Turkish-American Business Forum
Annual Research Paper Competition for Students
Preamble
Forum endeavors, among other things, to encourage young members to get
involved with current topics and issues of importance to its members in general. Not only we
aim to strengthen the social and economic ties amongst the Turkish-American business
professionals, but we also motivate young members of our community to get involved in the
professional and business network of Forum, learn about the challenges faced, and be recognized for
their unique talents and accomplishments.
Therefore, Turkish-American Business Forum decided
to initiate an annual research paper competition for students. The qualified winner will
get substantial monetary prize with many other benefits.
The competition is meant to be an opportunity for students to develop
their skills as researchers and to give them an opportunity to showcase their work, as well as
enhancing their chances for future job opportunities. One of the goals of
the program is to focus on the student, their capabilities as a researcher, and their potential. As
such, only individual research projects will be considered for the Competition. Supervisors of the
work may not be listed as co-authors; you must submit a single-authored version of your work for
the competition.
We aim to provide an opportunity for Turkish-American students to
participate in an extraordinary learning experience that is at once exciting, educational, and
essential to the emergence of innovative new firms.
Research Topic
Turkish-American Business Forum annual research paper topic will be
determined and announced by the current Forum subcommittee assigned to this task every
year.
2009 Research Paper Topic
As a developing country with a large and growing industrial base and
with considerable agricultural and mineral resources, international trade and exports are keys to
the healthy development of the Turkish economy. Much of the considerable growth of the Turkish
economy has been fueled by exports. Since the U.S. economy in this and other periods has been the
engine of the global economy, it is of interest to evaluate the Turkey-USA trade volume and its
share in the overall trades of the two countries. A quick glance at the figures
shows that current trade volume between the two countries in fact does
not reflect the close strategic relationship between USA and Turkey; and rather out of proportion
to the overall exports of Turkey in general.
Research topic: Investigate the factors affecting the bilateral trade volume between
Turkey and the USA.
Key points to touch upon:
What is the breakdown of goods and services that make up this
bilateral trade?
W
hat are the trends and what is the ultimate potential?
How does Turkey compare against comparable countries?
Are there any regional patterns?
What are the impediments to trade and commerce on both sides?
What specific past and current policies have been in effect
and what additional specific and practical measures can be enacted on both sides to improve
the trade levels?
What are the key players in the policy making process?
What possible role can Forum play?
Participants are expected to answer all questions above
in their submission or elaborate the questions on a specific industry or trading goods.
Prerequisites
-
The applicant is expected to be a Forum student member at the junior,
senior, masters or doctoral levels in any US university.
-
The applicant is expected to write a 3 page outline of the
project
-
Registration to the competition
What is to include in the outline:
Submission
A detailed outline with the thesis should be mailed to
Turkish-American Business Forum office at 51 East 42
nd Street, New York, NY by July 3rd, 2009. Ten students will be selected amongst
the applicants for the final round of the competition. The final research paper should be of 20-40
pages, prepared in MLA format with supporting references and should also be mailed
to Business Forum office, by September 18th, 2009.
Please be informed that quality of the work is more important than the
quantity of it.
The submission should describe:
-
The research problem and motivation
-
Background and related work
-
Approach and uniquness
-
Results and contributions
A panel of judges appointed by Forum will be
evaluating all qualified submissions for their:
-
Quality of work
-
Novelty of approach
-
Clarity of discussion
-
Quantitative analysis
-
Significance of contribution
-
Clarity of written presentation
-
Use of reference and fieldwork
Papers that show substantial promise with regard to these criteria
accepted to the competition.
Jury
The jury is composed amongst our Board members who have academic
background. There is also one independent member to evaluate the work. This year’s jury members are
as follows:
Seyhan Erden Arkonac
Murat Eron
Mehmet Ali Erdem
Award
-
Monetary price of $ 3,000
-
One year of complimentary membership
-
Acknowledgement in the newsletter/web/event/press release
-
Award certificate
-
Interview for a possible internship
-
To present your work in front of a professional crowd including
government representatives and high profiled businesspeople at a discussion panel organized
specifically for the project
-
Public recognition
On top of these benefits, all participants will gain invaluable
experience to carry forward in their careers, whether or not they win the prize. They will meet
with many like-minded students who will become part of their network of friends and colleagues, and
will benefit from personal contact with the practical expertise of many of our community’s leading
entrepreneurs, investors and business professionals.
Time Line
|
|
Phase 1
|
Phase 2
|
Phase 3
|
|
Description
|
Outline of the project
|
Submission
|
Announcement of the winner
|
|
Starts
|
June 22 2009, 5PM EST
|
September 14 2009 5PM EST
|
_
|
|
Ends
|
July 3 2009, 5PM EST
|
September 18 2009 5PM EST
|
_
|
|
Results Announced
|
July 15 2009, 5PM EST
|
_
|
October 19 2009
|
|
*After the announcement of the winner, there will be a presentation of
the project with a discussion panel and a networking event where the winner will also receive
his/her award.
|
We thank our project sponspor Turkon America for their kind support to
our organization.
