Today was our first full day in Istanbul. At the beginning of the day, we took the bus to Şişecam Glass Company, which is also the parent company of Paşabahçe, a reatail brand of glassware that is the third largest producer in the world (behind Arc in France and Libbey in the United States). It was interesting to see how such a specific company can realize such a good profit margin, and how much business they did with other eastern countries like Iran.
After the glass company and lunch at the Kanyon Mall, we went to a yacht company called Yon-tech, which was a really cool experience. The copmany started in 1986, and has grown to a major competitor, especially with regards to military clients. The two founders of the company are an engineer and an entrepreneur who believe in maintaining a competitive edge by "learning faster than the competition," which is an interesting take on the notion in economics that short-run profits can be realized through innovations in technology. He also told a powerful story about the death of his son and how he was able to overcome such an obstacle in his enterprise. We definitely got a sense of Turkey's nationalism through his pride in his military projects. We got to see some of these projects, as well as some neat car molds he was working on; that seemed to be his hobby.
After the two corporate visits, we went to the Grand Bazaar, which was quite an experience. It reminded me of the international marketplace I went to once in Hawaii where you could bargain for the stuff you wanted to buy. I got a magnet for my parents and some postcards, but they were selling pretty much everything there. We took a long route back to the bus stop, and at night we ended up at a club featuring a live Turkish band named Pickpocket. After seeing them and wishing Maggie a happy birthday at midnight, we went home and went to bed - all in a day's work.
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