Ulas Akkucuk
Bogazici University, Management, Faculty Member
- Experienced Associate Professor with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry and professio... moreExperienced Associate Professor with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry and professional training/consulting. Strong education professional skilled in Mathematical Modeling, SPSS, Statistical Modeling, and Research Design.edit
Petrol crises have crippled the economies of the developed nations may times in modern history. Still, fossil fuels are an important source of transportation, and price changes deeply affect the social and economic wellbeing of the... more
Petrol crises have crippled the economies of the developed nations may times in modern history. Still, fossil fuels are an important source of transportation, and price changes deeply affect the social and economic wellbeing of the citizens. While research on alternative fuels is on the rise and there are many incentives, the reliance on fossil fuels is not diminished. Lately, as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, petrol prices went up again. This chapter will shed light on the past crises and will try to examine how much further petrol prices can go. Also, the relationship between energy prices and subjective wellbeing will be illustrated with examples from the literature. The chapter will also offer some suggestions for a sustainable green world.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This study aims to explore the factors affecting destination choice for tourism travelers. For this purpose, a survey conducted in the İzmir province has been used to collect data as to what factors drive travelers to choose the İzmir... more
This study aims to explore the factors affecting destination choice for tourism travelers. For this purpose, a survey conducted in the İzmir province has been used to collect data as to what factors drive travelers to choose the İzmir destination. The survey contains demographic questions in addition to questions concerning the reasons for visiting İzmir. 10 multiple choice questions are used in the demographic and descriptive profile. Previous literature has been consulted in order to form 16 questions for the intent to visit İzmir. The questions on the reasons for visiting Izmir have been scaled as (1) does not influence my decision and (5) influence(s) my decision very much. Finally using cluster analysis technique, the visitors are separated into five clusters. A K-means clustering technique is applied by varying k from 2 to 10. The interpretations of the clusters are provided and shed light on the main intentions for the travelers. The cluster interpretations could be used in the area of tourism marketing. The chapter highlights the area of choosing the optimal number of clusters.
Research Interests:
Advances in communication and information technologies, reduction in trade barriers, privatization, deregulation and opening of new markets have led to the expansion of trade and increased investment in new markets. One of the crucial... more
Advances in communication and information technologies, reduction in trade barriers, privatization, deregulation and opening of new markets have led to the expansion of trade and increased investment in new markets. One of the crucial decisions that global firms should take is the choice of markets to enter when there are many different alternatives present. The alternatives could be at the level of nations, regions or even cities. To make informed decisions, critical macroeconomic, demographic and cultural data elements must be available for analysis. The growth of global business in the last two to three decades has resulted in an explosion of data sources both commercial and syndicated. Using these data sources and the product/service specific characteristics firms may use various algorithms to rank order markets for suitability of entry. This chapter will try to outline the different methods for market prioritization utilizing the numerous global data sources available. Special considerations for global financial institutions will also be presented.
Research Interests:
Governance has evolved to be an extremely critical notion for the developed world as well as for the developing countries. For the developing world, novel concepts required for good governance practice may not be easily understood or... more
Governance has evolved to be an extremely critical notion for the developed world as well as for the developing countries. For the developing world, novel concepts required for good governance practice may not be easily understood or widely practiced by the stakeholders of private or public corporations. Good governance is needed for numerous institutions both public and private. For public entities, good governance results in scientifically motivated policy development, an increase in accountability and transparency and finally the involvement of all stakeholders in the decision-making process. For non-governmental organizations, governance results in better allocation of resources, finding new opportunities for collaboration, and better cooperation with governmental bodies. For the private sector, governance increases the reliability of the organizations and contributes to sustainability, and a climate of trust to be established among the stakeholders. This chapter will include an extant review of the literature on how good governance and sustainable value creation come hand in hand.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Dimensionality reduction aims to represent higher dimensional data by a lower-dimensional structure. A well-known approach by Carroll, Parametric Mapping (PARAMAP) (Shepard and Carroll 1966) relies on iterative minimization of a... more
ABSTRACT Dimensionality reduction aims to represent higher dimensional data by a lower-dimensional structure. A well-known approach by Carroll, Parametric Mapping (PARAMAP) (Shepard and Carroll 1966) relies on iterative minimization of a loss function (called kappa or “κ”) measuring the smoothness or continuity of the mapping from the lower dimensional representation to the original data. The approach was resuscitated recently with important algorithmic modifications (Akkucuk 2004; Akkucuk and Carroll 2003, 2006). However improved, the approach still involved the need to make a large number of random starts. In this paper we discuss the use of a variant of the Isomap method (Tenenbaum et al. 2000) to obtain a starting framework, consisting of a core set of landmark points. These core set of landmark points are used to construct a rational start for running PARAMAP algorithm only once. Since Isomap is faster and less prone to local optimum problems than PARAMAP, and the iterative process involved in adding new points to the configuration will be less time consuming (since only one starting configuration is used), we believe the resulting method should be better suited to deal with large sets of realistically based data, and more inclined to obtain a satisfactory solution in reasonable time.
Research Interests:
Many global organizations provide valuable sources of country-specific data to the general public. The data are a very good source of secondary information to the global firms making country entry decisions as well as providing input to... more
Many global organizations provide valuable sources of country-specific data to the general public. The data are a very good source of secondary information to the global firms making country entry decisions as well as providing input to the policy makers in the international organizations and the country governments. One such organization is the World Economic Forum disseminating the results of a global competitiveness study every year. The Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) focuses on 12 variables that are deemed to be important for the country’s competitiveness and hence suitability for investment. The coverage of the GCI has been increasing over the years. The latest report (2012-2013) carries data on 144 countries. With the amount of data increasing it becomes important to summarize the intrinsic elements with the use of visual tools. Multivariate statistical tools could summarize vast amounts of data while retaining the critical pieces of information and the interdependencies between the variables and the objects. This chapter demonstrates the use of two such techniques, namely Cluster Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) on the World Economic Forum 2012-2013 Global Competitiveness data.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this paper, we describe a technique called PARAMAP for the visualization, scaling, and dimensionality reduction of data in the social and behavioral sciences. PARAMAP uses a criterion of maximizing continuity between higher dimensional... more
In this paper, we describe a technique called PARAMAP for the visualization, scaling, and dimensionality reduction of data in the social and behavioral sciences. PARAMAP uses a criterion of maximizing continuity between higher dimensional data and lower dimensional derived data, rather than the distance based criterion used by standard distance based multidimensional scaling (MDS). We introduce PARAMAP using the example of scaling and visualizing the voting patterns of Justices in the US Supreme Court. We use data on the agreement rates between individual Justices in the US Supreme Court and on the percentage swing votes for Justices over time. We use PARAMAP, metric MDS, and nonmetric MDS approaches to create a voting space representation of the Justices in one and two dimensions. We test the results using a metric that measures neighborhood agreement of points between higher and lower dimensional solutions. PARAMAP produces smooth, easily interpretable, solutions, with no clumping together of points.
Research Interests:
Since the day of its inception at Motorola Inc., Six Sigma methodology has been widely used in process improvement by companies all over the world including financial institutions. Users of Six Sigma strive to achieve competitiveness... more
Since the day of its inception at Motorola Inc., Six Sigma methodology has been widely used in process improvement by companies all over the world including financial institutions. Users of Six Sigma strive to achieve competitiveness through improving processes. In recent years, “Lean” principles have been merged with the Six Sigma approach in what is known widely as Lean Six Sigma. Six Sigma is not only applicable to manufacturing but also to the service sector. With growing competition in the financial services sector, Six Sigma principles can be used to cut costs, increase efficiency and thereby help companies to stay afloat in the global economy. This paper will try to outline how Lean Six Sigma principles can be used to continuously improve service operations with special emphasis on financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, individual pension systems, brokerage firms and others. A demonstrative case is also provided on how the principles can be applied in the context of a pension company.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Pazarlama bilim dalinda algisal haritalama, tuketicilerin cesitli markalari nasil gorduklerini iki-boyutlu duzleme yansitmak icin kullanilmaktadir. Bu algisal haritalama yontemlerinden en onemlisi de cok boyutlu olcekleme teknigidir... more
Pazarlama bilim dalinda algisal haritalama, tuketicilerin cesitli markalari nasil gorduklerini iki-boyutlu duzleme yansitmak icin kullanilmaktadir. Bu algisal haritalama yontemlerinden en onemlisi de cok boyutlu olcekleme teknigidir (kisaca MDS). Cok boyutlu olcekleme islemi, en basit tanimiyla, markalar (veya bilim dalina gore farkli nesneler de olabilir) arasindaki algilanan farklari girdi olarak alip, bu fark bilgisini cesitli boyutta (marka/nesne sayisindan kucuk olmak uzere) haritalama islemidir. Olcekleme islemi icin mevcut onlarca algoritma bulunmasina ragmen en eskilerinden biri Torgerson’un, “Klasik Olcekleme” olarak da bilinen olcekleme teknigidir (Torgerson, 1958). Bu calismanin en onemli amaci bu teknigin matematiksel temellerini tanitmak ve sikca kullanilan bir baska teknik olan temel bilesenler analizi (PCA) ile benzerliklerini ve farklarini aciklamak olacaktir. Ayrica ikinci bir amac ta bu tekniklerin kullanimini ornekler ile aciklayip, bir acik kaynak istatistik yazilimi olan “R” programi ile makalede anlatilan tekniklerin nasil uygulanacagini gostermektir
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Nowadays, online learning has become a phenomenon and many believe that e-learning can be the next revolutionary change in education. E-learning is a way of learning supported by information communication technologies (ICT) that makes it... more
Nowadays, online learning has become a phenomenon and many believe that e-learning can be the next revolutionary change in education. E-learning is a way of learning supported by information communication technologies (ICT) that makes it possible to deliver education and training to anyone, anytime and anywhere. Learning management system (LMS) applications are software applications for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of e-learning courses and programs. With the advancement of technology in general, LMS applications are increasingly becoming the preferred method for learning among students, teachers and others. LMS applications enable university students and teachers to benefit from today's technology in their learning process. LMS applications will play a major role in education, and technology will get stronger with effective usage of LMS applications. Therefore, defining the current situation in Turkey about LMS applications usage and factors affecting adoption of LMS applications are important for future LMS design and management.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Today, when global warming and its negative effects are more apparent, companies and individuals have given importance to green logistics practices. At the same time that computer technologies and smart applications serve in this field,... more
Today, when global warming and its negative effects are more apparent, companies and individuals have given importance to green logistics practices. At the same time that computer technologies and smart applications serve in this field, new and innovative ideas are emerging every other day. Examples of disruptive innovation can change the way we do business in an industry, such as the Uber application. These new players in the sector tend to disengage the existing players. In this chapter, sector-changing national and international instances of disruptive logistics will be presented and discussed. Also, the effects of Industry 4.0 and smart cities on green logistics will be explained.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This chapter attempts to study the view of Turkish consumers towards various types of renewable energy production methods and to assess whether consumers will pay premium prices for different types of renewable sources. The chapter makes... more
This chapter attempts to study the view of Turkish consumers towards various types of renewable energy production methods and to assess whether consumers will pay premium prices for different types of renewable sources. The chapter makes use of an online survey for data collection. 927 responses were collected in total during 2015. 92% of the respondents state that they believe in global warming. The results indicate that one-fourth of the consumers are not willing to pay anything extra if electricity is obtained from renewable sources. However, almost half thinks that they could pay 5% to 10% more. In terms of the importance placed by the consumers on different means of electricity generation by renewable sources, the highest importance is placed on solar energy, followed by wind, biomass, and hydroelectric. Policy makers in the public and private sectors can consider these results when making changes to the current energy generation and distribution infrastructure.
Governance has evolved to be an extremely critical notion for the developed world as well as for the developing countries. For the developing world, novel concepts required for good governance practice may not be easily understood or... more
Governance has evolved to be an extremely critical notion for the developed world as well as for the developing countries. For the developing world, novel concepts required for good governance practice may not be easily understood or widely practiced by the stakeholders of private or public corporations. Good governance is needed for numerous institutions both public and private. For public entities, good governance results in scientifically motivated policy development, an increase in accountability and transparency and finally the involvement of all stakeholders in the decision-making process. For non-governmental organizations, governance results in better allocation of resources, finding new opportunities for collaboration, and better cooperation with governmental bodies. For the private sector, governance increases the reliability of the organizations and contributes to sustainability, and a climate of trust to be established among the stakeholders. This chapter will include an...
This article investigates the factors affecting primary and secondary education teachers’ behavioral intention to adopt learning management systems (LMSs). Information technology (IT) innovations have the power to change the way we work,... more
This article investigates the factors affecting primary and secondary education teachers’ behavioral intention to adopt learning management systems (LMSs). Information technology (IT) innovations have the power to change the way we work, educate, learn, and basically the way we live. The effect of IT innovations on education makes it critical to understand the current usage situation of LMSs and the factors affecting their adoption by teachers. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was extended with factors from education and game-based learning literature. In order to see the effect of individual- and organizational-level characteristics, multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted and discrepancies in relationships were reported. Evaluation of users and non-users and teachers of different fields were also compared to each other. The findings of this study not only contribute to theory through the development and testing of a thoro...
Research Interests:
Renewable energy has attracted researcher attention in recent years, and the number of studies conducted on the topic has increased. The importance of renewable energy has increased because certain energy resources are exhaustible and... more
Renewable energy has attracted researcher attention in recent years, and the number of studies conducted on the topic has increased. The importance of renewable energy has increased because certain energy resources are exhaustible and they damage the environment in various ways. Fossil fuel-based energy is the main culprit for environmental damage and lately renewable energy is the main focus as a safe alternative to fossil fuels. However, replacement of fossil fuels by renewables may have a negative impact on human development, even if it has a positive impact on the environment. With this rationale, this study investigates the relationship between renewable energy and human development in 28 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries from 1990 to 2017 by using the Westerlund and Edgerton panel cointegration test with structural breaks and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin causality test. The results of the panel data analysis revealed that renewable energy affe...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Dimensionality reduction techniques are used for representing higher dimensional data by a more meaningful lower dimensional structure. In this paper we will study two such approaches, namely Carroll's Parametric Mapping (to be... more
Dimensionality reduction techniques are used for representing higher dimensional data by a more meaningful lower dimensional structure. In this paper we will study two such approaches, namely Carroll's Parametric Mapping (to be abbreviated PARAMAP) (Shepard & Carroll, 1966) and a variation of ISOMAP (Tenenbaum, de Silva, & Langford, 2000). The former relies on iterative minimization of a cost function while
Research Interests:
This chapter discusses waste management from the viewpoint of sustainability. Waste is generated anytime and anywhere. As human life goes on, it is not possible to avoid the generation of waste. The aim, in this situation, is not to avoid... more
This chapter discusses waste management from the viewpoint of sustainability. Waste is generated anytime and anywhere. As human life goes on, it is not possible to avoid the generation of waste. The aim, in this situation, is not to avoid the generation of the waste—minimize maybe—but to separate waste according to the types and avoid paying unnecessary costs for useless treatment and (just the opposite) gain the advantage of gaining income from the waste. Waste reduction in the individual and industrial level will be discussed in the sense of integrated waste management. Sustainability can only be executed only if the waste allows beneficial revenue. Separating and processing the wastes accordingly will help in solving the waste problem and also derive profit.
The aim of this research is to understand the factors behind smartphone purchase decisions of consumers. Nowadays companies make use of various strategies in order to attract new customers, retain existing customers and differentiate... more
The aim of this research is to understand the factors behind smartphone purchase decisions of consumers. Nowadays companies make use of various strategies in order to attract new customers, retain existing customers and differentiate their products from those of their competitors. Perhaps, the most important and effective strategy to influence consumer behavior in the product selection is emphasizing the “brand name” of the products. Our aim in this paper is to investigate how smartphone brands can influence consumers’ buying decisions. Brand equity is a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand name and symbol, which add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service. It enhances the customer’s ability to interpret and process information, improves confidence in the purchase decision and affects the quality of the user experience. Using this construct widely discussed in the literature, we use and build our hypothesis based on Aaker model about the brand...
Research Interests:
Amerika Birleşik Devletlerinde, çeşitli şirket skandallarına tepki olarak 2002 yılında çıkartılan Sarbanes-Oxley Yasası (SOX), bugüne kadar şirket yönetim şekillerinin değişmesinde oldukça etkili olmuştur. Çok uluslu şirketlerin dünya... more
Amerika Birleşik Devletlerinde, çeşitli şirket skandallarına tepki olarak 2002 yılında çıkartılan Sarbanes-Oxley Yasası (SOX), bugüne kadar şirket yönetim şekillerinin değişmesinde oldukça etkili olmuştur. Çok uluslu şirketlerin dünya ölçeğinde faaliyet göstermeleri sebebi ile -Amerika Birleşik Devletleri kökenli bir yasa olsa da- Türkiye dâhil birçok ülkedeki kurum ve kuruluşlar da yasanın uzantılarından etkilenmiştir. SOX Yasası’nın etkileri benzer şekilde Toplam Kalite Yönetimi (TKY) uygulamalarında da görülmüştür. Dünyada sıkça uygulanan çeşitli kalite mükemmeliyet modelleri (Amerika kökenli Malcolm Balridge ödülü bunlardan biridir) iş etiğine artık ayrı bir önem vermektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı TKY açısından iş etiğinin ve SOX Yasası’nın önemini vurgulamak, kalite yönetimi ve standardizasyon çalışmalarının yönetimde iş etiğine nasıl destek olduğunu göstermektir. Bu çalışma SOX uygulamasının kısa tarihçesinden ve kapsamından bahsedecek ayrıca Balridge Ödülü ve ISO standartları gibi Toplam Kalite Yönetimi uygulamalarıyla SOX Yasası ve iş etiğinin ilişkisini irdeleyecektir.
ABSTRACT:
The Sarbanes-Oxley act (SOX for short), which was passed by the Congress of the United States of America in 2002 in response to various corporate scandals, has had a profound effect on management practice to this date. Although this particular law originated from the US due to the fact that many multi-national companies operate throughout the globe American fi rms in different countries, including Turkey, have been touched by the extensions of the law. The effects of the SOX law have also been seen in the fi eld of Total Quality Management (TQM for short). Business excellence models that are applied successfully around the world (US based Malcolm Balridge award is one of these) now give special emphasis on business ethics. The purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of business ethics and SOX law for Total Quality Management and demonstrate how TQM and standardization efforts in general have a positive infl uence on business ethics. This paper will briefl y mention the extent of the SOX law and its history, and examine the relationship between the TQM applications (such as Balridge Award and ISO standards) and the SOX law and business ethics.
ABSTRACT:
The Sarbanes-Oxley act (SOX for short), which was passed by the Congress of the United States of America in 2002 in response to various corporate scandals, has had a profound effect on management practice to this date. Although this particular law originated from the US due to the fact that many multi-national companies operate throughout the globe American fi rms in different countries, including Turkey, have been touched by the extensions of the law. The effects of the SOX law have also been seen in the fi eld of Total Quality Management (TQM for short). Business excellence models that are applied successfully around the world (US based Malcolm Balridge award is one of these) now give special emphasis on business ethics. The purpose of this study is to highlight the importance of business ethics and SOX law for Total Quality Management and demonstrate how TQM and standardization efforts in general have a positive infl uence on business ethics. This paper will briefl y mention the extent of the SOX law and its history, and examine the relationship between the TQM applications (such as Balridge Award and ISO standards) and the SOX law and business ethics.