Unlike western Europeans and Japanese, who excel at operating as communities, the Turks are at their best as families. The family is extended, strongly male-dominated, patriarchal and autocratic. It commands more loyalty than the community or the state. During eight centuries of Ottoman rule - when all land belonged to the sultan and private-property rights were difficult to establish - the family was the main source of security. It still is.
The Turkish private sector is dominated by families. Outside state-owned businesses, banking and industry is almost exclusively family-owned. And with the founders of many companies dying or growing old, managing a transition to the next generation is becoming an acute problem. For Turkish patriarchs, consultants McKinsey's statistics about the survival rate of private companies are scary. Worldwide, more than a third of family-owned firms break up through bankruptcy or sale when the the founder dies. After the second generation expires the rate is 70%.
No performance culture
A McKinsey survey of business leaders' aspirations in Turkey has shown that the "family side" is one of the most important factors limiting growth and productivity. The fact that the family is the leader, shareholder and manager brings complications.