Innovation is important for countries in the competitive global economy. It is one of the main criteria for countries to be superior, to remain competitive, and to produce high technology products. Countries allocate different types of incentives to encourage innovation activities in their countries. Innovation is also one of the strategic issues for the European Union (EU). The aim of this study is to compare the innovation performance of four EU candidate countries, Macedonia (FYR), Iceland, Serbia and Turkey. The entropybased Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approach is proposed in this paper. First, the importance of each variable is computed by the entropy method to reflect on the differences among the variables in the calculation process. Subsequently, the TOPSIS method is performed by using the value and importance of variables for prioritisation of the candidate countries with respect to their innovation performance. Four case studies are conducted to show the viability of the proposed approach. Each cases study uses different reports, namely The Global Competitiveness Index, Innovation Union Scoreboard, Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) and Global Innovation Index. The results of this study show that the proposed approach provides the same ranking as Innovation Union Scoreboard and KAM.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to find the relationships among advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), innovation, export and firm performance by using data obtained from 310 Turkish manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach A survey study was performed to obtain data from manufacturing firms. Multiple-item scales were adapted from the literature to conduct the survey in this study. Data were collected from five cities located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region in Turkey (Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Kilis, Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa). Structural equation modeling was utilized to investigate the relationships among AMT, innovation, export and firm performance in Turkish manufacturing firms operating in several industries. The direct and indirect relations between these variables are examined in the proposed conceptual model. In addition, the complex relations including in the proposed model are assessed in detail through the mediation analysis. Findings Six of the proposed ten hypotheses related to manufacturers are validated by the empirical evidence from manufacturing companies in Turkey. Significant findings obtained in this study include the following: there are strong positive associations between the use of AMT and innovation and between export and firm performance. In addition, innovation mediates the relationship between AMT and firm performance and between AMT and export. Finally, export mediates the relationship between AMT and firm performance and between innovation and firm performance. It is expected that the results obtained from this empirical analysis will help decision makers and managers to construct a good technology and production management strategy for manufacturing systems. Originality/value In this study, a novel conceptual model is proposed to examine the relationships among AMT, innovation, export and firm performance via the use of survey responses from 310 Turkish manufacturing firms. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study that proposes such a conceptual model in the literature.

<abstract> <p>This study investigates the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the residential real estate prices in Turkey. This study indicates the effect of COVID-19, loan package, macroeconomic and behavioral control variables on abnormal returns of residential real estate prices during the event window. This study consists of three econometric steps. Firstly, the abnormal returns of the residential real estate prices are obtained by using an event study. Secondly, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on abnormal returns of residential real estate prices was estimated by panel data analysis for regional and city levels. According to the findings of the city level, the COVID-19 pandemic has a negative effect on abnormal returns of residential prices, as expected. However, the regional analysis shows mainly a positive COVID-19 effect.</p> </abstract>

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the multi-period, multi-attribute decision-making problems that arise when the information required to make decisions is provided at different periods. Design/methodology/approach For the multi-period grey relational analysis (MP-GRA) procedure, the time dimension is added to the grey relational analysis algorithm, which is a multi-attribute decision analysis that has been developed. As a case study to test the functionality and applicability of the model, 28 European Union member states were ranked by the MP-GRA method developed according to their human development and global competitiveness variables for the years 2006-2015. Findings The general ranking of EU member states has been provided in intervals of certain time periods called decision units. Originality/value Another dimension based on time periods has been added to a ranking technique. This case also shows that the opinions of decision-makers may be added separately to enhance evaluations.

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