ABSTRACT

THE PERCEIVED IMPACT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ACTIVITIES ON BRAND LOYALTY- CASE STUDY:

TURKCELL KARDELENLER (SNOWDROPS) PROJECT

Derya YAZICIMaster of Business Administration Program

Porject Supervisor: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Çağatay AkarçayDec 2015

In today’s changing world the term social responsibity as a rising value takes an

important place in business strategies of companies. Although CSR related studies and its

connection with consumer behavior are considerably young, there exists a growing need for

examining this relation in order for companies to become successful in their marketing

desicions. In recent years the perceived importance of corporate environmental and social

initiatives has been increased. While the companies mainly focused on gaining maximum

profit before, along with the globalization and technological developments they started to

realise that performing social responsibility projects are one of their most important

responsibility since consumers have a tendency for buying from CSR engaging companies

more than ever and managers take CSR as an efficient marketing tool to create a competitive

advantage towards their rivals.

The purpose this project is to examine the relationship between corporate social

responsibility and brand loyalty in telecommunication sector in Turkey. In this study, CSR

and brand loyalty relationship has been evaluated throughout the Snowdrops(Kardelenler)

case study conducted by Turkcell which is the best known GSM company in Turkey. Various

resources has been scanned and used in order to determine whether there is a positive

relationship between those terms. As a result of the survey it is obvious that CSR plays an

influential role in brand loyalty.

Key Words: corporate social responsibility, brand loyalty, Turkish telecommunication

industry, Turkcell, snowdrops, consumer behavior

CONTENT

ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1. Definition Of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

2.2. CSR Types

2.2.1. Three Models of CSR

2.2.1.1. The Pyramid Model

2.2.1.1.a.Economic Responsibilities2.2.1.1.b.Legal Responsibilities2.2.1.1.c.Ethical Responsibilities2.2.1.1.d.Philanthropic Responsibilities

2.2.1.2. The Intersecting Circles Model2.2.1.3. The Concentric-Circle Model2.2.1.4. Differences Between Three CSR Models

2.3. Economic, Ethical and Philanthropic Responsibilities

2.4. CSR in Turkey

2.5. Brand Loyalty Definition

2.6. Brand Loyalty Types

2.6.1. Attitudinal Loyalty2.6.2. Behavorial Loyalty

2.7. Relationship Between CSR and Customer Brand Loyalty

3. APPLICATION: Turkcell’s Kardelenler(Snowdrops) -Çağdaş Türkiye’nin Çağdaş Kızları (Modern Girls in a Modern Turkey) Project

4.DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONSREFERENCES

1. INTRODUCTION

Since decades corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a leading concept in

the highly competitive global environment and the number of companies that practise CSR

activities throughout the world has grown rapidly. In addition to playing an important role in

the societal and environmental development, CSR can also be regarded as a good strategic

marketing tool to run a successful business in today’s competitive atmosphere. CSR could be

a benefit for building a better brand image and creating consumers’ positive attitudes so that it

is an important source of competitive advantages (Porter & Kramer, 2006). Several recent

studies indicate that a growing percentage of consumers claim they are increasingly likely to

buy from brands engaging in CSR programs (e.g., Mahoney, 2008a; Sass, 2008b). In this

context, managers have started to carry out various CSR projects in order to satisfy the

changing societal needs and differentiate their brand from its rivals in the eyes of society.

CSR was first introduced to the literature by Bowen (1953) and has been defined in

various ways by different researchers throughout the years. As a broad concept CSR can be

described as “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in

their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis”

(Michael and O¨ hlund, 2005). In 1970’s after the establishment of Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) a national public policy which officially recognized the environment,

employees, and customers to be important stakeholders of business was established (Carroll,

1991). Since then CSR has become a critical instrument for corporations in order to meet the

legal and ethical rights of their stakeholders.

Serdar Dinler, the President of Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Turkey

(CSR Turkey), states that there was a lack of interest about CSR in Turkey in the late 1990s,

however; in 2005 as a result of changing economic policies companies started to seek new

concepts to make profit and compete with their rivals. CSR was already considered as one of

these concepts in the world. More than eighty per cent of the Fortune-500 companies point

out CSR activities on their websites (Esrock and Leichty 1998). Thus in order to

contribute to the development of the awareness of social responsibility and to broaden the

knowledge of CSR in the country CSR Turkey was established in 2005 and since 2008 it has

become a member CSR-Europe Corporation. Since then CSR Turkey has been performing

activities in collaboration with EU. In line with the historical background it is possible to say

that CSR is in its inital period in Turkey.

Nowadays, particularly big companies encounter increasing pressure from different

activist groups and consumers to apply CSR activities. CSR can be considered a mandatory

tool to drive the customer brand loyalty. In today’s competitive environment it is quite

difficult for companies to anticipate the future and differentiate the products from their rivals

so that the term customer loyalty emerges as a significant tool in order to be able to compete

within this highly competitive market (Fahlioğulları, 2009). Several studies show that

changing perceptions and increasing awareness of buyers towards environmental and societal

issues require the companies to conduct CSR based strategies on their business decisions in

order to keep the customers loyal to the brand. The customer brand loyalty is a concept that

influences the consumers in their purchasing decision process. Today’s global competitive

businesses have been seeking different ways to make customers loyal to their brands.

According to Reynold(1974)’s approach:

“Customer loyalty is viewed as the tendency for a person to continue over time

to exhibit similar behaviours in situations similar to those he has previously

encountered; e.g., to continue to purchase the same brand and product in the

same store each time he needs or wants an identical or similar item”

(Reynolds, Darden and Martin, 1974, p.75)

And the term called perceived service quality, which represents the core performance

of a business, is often considered as a key determinant of loyalty, either directly or indirectly

(Yılmaz, 2012). Perceived service quality is defined by Parasuraman et al. (1988) as "a global

judgment, or attitude, relating to the superiority of the service”.

1.1. Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of various dimensions of CSR

activities on customer brand loyalty in telecommunication sector in Turkey. Although CSR is

an highly important issue in today’s global world, studies on how to adapt the CSR strategies

into the society and business environment in Turkey are limited and insufficient. This

research aims to address this gap and seeks to investigate whether CSR on one hand is

considered as good for the society and environment and on the other hand a good marketing

tool for companies in order to differentiate from their rivals.

Turkey has already been conducting CSR studies on some areas ranging from banking

sector to home appliances industry. However; there is a huge necessity of a deeper research in

different sectors. This study will be based on Turkish telecommunication industry which plays

a proactive role in CSR implementations in various fields such as sponsorships, financial

support to employee rights activities, education, and women empowerment. There are 3 GSM

companies operate in Turkey which are called Turkcell, Vodafone and Avea. Among all these

Turkcell company is the most preferred GSM operator in Turkey with its 34.9 million users.

Through this study it will be examined whether there is a direct or indirect effect of CSR

activities of Turkcell on customer brand loyalty.

1.2. Importance of the Study

Although there is an increasing demand from corporations to develop their CSR

strategies, still there is not adequate research conducted by marketers and academics. This study will make noticeable contributions to the CSR research in Turkish telecom

industry. This research will also be beneficial to the marketers of the industry in marketing

strategies and decision making process to be able to manage their CSR activities effectively

so that make a long term profit either directly or indirectly. Furthermore, by giving

recommendations according to the results obtained by gathered data from the companies

which carry out CSR activities this study will serve as an informative document for future

researchers in the context of CSR.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

As mentioned in the introduction section, CSR is a significant term to build the brand

loyalty. In this chapter the concepts of CSR and brand loyalty will be described.

2.1. Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Along with the emergence of industrial revolution the income disparity between

working class and the entreprenuers substantially increased causing the appeal to social

justice and awareness of socially responsible activities (Raman, Lim, Sumitra, 2012). Since

then Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a significant concept for

corporations and has been developing in today’s business environment through the realisation

of its influence on societal well being. A growing number of multinational and domestic

companies around the world becomes more familiar with CSR and in recent years most have

begun to take CSR initiatives in various ways (Forester, 2009). Some countries have made it

mandatory and some are even required to publish their CSR scores to the public (Raman et

al., 2012). Bowlen (1953), known as the father of CSR and also the writer of the “Social

Responsibilities of the Businessman” book, introduced the CSR concept to the market and

defined it as:

[…] refers to the obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies, to make

those decisions, or to follow those lines of action which are desirable in terms

of the objectives and values of our society (p.6).

Additionally, in progress of time different definitions have been developed by various

researchers. William C. Frederick is one of the important names in social responsibility and

according to Frederick (1960) social responsibility is:

“businessmen should oversee the operation of an economic system that

fulfills the expectations of the public. And this means in turn that the

economy’s means of production should be employed in such a way that

production and distribution should enhance total socio-economic welfare

(p.60)”.

Archie Carroll is another significant name in terms of CSR concept and Carroll (1979)

asserted that CSR is:

“the social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical,

and discretionary (philanthropic) expectations that society has of

organizations.”

Furthermore, Kotler and Lee (2005) state in their book called “Corporate Social

Responsibility” that:

“Corporate social responsibility is a commitment to improve community well-

being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate

resources(p.3).”

The word discretionary which refers not to compulsory but to voluntary business

practises is the key point in this definition (Kotler&Lee, 2005).

CSR can be described as “good citizenship”, or being a “good” company that supports

not only its shareholders but also the entire society. Since it is a broad concept, CSR is

sometimes difficult to be recognized by the society. CSR includes various activities ranging

from human resource management to company policies and every single act of a business that

affects the society (Yılmaz, 2012).

2.2. CSR Types

Corporate Social Responsibility mainly builds upon the idea that corporations have

several responsibilities to survive in the business environment and there are four specific

obligations, namely, economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic (Scilly, 2014). And according

to the literature there are 3 models developed based on these four main types of CSR (Geva,

2008).

2.2.1. Three Models of CSR

In existing literature there are three main CSR approaches based on four types of CSR

have been accepted by scholars which are called the Carroll’s CSR pyramid model, the

intersecting circles (IC) model, and the concentric circle (CON) model (Geva, 2008). All

these models developed to measure the relation of CSR components support to build the

social causes on the top of the economic issues (Zora, 2011).

2.2.1.1. The Pyramid Model

Despite many arguments based on the CSR components it is possible to say that the

most well- known and durable approach among all other viewpoints is the Carroll’s four-layer

conceptualisation of responsibilities (Visser, 2005). Within the context of this CSR model

Carroll divides the social obligations of a business into four levels as economic, legal, ethical

and philanthropic (Zora, 2011). In his research Carroll (1983) claims that:

“corporate social responsibility involves the conduct of a business so that it is

economically profitable, law abiding, ethical and socially supportive. To be socially

responsible then means that profitability and obedience to the law are foremost

conditions when discussing the firm’s ethics and the extent to which it supports the

society in which it exists with contributions of money, time and talent (p.608)”.

Figure 1:Source: Carroll, A.B, The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders, July-August 1991

2.2.1.1.a.Economic Responsibilities

According to Porter and Kramer (2006 p.91) “The most important thing a corporation

can do for society, and for any community, is to contribute to a prosperous economy”. In this

context, economics is seen as the fundamental of the responsibility of the business while all

other obligations are based on the economics since it is considered that without profit all other

levels of the pyramid for a business become pointless (Carroll 1991).

Economic responsibilities can be specified as performing consistently to increase

revenue, being strongly competitive, make profit as much as possible, operating efficiently

(Carroll, 1991).

2.2.1.1.b.Legal Responsibilities

Businesses are not only required to be profitable but also all their activities should

operate properly as stated in laws and regulations made by authorities (Carroll, 1991).

Companies should be audited by the government rules in order to make sure economic duties

and expectations by the society are met; otherwise they conduct the business only for their

own good instead of the whole society (Zora, 2011).

This second level of the pyramid includes operating in line with government laws and

regulations, being a legalist citizen and providing goods and services that fulfill the

requirements stated by laws and obligations (Yılmaz, 2012).

2.2.1.1.c.Ethical Responsibilities

While economic and legal responsibilities points out the rules about fairness and

justice stated by laws; ethical responsibilities concern about the activities that are generally

expected or prohibited by society (Yılmaz, 2012). This third layer of the Carroll’s pyramid is

not necessarily defined by laws (Zora, 2011).

Performing in line with the expectations of ethical norms, complying with upcoming

and changing moral values adopted by society, being a good corporate citizen as doing what

is good and morally acceptable by people can be given as the specific examples of ethical

responsibilities (Yılmaz, 2012).

2.2.1.1.d.Philanthropic Responsibilities

The philanthropic responsibility layer within the Carroll’s model refers to the common

will of companies to perform activities for the societal development (Fahlioğulları, 2009). The

activities such as contribution to art, education, communities, participation of employees in

voluntary activities which will increase the “the quality of life” in society can be regard as the

philanthropic responsibilities of a corporation (Carroll, 1991). The distinguishing part

between philanthropic and ethical responsibilities is that corporations spend time and money

for society’s good on a voluntary basis and if they don’t they are not considered unethical

(Zora, 2011).

According to Carroll (1991) the last level of pyramid model involves performing in

line with the expectations of philanthropic norms, playing an active role in different fields

such as providing assistance to educational institutions, women organizations, providing

funds to protect employee rights, the employee and manager participation in charities, leading

and assisting CSR projects within local communities to contribute to the “quality of life”.

2.2.1.2. The Intersecting Circles Model

Schwartz and Carroll developed the Intersecting Circles (IC) model as an alternative to

the pyramid model of CSR (Madu and Kuei, 2012). IC disagrees with the Carroll’s hierarchial

approach between economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities which implies

the economic responsibility is the most fundamental and rather supports the mutual relation

among these components (Geva, 2008).

Figure 2:Source: Geva, A., Three Models of Corporate Social Responsibility: Interrelationships between Theory, Research, and Practice, Business and Society Review 113:1, p.5

2.2.1.3. The Concentric Circle ModelThe Concentric Circle (CON) Model shows similarity with both the pyramid and IC

model (Geva, 2008). The similarity with the pyramid model is that CON model considers the

economic role as the business’s main responsibility and the similarity with the IC model is

that it emphasizes the harmony between different social responsibility elements (Zu, 2009).

However, the model is also different from both the former models. While the pyramid and IC

models define the economic role in terms of narrow-self (profitable), on the other hand CON

model defines it in a broader framework and in the context of the good of society

(constructively profitable) (Geva, 2008).

Figure 3:Source: Geva, A., Three Models of Corporate Social Responsibility: Interrelationships between Theory, Research, and Practice, Business and Society Review 113:1, p.5

2.2.1.4.Differences Between Three CSR Models

Figure 4:

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8594.2008.00311.x/full

2.3. Evolution of CSR Concept

Figure 5 below provides an overview of the evolution of CSR which begins from 1950’s and is extended to 2000’s and today.

Figure 5: CSR development over years

2.4. CSR in Turkey

The CSR concept in Turkey is generally defined as the voluntary activities that are

performed by the companies in order to meet the needs of society (Zora, 2011).

CSR activities in Turkey began with the waqf (foundation) in the Ottoman times and

they have been the common form of these activities since then (Zora, 2011; Bilgehan, 2012).

Many firms in Turkey, especially family owned ones, has established their own foundations

with the purpose of solving the education and health related problems in the society.

In Turkey, redefinition of the role of private and public sectors and NGOs in the 1990s can be considered as a major transformation. Also Turkey started to discuss the actors of social development which are called the efficiency of a strong central state, a widening role for the private sector, and more space for NGOs. On the other hand, along with the process of accession to the EU, the importance of civil society organizations(CSO) was realized and EU funding established a platform for these organizations including the CSO Training and Research Centres of the universities and the Civil Society Development Programme. Prior dominant role of the state was finally balanced with that of the private sector and civil society (Yılmaz, 2012).

According to the negotiations between Turkey and the EU in December 2004, Turkish

firms could work more constructively with the government, civil society organizations, labour

unions and their own suppliers. The 2004 Regular Report on Turkey’s Progress Toward

Accession states that “Turkey needs to address a number of shortcomings in the transposition

of some Directives”. “shortcomings in the transposition” refers to the way Turkish firms’

behaviours towards their employees as well as relate to government, which are not only a

problem in Turkey, but have also been in other European countries. Corporate Social

Responsibility has become considerably important (Yılmaz, 2012).

On the other hand, increasing awareness of the term sustainable development

throughout the world increased the importance of corporate social responsibility. When

17,000 people died because of the 1999 İzmit earthquake in Turkey, destruction was

dramatically felt in the industrial and highly populated areas. After this disaster, various

groups and NGOs round the country took part in the rescue works voluntarily and involved in

reconstruction of the demolished areas. The most outstanding group during this process was

the Search and Rescue Association (AKUT). Indeed it was appointed as the second most

trusted institution, coming after the armed forces (Adaman, Çarkoglu, and Senatalar 2000).

The earthquake, in this respect, had a crucial impact on values of volunteerism and

participation among Turkish citizens, highlighting the need of activism for development

(Fahlioğulları, 2009).

As a consequence, international issues like the accession process to EU as well as the

economic and social disasters in the country started the debate of the business’ and the civil

societies’ role in CSR activities. Many researches were made by both international and

Turkish research companies. The research shows that CSR as an element of corporate

reputation in Turkey has been in an increase since 1999.

(http://www.csrturkey.org/raporING.pdf; 12.04.2009).

According to the United Nation’s research in 2008, the problems and risks related the social responsibility activities in Turkey are revealed. The most significant subjects of the report can be explained briefly as follows;

“1) In Turkish Business Environment there is still no concensus about the scope and the definion of corporate social responsibility, and this directly affects social responsibility practices of the firms.2) Most of the social responsibility projects and activities are executed by non-governmental organizations and sponspors in Turkey.3) There is need for social responsibility projects related to human and employee rights.4) Turkish firms mostly perceive social responsibility projects as tools for increasing marketing and corporate reputation.5) Multinational companies affect the social responsbility activities positively in Turkey.”(Pirtini, 2010).

2.5.Brand Loyalty Definition

In this highly competitive environment the most significant marketing tool for

companies to generate revenue and get ahead of their rivals is the term of “Brand loyalty”

(Fahlioğulları, 2009).

There are various brand loyalty definitions in the business literature according to

different researchers and approaches. According to Oliver (1999):

“Loyalty is a deeply held commitment to re-buy or to re-patronize a preferred

product / service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive

samebrand or some brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and

marketing efforts having the potential to cause switching behaviour”.

On the other hand; the term brand loyalty is defined by American Marketing

Association as “the situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-

originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers

within the category” or “the degree to which a consumer consistently purchases the same

brand within a product class”.

2.6.Brand Loyalty Types

Two main approaches are broadly accepted as measures of brand loyalty, i.e.

behavioural and attidudinal (Fahlioğulları,2009).

2.6.1.Behavioral Loyalty

Behavioural loyalty construct can be widely described as “a consistent purchase

activity of a specific brand over time” (Hanzaee, Khoshpanjeh, Rahnama, 2011). According

to the researchers behavioral measures rely on real, actual behaviors such as frequency and

repetition of purchase, quantity of goods sold of the brand (Yılmaz, 2012). The customer who

prefers and buys the same brand consistently is considered to be loyal (Geçti, Zengin, 2013).

However, some researchers claim that behavioural loyalty measurements are inadequate to

describe the reason why and how the brand loyalty influences the consumer (Yılmaz, 2012).

2.6.2.Attitudinal Loyalty

In response to criticisim that behavourial measures are insufficient researchers have

developed the attitudinal loyalty concept whose mostly accepted definition is “a favorable

attitude towards a brand” (Yılmaz, 2012; Hanzaee et al., 2011). Attitudinal loyalty mainly

focuses on an attitude and the commitment of the customer towards a particular brand and

measures how psychologically committed the customers are to the brands (Geçti, Zengin,

2013).

2.7.Relationship Between CSR and Customer Brand Loyalty

For most customers the product quality itself is obviously not enough to be loyal to the

brand since they rate the companies’ actions as a whole while deciding which brand to buy

(Yılmaz, 2012). Among all operations of a company CSR is one of the most useful

instruments to achieve the brand loyalty by way of building a strong relationship and an

emotional bond with buyers.

According to the literature the term brand loyalty is positively effected by corporate

social responsibility activities - categorized as economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic -

carried out by a company (Fahlioğulları, 2009). Research shows that CSR initiatives in

various forms become active channels for building customer loyalty. For instance, supporting

a cause supporting women’s rights, and philanthropy, all have been shown to assist in

generating loyal customers (Yılmaz, 2012).

This project will examine the relationship between the Snowdrops Project, one of the

CSR activities carried out by Turkcell GSM company, and its effects on the customer brand

loyalty. The intention is to figure out whether there is a positive relationship between them.

3. APPLICATION

Turkcell’s Kardelenler(Snowdrops)-Çağdaş Türkiye’nin Çağdaş Kızları(Modern Girls

in a Modern Turkey) Project

In Turkey corporate social responsibility projects are performed in seven different areas such as; education, health, culture/arts, environment, sports, history and social matters. Turkcell, Colgate, Cheetos, Pınar and Danone are the firms that execute education related social responsibility projects. Tetra Pak, Aygaz, Pfizer, Roche and Eczacibasi are the examples of firms dealing with health related social responsibility. YKM, Coca Cola, Philips, Nokia and HP are some of the important firms that are popular with their environmental socialresponsibility activities. Koç Holding, Efes, Eti, Pınar and Banvit are the examples of firms spending great effort on social responsibility projects related to culture/arts. Vestel, Danone, P&G, Omo and Turkcell are the examples of firms dealing with sports related social responsibility activities. Opet, Efes, Aygaz, Çalık Holding and KoçBank are some of the examples of the firms dealing with social responsibility projects concerning history. Finally, for the firms executing community related social responsibility projects Sabancı Holding, Hurriyet, Koç Holding, Unilever and Beta can be considered as good examples (Pirtini, Erdem, 2010). In this project the social responsible project of Turkcell related to education will be examined in terms of its effects on customer brand loyalty.

GSM companies have been spending huge amounts of money to the CSR projects

since they realized that it has become highly important to apply these projects in order not

only to act in a socially responsible manner but also provide the long term sustainability and

make profit by establishing a strong relationship with the customers (Yılmaz, 2012). As long

as the companies seem responsible and apply projects for the well-being of the society

customers will be more loyal (Michael, Riedmann, Dinler, 2005).

Turkey’s leading GSM operator Turkcell is one of the most successful and well-

known companies that has developed and managed various kinds of CSR projects. The reason

why Turkcell was chosen as the case study is that since the day it was established, Turkcell

has been seen as an organization which is sensitive about social issues. Even in their website,

it can be seen how they perceive CSR; “Corporate Social Responsibility for Turkcell is not

the activities considered separate from our business but they are our business itself”. There are

various kinds of successful social responsibility projects have been achieved by Turkcell

ranging from education and healthcare to women empowerment and sports (Engin, Akgöz,

2013). However, in this study “Kardelenler (Snowdrops)-Çağdaş Türkiye’nin Çağdaş Kızları

(Modern Girls in a Modern Turkey) Project” of Turkcell will be examined in terms of its

influences on brand loyalty either directly or indirectly. Required data to demonstrate the

results of the examination was gathered from various articles, columns, thesis studies and

Turkcell’s own websites which are www.turkcell.com.tr and http://kardelenler.turkcell.com.tr.

“Snowdrops (Kardelenler)” is one of the most successful education related social

responsibility projects that has been carried out by Turkcell since 2000. According to

Turkcell, improving technology can only become efficient with the qualified human resource.

In accordance with the human resourse development vision, Turkcell developed and

conducted this project together with the Association in Support of Contemporary Living

(Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği) on the purpose of supporting the successful young

people, giving them the equal opportunities in education and providing financial and moral

support for girls who are not able to go to school in rural areas (Pirtini, Erdem, 2010).

In many parts of Turkey, especially in undeveloped urban and rural areas thousands of

young girls are kept from school because of their families’ financial incapability (Engin,

Akgöz, 2013). Since most of their families live below the poverty line it is not easy for them

to become well educated. Turkey has a high rate of illiteracy among its female population: Of

the 7.5 million illiterate adults in Turkey in 2000, 24 percent were male, 76 percent female.

In this context, the long term goal of the “Snowdrops” Project is to provide equal

educational conditions to girls and make them individuals with a career and a vision. The

‘Snowdrops’ project is named after the Snowdrop flower which is found in Eastern Anatolia’s

cold climate and which blossoms before the snow melts.

Ali Kırmacı, the Marmara field sales manager of Turkcell, explained the reason why

their target was the girls and their education as: “Although in Turkey the place and the role of

women are considered important, there is an undeniable fact that they are the oppressed group

of people because of the low education level. In order to prevent this situation from occuring

in the future and raise well educated and intellectual representatives of us, girls and their

education have been selected as target within the context of the Project.”(Kahraman, Taşkın,

2008).

The Project Execution Process

The Snowdrops project was introduced in August 2000 through a press conference

held jointly by the Ministry of State in charge of the Affairs of Women and Family,

Association in Support of Contemporary Living (ÇYDD), and Turkcell and it was divided

into three stages. First stage included the scholarship to 5000 female students from 33 priority

development provinces of the country in the 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 school years. Second

stage, 2002-2003 school year, consisted of additional scholarships granted to students who

had been receiving scholarships under the project and became eligible to study in a university.

Moreover in this stage the number of provinces contained within the project was increased to

35. Consequently, 46 students in 2003, 76 students in 2004, 108 in 2005 and 883 students in

2006 have gained right to continue their scholarships by becoming successful at the university

entrance exam. The third stage of the program contains the 2003-2004 school year and

ensuing years. At this stage twenty-six of the Snowdrops started attending the Turkish

Education Association College (TED İstanbul) on Turkcell scholarship. The students were

selected through exams administered in the provinces of Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Van, Batman, and

Bolu in collaboration of the school and CYDD. And these students’ accommodation is

provided by the TED Student Dormitory which was built with Turkcell’s contribution

(Kahraman, Taşkın, 2008). Today Kardelenler Project provides social, financial and

mentoring support to 12,300 young Turkish women in leading them to become

comprehensively educated and qualified professionals. Turkcell started the “Mentoring

Program (Yönderlik Programı)” in 2004 for the Snowdrops coming from the rural areas of

Turkey and continued their higher education. This program’s aim was to support Snowdrops

with their integration into big city and university life. Female managers within Turkcell and

respected journalists volunteered to provide social and moral mentoring for these Snowdrops

(Kahraman, Taşkın, 2008).

During the process of implementation most activities have been performed and

monitored by Turkcell’s own institutional unit constructed for Kardelenler. However, in case

of need the company has taken support from different agecies. Since Turkcell stated that the

social responsibility projects and their effects must be long term and extended over time, the

company has not specified an expected end date for this project. In this respect the company’s

ongoing social responsibility project “Kardelenler-Modern Girls of a Modern Turkey” has

been performed by the Turkcell Corporate Communication Department (Kahraman, Taşkın,

2008). Kardelenler (Snowdrops) Project has been achieving both long term objectives of

Turkcell which are contributing to overcoming the problem of female illiteracy in Turkey and

becoming a role model for other Turkish companies in this context.

To provide additional fund and becoming an example for similar projects in Turkey

Turkcell published a book about the true stories of the Snowdrops in 2004. Kulin interviewed

50 girls in 35 cities and Manuel Çıtak photographed them. The book was reprinted more 20

times in order to meet the demand of readers and the income was donated to the Snowdrops

Project by Ayşe Kulin and Turkcell. In adition to the book, in 2005 Sezen Aksu, the famous

singer, released an album called “Kardelenler” and dedicated it to the Snowdrop Girls. Sezen

Aksu gave 21 concerts in 2005 in a multi-city tour spanning Turkey to promote the album and

provide donations to the project. Same as “Kardelenler” book, the income earned through

“Kardelenler” album was used for a four-year high school education of 770 additional

students (Engin, Akgöz, 2013). Furthermore in 2006 The “Snowdrops Development

Program” began to prepare students for the professional life by training them in

communication techniques, technology, foreign language, culture&art, self confidence,

personal development and time management. From the 2007-2008 school year, Turkcell

decided to increase the number of scholarships to 10,000 yearly, including whole country.

Basic communication channels Turkcell used to spread the project are media relations,

Turkcell Internal Communication, TV advertising, promotional materials such as calendars,

notebooks, school materials, etc. and snowdrop website. As a result of using all these

promotion channels in all around Turkey efficiently and consistently, Turkcell has become

one of the best companies in communication with consumers (Kahraman, Taşkın, 2008).

Evaluation

12,300 female students from rural areas of Turkey received scholarships through the

Snowdrops Project, including 7,380 high school graduates, 950 university students and 170

university graduates. Now, they are making support for other female students in their

hometown. As professionals such as teachers, engineers, accountants etc. they are working to

imrove the perception of people living in rural areas in terms of education. In this context the

project has not only changed the lives of Snowdrops, also affected the education level of their

families and their environment.

According to Synovate February 2006 Turkcell Corporate Reputation Survey Report

the Snowdropss recognition rate raised to 23% from 5% within two years. Also it ranked first

among the ten companies which was found most successful in social responsibility projects by

business environment according to Capital magazine’s “Turkey’s Social Responsibility

Leaders” survey).

Compared to the Turkey average ratio, it is observed that the Snowdrops’ success at

university entrance examinations is considerably high; the Snowdrops’ success rate is 30%

while the Turkey’s average rate is 18%.

Ali Kırmacı, the Marmara field sales manager of Turkcell states that before the

Snowdrops Project customers paid only for getting service from the company; however they

now think that they also contribute to the project. Consequently, sales of the company has

increased and its image has been affected in a positive way. Participation rate to the project

related organizations shows that Snowdrops program has reached a very successful level

(Kahraman, Taşkın, 2008).

Figure 6: Source: kardelenler.turkcell.com.tr, 2010.

On the other hand, while the total number of Turkcell subscribers was 10,07 million

people it has become 31,8 million people by the year-end of 2006. And from 2000 (the

starting year of the Project) to 2006 it can be seen that the total number of subscribers has

increased by 216%. The reason of this increase is surely not only the success of

“Kardelenler(Snowdrops) Project”. Turkcell’s having a wide network coverage, a broad

dealer network across the country, providing different tariffs for different customer segments,

applying commitment programs and improving brand new products can also be indicated as

the reasons of increase. However; considering Ali Kırmacı’s assessments and that the project

has been performed by the allowances reserved from Turkcell’s budget and the customers

know that, it could be said that “Snowdrops” also has an effect on this increase (Kahraman,

Taşkın, 2008).

Awards Received by Turkcell’s Snowdrops Project

International Awards:

Turkcell IPR Excellence Awards,

Foundation of Women Executives' Public Relations (WEPR),

"Crystal Obelisk",

PR News CSR Awards.

National Awards:

Platin Zirvedekiler Award (2002),

“Most Successful Public Relations Campaign” Award in “The Fourth

Communications Awards” held by Gazi University Communications Faculty (2003),

“Most Successful Private Sector Service” Award in the field of girls’ education from

the Volunteer Organizations’ National Commission on Women’s Health,

KASAKOM (2003),

“Zirvedekiler Social Responsibility” Award,

“Corporate Social Sponsorship” Award in Active Academy Awards (2003).

Source: http://d.turkcell.com.tr/docs/ic/TURKCELL_SNOWDROPS.pdf

4.DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

In this section, the findings of the “Snowdrops Project” and its relation with the

customer brand loyalty will be discussed. In addition to that, overall CSR activities will be

evaluated in the scope of the Turkish Business Environment and some suggestions will be

itemized for companies and Turkish government in order to perform more effective CSR

programs.

Discussion

In this project, the perceived impact of corporate social responsibility practises of

Turkcell on brand loyalty was examined. Firstly, the term Corporate Social Responsibility

was introduced and its implementation process in Turkey was described. Secondly, the

definition and dimensions of brand loyalty was given. Then the Snowdrops program which

was created as one of the most successful CSR programs of Turkcell was chosen as a case

study to demonstrate whether there is a direct or indirect effect between CSR activities and

brand loyalty. The project’s idea generation, introduction, promotion and evaluation phases

were explained and its effects on customers’s perception was outlined. The company’s

persistency and consistency levels on the project was assessed in the light of existing

literature, data observed from the Turkcell’s own websites and the interview held with the

President of CSR Association of Turkey, Serdar Dinler. Consequently, it has been found out

that there is an undeniably positive effect of the Turkcell CSR activities on customer brand

loyalty. As mentioned before, Turkcell users has grown in a great number after they

recognised the Snowdrops Project by knowing that they are contributing to the female

education as well as to the society. This means that the implementation of CSR initiatives

establish, develop, and maintain a sustainable brand loyalty by influencing the people’s

perception in a positive way and making them feel good about what they are doing for the

society’s collective good (Yılmaz, 2012).

Therefore, as stated in the introductory part of this project customers have a changing

perception and increasing awareness towards societal problems so that the companies, as

Turkcell did in several fields, should respond to this change by improving CSR based

strategies to provide customer brand loyalty which makes the brand more competitive and

proactive in business environment.

Implications

1) Company managers can use CSR as a strategic tool to increase customer loyalty and

thus profit.

As explained before, as a part of a society, business needs support from the society,

therefore, it should meet the society demands (Yılmaz,2012). CSR initiatives by companies

are one of the most effective tools in order to meet these demands. If company managers

focus on the CSR activities more customer satisfaction is expected to increase. More

satisfaction on customers mean that customers will keep buying good or service from that

company and moreover they may contribute to the number of customers increase by using the

word of mouth. By gaining trust from customers, the company become more powerful and

successful among their rivals. In time this trust turns into the loyalty towards that brand as

seen in Turkcell Snowdrops case. Turkcell has been successfully using the CSR concept as a

marketing element for a long time. Sustainability of the project is another factor in order to

keep customers loyal and Turkcell has shown its consistency and persistency on Snowdrops

project by improving, promoting and maintaining it for years. Other companies may use the

same strategy in order to differentiate from their competitors, retain their existing customers

and gain new ones, so that their profit rate increases incrementally.

2) Companies should communicate its CSR activities more to its customers.

Since successful CSR projects make brands more competitive in business environment

and provide them a better image, companies should try to reach the target customers and

inform them about their projects. By using media relations, Turkcell Internal Communication,

TV advertising, promotional materials, and snowdrop website Turkcell has reached the

customers and made them aware of “Snowdrops” Project. In addition to these communication

channels the company published the “Kardelenler” book written by Ayşe Kulin and released

the “Kardelenler” album devoted to snowdrops by Sezen Aksu. Thus, the Project has started

to be seen and perceived as a value by Turkcell’s customers. As outlined before, today’s

customers have an increasing tendency to buy from companies performing CSR activities. In

this context, managers should always reserve money for these activities and stay focused on

the effective communication strategy with customers so that they can keep their customers

loyal and also increase in the number of customers as Turkcell did throughout its

“Snowdrops” program.

3) Companies should focus on CSR activities related to their own fields and develop

future oriented strategies.

Turkcell has already proved its success and consistency on the “Snowdrops” Project

and in addition to this achievement it has gained loyal customers who are willing to support

the female education in Turkey. Education is very important in terms of development of a

country, however companies may be more successful by creating future oriented projects

related to their own working field. For example, they may propose CSR ideas that encourage

less harmful material usage, which in turn protection of the environment from pollution

(Yılmaz,2012).

Serdar Dinler, the President CSR Turkey, stated that Turkcell has spent 10 million a

year for the “Snowdrops” campaign. 100 millions of mobile phones and charging devices

were sold out. All these devices may become a threat and cause serious health and

environmental problems if they are disposed and processed improperly. For this reason, in

addition to education related campaigns Turkcell should also conduct CSR initiatives in terms

of environmental protection which corresponds the real meaning of the CSR concept. In this

way the company may have been more successful.

In order to survive in the business environment, sustainable development is seen as

one of the most important concepts for companies. In today’s growing business world keeping

up with the developments and becoming sustainable are very important keys for companies to

be one step ahead of their rivals. Since sustainable development is described as “development

that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to

meet their own needs”, companies should invest on CSR projects considering future

generations (Zora, 2011).

4) CSR related laws should be regulated by Turkish government.

There is no specific CSR law in Turkey today. In order to develop, regulate and spread

the CSR activities; NGOs, governments, business world and scholars can be indicated as

prominent actors which generate pressure on companies and force them to initiate these

activities. In addition to these actors the impact of laws and regulations should be taken into

account by Turkish Government. In order for the companies to work in a healthy business

environment, a proper legal framework needs to be created. For example, a CSR related

department may be established within an existing ministry (Michael, Riedmann, Dinler, 2005)

in order to analyse and monitor CSR activities of the companies, specify the rules for them

while performing those activities and provide assistance in case of need.