Market-making strategies in Tanzimat era Istanbul: The quest for an elusive cosmopolitanism

Uygur K., Yalkin C., Uygur S.

Business History, vol.67, no.3, pp.956-986, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 67 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2279128
  • Journal Name: Business History
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online, ABI/INFORM, American History and Life, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, EconLit, Geobase, Historical Abstracts, PAIS International, Public Affairs Index
  • Page Numbers: pp.956-986
  • Keywords: 19th century, Armeno-Turkish newspapers, business communication, Manzume-i Efkar, Market making, market making strategy, newspaper advertisements, Ottoman business, Ottoman cosmopolitanism, Ottoman economy, Ottoman Press, Tanzimat
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Focusing on a pivotal period of the Ottoman Empire, we illustrate how advertising tactics act as market-making tools for local and non-local businesses during the Tanzimat (1839–1876) (Re-organization) era through a study of advertisements in the popular Armeno-Turkish daily newspaper Manzume-i Efkâr. We show that using standardised marketing communications in both form and content to invoke Westernness, forging dealership networks to induce demand, and legitimising the products and brands acted as market-making mechanisms and helped to introduce new products into the local market. Our findings further illuminate that although the market making efforts of the era might suggest the existence of a multilingual, ethnically, and culturally diverse consumer group, the adverts only speak to a limited and inorganically bound set of consumers.