EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP OF SHOTGUN INDUSTRY CLUSTER AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT WITH A THREE STAR ANALYSIS: THE CASE OF BEYŞEHİR DISTRICT, KONYA PROVINCE

Abstract

The concept of clustering is a concept that has many dimensions with its social and economic aspects. The theoretical background of this concept has developed within the disciplines of regional economics, which examines the regional development process with economic geography and regional development differences, which are aimed at explaining the regional distribution of economic activities and place of production factors. In general, regional de-velopment is the whole of the activities carried out in order to improve the existing standards on the economic and social basis of a certain geographical area within the borders of the country. If development activities are successful in different regions, it will be possible to achieve the development of the country. This study, it was aimed to examine the effect of the shotgun industry cluster in Beyşehir on regional development, and three-star analysis was used for this. The three-star analysis was developed by the “European Cluster Observatory” and allowed it to be a model used in the creation of potential cluster maps in the European Union. As of 2019, it has been determined that there are 165 companies engaged in production in the shotgun industry in Turkey, and 139 of these companies are clustered in the Beyşehir district of Konya. While it has been revealed that it has a very strong competitive power in exports with this cluster, it has been observed that it has a value well above Turkey’s average especially in terms of added value, employ-ment, size, and specialization.