"Our target is to become a global company"

Tanju Argun, who has been appointed general coordinator of Goldart Holding and has accelerated the process of corporate institutionalization, is very upbeat about his new position. “We want to compete with the global giants,” he says and lists their immediate targets as follows: “We plan to open 160 stores in Turkey, Russia and China in 2007. The group is targeting growth of 10-15 percent in 207.”

Tanju Argun is the new general coordinator of Goldart Holding. In fact, we know him from the influential positions he held at some of the most important companies in Turkey, such as Netaş, Vestel and Ereğli Demir Çelik. The special characteristics that distinguish him from other leaders is the effective responsibility in total quality management he has assumed in all of the companies in which he has worked and the work he has done to o increase R & D investments… Argun is now fulfilling this mission at the jewelry company Goldaş Kuyumculuk. He aims to make Goldaş into a truly global company. He is working to accelerate corporate institutionalization and create an international brand.

We spoke with Goldart General Coordinator Tanju Argun about Goldaş Kuyumculuk and the company’s corporate institutionalization process.

* What are your targets? What kind of changes will you introduce?
We have introduced changes in the organization. We have established the organization most suitable for Goldaş’s anatomy. We have also introduced changes in processes. We have identified sub- and critical processes in addition to the main processes. We have changed a number of positions which were not creating added value. It is possible that there may be positions in a company which are not creating added value but which everybody has become so use to that they stay as they are for years. We have reduced bureaucracy by changing these positions which just had been forgotten about.

There have been some benefits in terms of human resources. We have worked on evaluating performance and identifying salary levels. The standard of Goldaş’s production is very high but when we measured it by global standards we decided to make some changes there. We are making improvements.

* What kind of growth are you planning over the next 2-3 years?
We are aiming to make Goldaş into a truly global company. We want to increase the sales of our own products. At the moment, Goldaş has a turnover of YTL 3.15 billion and is one of the 100 leading companies in Turkey. A large proportion of our turnover comes from trading in gold. In the future we are aiming to increase the proportion of our turnover which comes from our own products. We shall produce good designs, quickly launch good products on the market and increase the sales of our own products. We want approximately half of our turnover to come from trading in gold and half from sales of our own products. In 2006 we increased our exports by over 100 percent to $117,419,000. In 2006 Goldart Holding had a turnover of $3.2 billion, while the turnover of Yalınkaya Holding reached $3.9 billion. In 2007 we plan to open a total of 160 stores in Turkey, Russia and China. We are looking to increase our exports and target new markets. As a group we have set ourselves a target of growth of 10-15 percent.

Fadime Çoban Bazzal
[email protected]