Analyses: The DICE Model in the Case

In this section, we apply the DICE model to Mimar Kemalettin Fashion District in order to show how creativity and knowledge flow and exchange are generated in the ecosystem of wedding wear sector as a sub-branch of the fashion industry in Izmir.

Knowledge Distribution

The results reveal that the work flow in two-third of the firms is determined by a particular composition and distribution of many diverse types of knowledge coming from various professions and job descriptions. The other 25% of them has been analyzed as being not well organized and lacking of adequate distribution. For the distribution within the two-third, each defined job is carried out by particular workers. It has been reported that the affiliations and responsibilities within the firms are distributed depending on how professional the employees are and how intense their knowledge is at the given tasks. For the overall distribution in the case area, the average number of workers employed in firms is 26. For the diversity, these jobs indicate Designers, Pattern Makers, Cutters, Accountants, Financers, Sales Assistants, Sewers, Logistics, Ironers, Productions and Handcrafting. Among these 11 different jobs, the results first illustrates that more than half of the firms hires Designers and Sales Assistants disregarding how large or relatively small the number of workers employed at each firm. For the second place, the results show that 42% of firms employ both a Pattern Maker and a Sewer. For the intensity, the owners and employers have been asked the question of what particularly you are strong at, and the results show that the firms have claimed that they are good at marketing and sales covers the percentage of 92%. According to their responses, two-thirds of the firms carries out a good design outcome, 67% of them are well concentrated on the production process, and lastly half of them carry out a sound and complete exporting.

Knowledge Interaction

The responses show that the workers in 83% of the firms, despite that they work in different units, share information, knowledge and creativity internally with each other. These firms have reported that they have realized improvements and growth with the help of internal interactions. One of the employers has said:

There is an ideal work environment here that Designer and Pattern Makers work together. They collaborate and interact with each other to bring out the best job in the process.

Another two employers have touched upon almost the same point:

For the best design and best service to customers all the workers behave as a team here. One transfers his knowledge and creativity to another’s within their working environment.

For the external interaction, the results reveal that 57% of the firms does not exchange ideas and does not enable knowledge and creativity flow with the other firms in Mimar Kemalettin Fashion District. Only the most shared knowledge in the area is marketing and sales strategies with a little percentage of 25%, not the design or production strategies among the wedding wear sector. An employer from the firms sharing their knowledge has stated that:

We communicate with the other firms in the district about the sectoral strategies and future scenarios. Current problems are very much discussed within this community locate in Mimar Kemalettin Fashion District.

Specifically for the (cooperative) interaction with the sector in the district, only 50% of the firms are found willing to cooperate with the other wedding wear firms while the other 50% refuses it. In addition, 58% of them currently work together with the supporting creative industries (e.g. magazine, fashion photography). However, two-third of the respondents has underlined the importance of external interaction with the supporting industries to the wedding wear sector. Furthermore, 90% of the firms follow the recent global trends in design and 58% of them in exporting. Moreover, almost all of them (92%) have reported that the international wedding wear fairs are very important for marketing and international recognition.

Knowledge Competition

The firms have been asked to describe the type of competition both in the district and in the city as a sector. The results illustrate that half of the firms describe the competition among the firms cooperative while the other half says that there is a conflictive competition in Mimar Kemalettin District. Regardless the cluster in the district, for the entire wedding wear sector in Izmir, the competition occurs among different firms have been portrayed cooperative rather than conflictive.

Knowledge Evolution

The results show that 77% of the firms have supported some training and learning programs to improve the professional development and knowledge. More than half of these firms have enabled their employees to take training programs in design. The rest of them have supported the trainings in foreign language and exporting. Two-thirds of the firms have benefited from these programs in terms of knowledge mutation, development and organizational enhancement. Three employers have touched upon almost the same point:

After the training program in design, we, as a relatively large scale wedding wear company, have ended up good design outcomes and brought up up- to-date designs into the sector.

Another two employers have mentioned about the necessity of the use of foreign language for the knowledge mutation and they highlighted the same issue:

Regarding the outcomes of the previous trainings that our employees have been given, the knowledge within the firm is accumulated, regenerated and distributed again. We see this vital for the firm enhancement and sectoral development. These improvements have also resulted in better connection with the wedding wear sector outside the country.

Almost all of the firms have been found having international connection for exporting their goods. Almost all of them (92%) have responded that international connections with the wedding wear buyers have contributed to their knowledge evolution and enhanced their overall motivations and performances. Employing a designer is also a good contribution to their evolution. 83% of the firms hire designers in their organizations.

For the knowledge crossover as an external driver to the evolution, two-third of the firms has acquired employers from other firms. Three firms have underlined the knowledge growth driven by input from external organizations:

Considerable new knowledge derived from outside the firm through hiring someone experienced in the district has enabled better knowledge flow and experience share among the employees and workers within the company. The company has had a chance to evolve via better performance.

Another two employers have said:

Hiring a new employee from another company located in the district has considerably added to the sale performance and exporting skills of the firm.

The questionnaire has also revealed that employing from outside the cluster around the city itself is rare. Rather, the firms prefer people experienced in Mimar Kemalettin Fashion District, especially in the wedding wear sector. Moreover, according to the results, two-third of the firms does not adopt new designs, materials and production technologies from the other firms located in Mimar Kemalettin Fashion District.

After having analyzed the results of the questionnaire, the findings will be assessed regarding how wedding wear cluster in Mimar Kemalettin Fashion District self-operate as a creative knowledge ecosystem itself. The findings for each component will be explained in the following section.