Does innovativeness matter for international competitiveness in developing countries?: The case of Turkish manufacturing industries

We examine the determinants of export performance of firms in the Turkish manufacturing industry. Prominent differences show up between innovator and non-innovator firms in terms of the impacts of such variables as firm size, advertisement intensities, ownership structures, and composition of employees. Importance of innovations and R&D activities, conduciveness of capital intensity, and insignificance of the real wage are meaningful as far as a rational international competition policy is concerned. Results are suggestive of a technology-oriented and capital-formative development path, if Turkey is to come up with the international competitive standards. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.