Turkey

10 Turkey special advertising sectionA Head for BusinessIn a country known for its trading andcommercial skills, few cultural icons aremore respected than the self-made millionaire.Such a businessman, SakipSabanci, arguably made the biggestimpression on Turkey’s recent collectivememory. “I don’t think so many peoplehave attended a funeral since Ataturk’sdeath,” says Nazan Olcer, director of theSabanci Museum in Istanbul, when discussingthe state funeral that Sabanci wasgranted in 2004.Affectionately known as “Sakip Agha,”an honorific title that translates roughly as“the big brother of the village,” Sabanciwas the wealthiest man in Turkey when hedied in 2004 at age 71. Patriarch of thecountry’s largest conglomerate, he was ahands-on businessman who controlledevery aspect of his empire of more than60 companies. Since his death, the conglomeratehas remained in family hands,and today two of the most importantpositions are held by his nieces: GulerSabanci is chairwoman of the group,and Suzan Sabanci is managingSuzan Sabancidirector of Akbank, the holding’s flagship.One of the mistakes commonly attributedto first-generation managers oflarge businesses is an unwillingness tolook outside the company for managerialexpertise. This can be particularly problematicwith family-owned enterprises.Sabanci Holding, however, seems to havemade a point of professionalizing its corporatemanagement. The group’s CEO,Ahmet Dorduncu, is not a member of theSabanci family. “The days are over whenfamily members had an unquestionablesay over the company’s strategic decisions,”says Suzan Sabanci. “When yourun an institution like Akbank, which isworth $12.5 billion and has the largestcapitalization on the Istanbul StockExchange, you had better employ themost qualified managerial team.Corporate government is what drives acompany and the economy of a countryas a whole to success.”Family-owned businesses have alsobeen criticized for letting sentimentalityget in the way of business judgment andfailing to close down segments of a holdingwhen changing market conditionshave rendered them underperforming.Sabanci disagrees with this assessment:“You have to look into specific situations.Turkey, for example, has gone through alot of economic turbulence in recentyears, and if all the companies operatingin the market were looking at the situationpurely from a dividend policy andmarket cap point of view, they wouldhave all closed down. And so would theTurkish economy. I believe that familyownedcompanies have kept this countrystanding in some of the most difficulttimes of our recent history.” ❖