Interpreting Turkish Industry's Perception on Energy Security: a National Survey

Abstract

Along with the changing concerns over energy security in the last decades, it is important to investigate the perception of different segments of society in order to understand how they view the challenges and opportunities in contemporary energy issues. Being one of the most dynamic energy economies globally, Turkey is continuously increasing both its electricity generation and consumption. Since the industrial sector accounts for higher ratios in this growth, this article explores the perception and awareness within Turkish industrial companies related to energy security, Turkish energy policy, and compatibility of corporate strategy with governmental energy and industrial policies. The study is based on the exploration of nine suppositions relating to the following issues: importance of energy costs in supply chain management, energy efficiency priority, effectiveness of legal infrastructure for energy efficiency, import dependency awareness, renewable energy awareness, the compatibility of energy strategy, climate change awareness, the level of Kyoto Protocol awareness, and compatibility between firm-specific targets and strategy papers. The study tests these suppositions with a survey based on the existing academic literature and three strategy documents related to industrial and energy policies, namely papers on Energy Efficiency Strategy, Turkish Industrial Strategy, and Electricity Energy Market and Security of Supply Strategy. These papers provide the research background and give insight for each of the suppositions. A survey was distributed to the top 500 Turkish industrial companies listed in ISO500. The results show that six suppositions are supported, one is unsupported, and two is neither supported nor unsupported. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.