEYSAD members also share the work with the appliance industry? Do you have any activities in this respect?

Murat Öney: We will, of course, share the work with them on the way. Solidarity is one of the topics which we discuss as a priority topic. We are all involved in the management of the business to a certain extent. In the coming period we will surely focus more on such topics. There are many things to do and clustering activities are one of the primary subjects. We are analyzing the examples of clustering activities. As the white goods supply industry acts together with the main industry at some level, its geography displays a scattered nature. We will be performing activities in order to create clusters that are independent from geographic location. We are now reviewing the existing clusters that have been successful in Turkey.

Bahadır Balkır:There is a very important topic which main industry firms today deal with. They analyze how many of supply industry firms will be in the sector in the future with sustainable policies and display the same performance as today. The awareness that we aim to create is related to this topic, as well. We have invited the second generation to be involved directly in the business, meet new people, tell about themselves and their companies’ future projections so that they contribute to their companies’ robust future, in addition to making contributions to the sector overall.

What do you think about this initiative as young BEYSAD members?

Sedat Can Ar: This initiative will surely contribute to us in that it will help us learn about “who is doing what in the sector” and it will create a platform for solidarity in the sector, given the fact that we all come from different companies, cultures and cities. We get to know not only our peers, but also experienced people in the sector whom we did not know closely before. Therefore, this is a very useful initiative. Most of my friends are working for large corporate companies and ask me why I work at a supply industry firm. People ask such questions, because they fail to grasp the importance of the supply industry. Actually, I believe supply industry firms are the locomotive of the manufacturing sector in Turkey. Turkish supply industry firms have capabilities in many areas such as R&D, production&development, labor force, knowledge, experience and specialization. As a person willing to gain experience in these areas, I think I am in the right place. I also try to share these opinions with people around me, as well.

Sayat Çakır: Our firm has been a BEYSAD member since its foundation. I usually represented our business at BEYSAD events in recent years. However, you cannot assume active role by attending the meetings alone. As soon as I learned about the young BEYSAD members initiative, I immediately wanted to be part of it. You represent a community with the activities carried out within this group and it is very important to make contribution to and create something for 150 companies overall. If we really want to make Turkey a permanent base for the appliance industry and boost the export volume, all of the 150 BEYSAD members should come together and work for this purpose. Each team member focuses on a different sector segment and performs production activities in different areas. You would create a huge value, when you combine this strength.

Tunç Yeloğlu: When I first joined this group, I thought the biggest advantage would be that we would have a chance to acquire the deep sectoral knowledge which experienced people in the sector, members of the board of directors and BEYSAD members already possess. You do not have much opportunity to talk about this in the course of busy daily schedule. When you are part of such an initiative, you get the opportunity to learn more from others. It is a big advantage that we learn about the existing bosses’ network. We would otherwise not achieve this in the absence of such activities. This initiative will help us build strong relationships with this network, which is vital for our businesses. 

Sayat Çakır: We focus on improving communication and collaboration. The activities in this scope consist of topics associated with public bodies, overseas organizations, universities and other independent entities. We aim to create useful projects in time together with young BEYSAD members and contribute to our sector effectively.