Yeşil Dönüşüm Alanında İşletmelerin Durumunun İncelenmesi: Gaziantep Örneği

Abstract

Purpose – As a result of global developments and international agreements, sustainable development has become a necessity for businesses beyond being an initiative. Companies around the world have started to implement green transformation as a result of legal regulations. This study consists of research results that reveal the current situation and awareness of enterprises on green transformation in Gaziantep.
Design/methodology/approach – Within the scope of the research, face-to-face interviews were conducted with environmental engineers, quality control specialists, and senior managers from 101 companies. The responses to questions measuring companies' awareness of green transformation were presented in cross-tables created according to categories indicating the companies' export status. Relationships regarding awareness were compared according to company size using chi-square analysis. Differences between groups organized according to company size and export levels for the identified environmental criteria were tested using variance analysis. Tukey HSD was used in sub-dimensions where the assumption of variance homogeneity was met, and the Games–Howell post-hoc test was used in sub-dimensions where it was not met.
Findings – Descriptive statistics regarding companies' export status, sectors, and locations are provided. Accordingly, it can be said that the companies in the sample consist mostly of textile businesses in terms of sector, but are evenly distributed in terms of scale. When queried based on their export status, companies exporting to the EU and other countries, and when evaluated in terms of scale, large and medium-sized companies were found to have higher levels of awareness regarding green transformation. In terms of awareness, the responses to the questions showed that there was no correlation between company size and the use of environmental consulting services or awareness of the Green Deal and green transformation among the groups. According to the analysis results based on export levels regarding the environment, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of clean energy, but no difference between the groups in terms of emissions and water and wastewater. However, differences were found in all environmental subheadings between the groups formed according to company size.
Discussion – These research findings contribute to understanding the dynamics of green transformation specifically in Gaziantep, but also beyond that, for companies across Turkey. They provide insights by offering information for business strategies aimed at promoting sustainability. The fact that awareness levels are equal regardless of companies' export levels indicates that businesses are not sufficiently aware of the obligations imposed by the EU Green Deal. The fact that there is no difference between companies that export and those that do not on environmental issues may cause us to view the picture pessimistically. This is because companies exporting to EU countries could be expected to have a higher level of knowledge. The level of environmental knowledge is limited to clean energy. An analysis based on the scale of businesses reveals that micro and small-scale businesses are at a disadvantage in environmental practices, while medium and large-scale businesses have more institutionalized and systematic environmental management approaches.