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This study aims to find out whether strategic plans contribute to change by exploring to what extent environmental (external and internal) perceptions of the public institutions changed in consecutive plans.

The research is an explorative case study of three metropolitan municipalities in Turkey: Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, which represent about one-third of population of the country. In this context, three consecutive strategic plans of metropolitan municipalities in question were examined based on a content analysis using a guideline developed by the author.

The findings reveal that the use of strategic plans as a guide is indispensable. The study argues that consecutive strategic plans of metropolitan municipalities are both conducive to change and are useful tools for the effectiveness of the strategy.

While this study analyses the strategic plans regardless of considering the extent to which the institutions have achieved their desired goals, it recommends that the “strategic plans” should not only be used as rituals but also as a guide to change.

The study emphasizes the fact that strategic plans provide managers with the necessary tools to perform an analysis that gives insight into the extent to which they are able to manage the change when they compare their strategic plans and put them into practice in the consecutive periods.

This study contributes to the field by questioning the basis of criticisms of strategic planning in the context of public sector and shows how strategic plans play a role in tracing the change in institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic model regarding the antecedents and consequences of organizational ambidexterity in the context of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly for developing countries such as Turkey. Moreover, this paper also aims to reveal the moderating role of networking between organizational ambidexterity and firm performance.

By studying 105 SMEs engaged in small business and technology development centers (SBTDCs), structural equation modeling through SmartPLS is executed.

The findings show that: discipline and support positively influence the formation and the maintenance of organizational ambidexterity; organizational ambidexterity significantly contributes to firm performance; and the greater the networking the greater the relationship between exploitation capability and firm performance.

To date, there has been no systematic attempt in the extant literature to develop a holistic manner of organizational ambidexterity, with its antecedents and consequences in the context of SMEs in general, in SMEs of a developing country, Turkey in particular. Moreover, the moderating role of networking between organizational ambidexterity and a firm’s performance has never been examined.

The aim of this study is to investigate the competitiveness of the selected services in Turkey in comparison with the EU and the selected EU countries based on three comparative advantage indices.

Three different revealed comparative advantage indices were utilised in a combined way. Import and export figures of six service sectors were taken into account for the period of 2000-2010. The selected services are: transportation, travel, construction, financial services and insurance, communications and IT services, and personal, cultural and recreational services. Consistency of the results was achieved through correlation analyses.

Strong comparative advantages exist for Turkey in construction, tourism and transportation sectors. Although Turkish financial and insurance and communication and computer-information sectors appear to be weak compared to EU, there is a substantial potential for improvement.

A detailed comparative investigation of services' competitiveness for Turkey was provided. The policy decision makers in Turkey and in Europe's selected countries can utilise the findings and recommendations of the study for projection of the investigated sectors.