Trade with Africa Murat Duzgun

Logistics comprises the movement of products such as raw materials, spare parts and finished goods from the place of origin to the place of consumption. The increasingly intense global competitiveness and interdependence of world trade, as well as the requirements of their own operational and functional differences are making it harder for companies to survive in the international markets, and force them to act more carefully, plan in advance, and differenciate themselves from the other competitors. Therefore, they need to diversify in order to survive at the market and retain their customers. In order to do that, firms need to find or create innovations and models which will allow them to gain comparative advantage and could be applied in the trade process. In this conjuncture, Turkey's need for innovation and new models has become an increasingly important issue, as it would allow the country to increase its foreign trade volumes. This will ensure that Turkish companies achieve superiority and competitive advantage both domestically and internationally, enable sustainable economic growth, and eventually allow Turkey to occupy its worty place among the most developed world economies. The aim of this work is to create a methodology that would allow Turkey to identify and evaluate its best logictics options, and enable improvement and growth in the sector of foreign trade. In this framework, the main objective is to increase the business volume of the companies which have foreign trade operations in Africa and to bring out a model suggestion which will support them in the creation of the right long- and short-run strategies.