Proceedings: 1st International Conference on Food and Agricultural Economics: EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF QUALITY CERTIFICATES USED IN FOOD SECTOR ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE: CASE OF KAYSERİ SUGAR FACTORY

The food sector as a labor-intensive sector, is directly related to the processing of agricultural products, the industrial raw material input, the employment contribution and the balanced diet requirement of the people. Because of these it has a strategic importance all over the World in terms of sociological and economic aspects. The changing process accelerated particularly in 90s, has led institutions to integrated programs in increasingly globalized conditions and multinational joint workspaces have become widespread. In parallel with technological developments, intensive and complicated information communication has increased the need for standardization. Many of the regulations, standards and practice developed in the field of document management are the results of the synergy created by the international collaborations. This, on the one hand, has led to an increase in service quality and standardization, as well as guidance for institutions that have difficulty establishing service policies. Within the scope of this study, food safety has been discussed and four key objectives of the Green Document on the General Principles of Food Law in the European Union, the first step towards the amendment of European food legislation, have been mentioned. Later on, European Union was able to manage the crises experienced, and the transition from the green document to the White document and the establishment of high food safety standards were discussed. Kayseri Sugar Factory, one of the important agri-food enterprise of Turkey and Kayseri, is chosen to evaluate relations between quality and food safety certifications and firm performance. For this purpose a case study approach is used to analyse effect of quality assurance documents and some food safety certifications on the business performance such as sales, number of customers etc. Between 2010 and 2014, the quality and food safety policies of the Kayseri sugar factory have been mentioned and the quality documents and the requirements of these documents have been reviewed. After receiving these documents by Kayseri Sugar Factory, the effects of the documents on the business performance are analysed and interpreted numerically. At the end of this study, It is seen that after receiving these documents some improvements in sales and increasement in number of institutional big customers are observed.