Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Virtual business operations, e-commerce & its significance and the case of Turkey: current situation and its potential

  • Published:
Electronic Commerce Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

21st century is the age of high technologies penetrated into business leading to virtual businesses and e-commerce applications combined with electronic business (e-business) structures. Virtual businesses are independent and/or partly dependent organizations that have flexible and agile structures to respond the altering business conditions. Yet, electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the exchange of goods and services over the Internet. Both virtual businesses and e-commerce operations enable organizations to have fluid structures, modify the changing conditions, lower expenses, access to new markets and attain new consumers. The e-commerce applications have also been increasing in Turkey at a great pace but not significantly when compared to the total trade volume. For, the aim of this paper is to focus on the virtual businesses, e-commerce, harmonization of the conventional business structures with e-commerce and emphasize the importance of the e-commerce applications in Turkey resting on dependable national and international publications and data. With respect to the research made, it is possible to state that the e-commerce volume of Turkey is increasing as a remedy to cover the foreign trade deficit, but it is still not sufficient when compared to the total trade volume. Additionally, even though Turkey possesses an efficient e-government mechanism and e-signature law to enhance the volume of its e-commerce, the lack of cooperation among parties and standardization as well as the difficulty in adoption of digital transactions would be issues to be tackled in order to develop e-commerce in Turkey.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Even though the term virtual business means not physically operating institutional bodies, in this study virtual business and virtualized agencies are used within the same meaning.

References

  1. Alhorr, H., Singh, N., & Kim, S. (2010). Ecommerce on the global platform: strategic insights on the localization perspective. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 11(1), 6–13.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Azumah, G., Koh, S. C. L., & Maguire, S. (2005). E-organization and its future implication for SMEs. Production Planning & Control, 16(6), 555–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Barutçu, S. (2007). Attitudes towards mobile marketing tools: a study of Turkish consumers. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 16(1), 26–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Barutçu, S. (2010). E-customer satisfaction in the e-tailing industry: an empirical survey for Turkish e-customers. Ege Academic Review, 10(1), 15–35.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Bojnec, S., & Fertö, I. (2009). Impact of the Internet on manufacturing trade. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 50(1), 124–132.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Brunelle, E. (2009). Do virtual enterprises exist? International Journal of E-Business Management, 3(2), 43–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Chen, M., Cen, A., & Shao, B. B. M. (2003). The implications and impacts of web services to electronic commerce research and practices. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 4(4), 128–139.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Clarke, G., & Wallsten, S. (2006). Has the Internet increased trade? Developed and developing country evidence. Economic Inquiry, 44(3), 465–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Coulky, D., & Young, W. (2006). Mentoring in the virtual organization: keys to building successful schools and businesses. Mentoring & Tutoring, 14(4), 433–447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. D’Atri, A., & Motro, A. (2008). ViruE: a formal model of virtual enterprises for information markets. Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, 30, 33–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ebrahim, A. N., Ahmed, S., & Taha, Z. (2009). Virtual teams: a literature review. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 3(3), 2653–2669.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gökmen, A. (2008). Affective change management and leadership. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on social sciences (Vol. 2, pp. 1–15). Izmir, Turkey.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gökmen, A. (2009). Developments and prospects in egovernmnet implementations in Turkey. In Proceedings of the 1st international conference on egovernment and egovernance, Ankara, Turkey.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Gökmen, A., & Hamşıoğlu, A. (2010). The etransformation Turkey project and its application in Turkey: possible organizational and managerial challenges. In Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on egovernment and egovernance, Antalya, Turkey.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hortensi, G. (2008). Virtual workplace and telecommuting: challenges that redefine the concept of work and workplace. Annals of the Oradea University, 17(4), 269–274.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Hwang, W., Junng, H., & Salvendy, G. (2006). Internationalization of e-commerce: a comparison of online shopping preferences among Korean, Turkish and US population. Behaviour & Information Technology, 25(1), 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Kiang, M., & Chi, R. (2001). A framework for analyzing the potential benefits of Internet marketing. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 2(4), 157–163.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kienan, B. (2001). Managing your e-commerce business. Redmond: Microsoft Press.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kırçova, I. (2006). Electronic supplier systems & their advantages in small 6 medium sized enterprises. Istanbul: Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Küçükyılmazlar, A. (2006). Electronic trade guide. Istanbul: Istanbul Chamber of Commerce Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Laudon, K., & Traver, C. (2001). E-COMMERCE. Boston: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Nunamaker, J., Reining, B., & Briggs, R. (2009). Principles for effective virtual teamwork. Communications of the ACM, 52(4), 113–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Paulina, B., Cezar, B., & George, C. (2009). New methods regarding the organization and functionality of the business environment in the virtual economy. Annals of the Oradea University, 18(4), 908–913.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Raisinghani, M. S. (2002). Rethinking B2B e-marketplaces and mobile commerce: from information to execution. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 3(2), 86–97.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Shi, Y., & Gregory, M. (2005). Emergence of global manufacturing virtual networks and establishments of new manufacturing infrastructure for faster innovation and firm growth. Production Planning & Control, 16(6), 621–631.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Shiralkar, P., & Vijayaraman, B. (2003). Digital signature: application development trends in e-business. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 4(3), 94–101.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Spremic, M., & Hlupic, V. (2007). Development of e-commerce in Croatia: a survey. Information Technology for Development, 13(4), 391–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Stoica, M., & Ghilic-Micu, B. (2009). Virtual organization—cybernetic economic system. Modeling partner selection process. Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, 43(2), 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Temiz, D., & Gökmen, A. (2010). The comparative effects of 2001–2002 financial crises and 2008 global crisis on the Turkish economy. International Journal of Economic and Administrative Studies, 2(4), 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Vilaseca-Requena, J., Torrent-Sellens, J., Meseguer-Artola, A., & Rodriguez-Ardura, I. (2007). An integrated model of the adoption and extent of e-commerce in firms. International Advances in Economic Research, 13(2), 222–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm (2011). Internet World Stats, Usage and Population Statistics. Accessed March 2011.

  32. www.kurul.inet-tr.org (2011). Electronic Commerce Coordination Council. Accessed June 2011.

  33. www.adalet.gov.tr (2011). Turkish Ministry of Justice. Accessed July 2011.

  34. www.dtm.gov.tr (2011). Turkish Prime Ministry—Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade. Accessed June 2011.

  35. www.e-ticaret.gov.tr (2011). Turkish Prime Ministry—official e-commerce portal. Accessed June 2011.

  36. www.dpt.gov.tr (2011). Turkish Prime Ministry, State Planning Organization. Accessed June 2011.

  37. www.bkm.com.tr (2011). Turkish Inter-Bank Credit Cards Center. Accessed June 2011.

  38. www.tuik.gov.tr (2011). Turkish Statistical Institute. Accessed June 2011.

  39. www.hazine.gov.tr (2011). Turkish Prime Ministry—Undersecretariat of Treasury. Accessed June 2011.

  40. www.tcmb.gov.tr (2011). Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Accessed June 2011.

  41. www.turksat.com.tr (2011). e-Government Gateway. Accessed May 2011.

  42. Yao, J. T. (2004). Ecommerce adoption of insurance companies in New Zealand. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 5(1), 54–61.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Zhu, L., & Thatcher, S. (2010). National information ecology: a new institutional economics perspective on global e-commerce adoption. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 11(1), 53–73.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International Trade, Çankaya University, Eskişehir Yolu 29. km, Yukarı Yurtçu, Ankara, Turkey

    Aytaç Gökmen

Authors
  1. Aytaç Gökmen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aytaç Gökmen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gökmen, A. Virtual business operations, e-commerce & its significance and the case of Turkey: current situation and its potential. Electron Commer Res 12, 31–51 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-011-9084-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-011-9084-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation