This paper examines the direct and indirect relationships between the pillars of total quality management (TQM) and total productive maintenance (TPM) and investigates their effects on manufacturing performance (MPR) using structural equation modeling. Three structural models were developed with their corresponding hypotheses. Data were then collected from thirty industrial firms in Jordan. A descriptive statistical analysis was followed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The structural models were analyzed to draw conclusions about the model hypotheses and identify the most influential TPM and TQM pillars on MPR. Significant variations were noticed among firms in the implementation levels of the TPM, TQM, and MPR pillars. Further, it was found that TPM directly and indirectly influences MPR. Furthermore, TPM pillars have a larger impact on MPR than TQM. Research hypotheses are suggested to be tested individually on small-, middle-, and large-sized firms. This research provides valuable information on top management in the industrial sector, on the significant relationships between the pillars of TPM, TQM, and MPR and supports them in identifying important TQM/TPM pillars which they should focus on in order to enhance MPR.

The purpose of this research is to give an insight into the Turkish real estate investment funds (T-REIFs) by comparing their risk-return performances with the main benchmark investment tool Istanbul Stock Exchange-100 (BIST-100) Index. This study evaluated the performance of T-REIFs in four different periods between January 2017 and December 2020 (2017m1–2017m12, 2018m1–2018m12, 2019m1–2019m12 and 2020m1–2020m12) including the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) period by applying the Sharpe and Treynor ratios. In a well-diversified portfolio both ratios give the same results, but in the presence of non-systematic risk and the portfolio is poorly diversified, the Treynor ratio is a better indicator than the Sharpe ratio. The findings of this study show that rankings of Sharpe and Treynor ratios may differ for each period. These results also support the fact that the portfolios of funds in the Turkish real estate market are not well diversified. By providing corporate tax exemptions, and by enabling the investors to diversify their investments and reduce their risks, real estate investment funds are important alternatives to direct real estate investments in Turkey. In that context, being one of the pioneer studies in this niche and a new topic in emerging markets, analyzing the return performances of T-REIFs and comparing them with the returns of the BIST-100 index is aimed to contribute to literature as well as provide insight to investors who may consider investing in the Turkish real estate capital market instruments.

Purpose-In recent years, with the support of urban regeneration movements, the real estate sector has become one of the locomotive sectors in terms of economic and social development, particularly for the developing countries. When the real estate sector is examined, it is seen that the housing sector, which directly touches to the end user and is considered sometimes for use sometimes for the investment purposes, comes to the forefront. It is observed that the competition among the developer firms also increased in parallel with the investments made. In this study, the 2004-2017 period was examined, the statistical models were created to help the developers in developing the housing marketing strategies, the marketing strategies affecting the house sales trends and the external factors were highlighted. Our paper is the first academic study that identifies this relationship in Turkish housing market. Methodology-Within the scope of this study; R programming language and Wilcoxon Rank was used to analyze the different housing marketing campaigns of one of the pioneer real estate firms in Turkey and their effect on the sales figures; the rank sum test was conducted; and, the VAR models were constructed and Impulse Response analysis, Pearson Correlation Coefficient were used for the relationship analyses. Findings-According to the results of the study, it is seen that the social events, long-term holidays, rainfall and snowfall, campaigns of the competitors have no statistically significant effect on the net sales and gross income. However, it was determined that the Ramadan period and the digital marketing had a significant effect on the net sales and gross income. It is determined that the use of outdoor billboard, which is expected to affect the housing sales, was inversely proportional to the net sales and gross income, that is, it had a negative effect when applied. Conclusion-It is thought that this study can be more improved as a result of including the followings into the model: more detailed classification of the social events, remodeling the Ramadan periods according to either they coincide with the summer month or the winter month, assessment of the effect of rainfall and snowfall considering the climate zone Turkey is in, more detailed analysis of the effect of the campaign of competitors, that the effect of digital marketing will be higher as the technology develops. It is expected that the modeling of the findings reached in this study (or which will be detailed in later studies) by using an algorithm will provide a cost-benefit optimization.

A techno-economic analysis is performed for a solar farm with a 35 MWe installed capacity using bifacial solar panels and compared with standard monofacial solar panels at the same installed capacity level. The bifacial panel usage gain from total panel efficiency is identified from 4-year measurements to be within a range of 7.9–16.8% depending on monthly yield. A Monte Carlo simulation is carried out to forecast electricity prices under uncertainty. In terms of Net Present Value, it is found that the bifacial farm yields 12.6% higher values than the monofacial options under reference assumptions. An incremental internal rate of return (IRR) analysis is carried out yielding an IRR for the bifacial panels of 44% under various scenarios. The sensitivity analysis reveals that results are highly sensitive to discount rate and lifetime, and less sensitive to electricity prices. SWOT analysis performed to compare the bifacial with the monofacial panel and evaluate panels according to internal and external factors. The study was concluded with a summary of the technical specifications based on the test results. The results were used to identify that 12.2% added net present value corresponding to $186.7 – $214.5 per unit MW (under various electricity price trajectories) can be used as a reference for assessing the benefit for usage of bifacial PV for 35 MW type medium-size projects. In summary, it is suggested that bifacial solar PV with its outstanding techno-economic results can be the driving force of the growing solar PV market.