Education and training
Mehdi Homayounfar; Seyyed Mohammad Zargar; Mansour Soufi; Seyyedeh Fereshteh Mousavi
Volume 8, Issue 3 , Summer 2018, , Pages 341-354
Abstract
The rapid world economic growth has driven the businesses towards involvement in international marketplaces due to lower business risks, lower commitment of resources, and higher flexibility of these markets. However, evidence indicates that barriers to exportation vary across different ...
Read More
The rapid world economic growth has driven the businesses towards involvement in international marketplaces due to lower business risks, lower commitment of resources, and higher flexibility of these markets. However, evidence indicates that barriers to exportation vary across different stages of internationalization. Therefore, this empirical study was carried out to explore exportation barriers of agricultural commodities, especially honey, in Iran. Based on an explorative literature review, several factors were considered as export barriers of agricultural commodities. These barriers were provided to a sample of 20 honey exporters in Ardabil province using a questionnaire. After collecting and analyzing the data, 21 factors were identified as the important barriers to honey export. A graph theory-based technique (DEMATEL) with feedback structure was used to explore the direct and indirect effects of barriers on the other barriers and the whole system. The results indicate that adjusting export promotion activities, lack of home government assistance/incentives, shortage of working capital to finance exports, high tariff and nontariff barriers, different foreign customer habits/attitudes are the most critical barriers in the order of importance.
Decision-making
Mohsen Shafieyan Estahbanati; Mehdi Homayounfar; Mehdi Fadaei
Volume 7, Issue 2 , Spring 2017, , Pages 141-153
Abstract
Sustainable development is one of the most important issues that can be considered from different aspects and in different contexts including sustainable agriculture. This study aimed to investigate the main strategies related to sustainable development of rice production as an important agricultural ...
Read More
Sustainable development is one of the most important issues that can be considered from different aspects and in different contexts including sustainable agriculture. This study aimed to investigate the main strategies related to sustainable development of rice production as an important agricultural product in Guilan Province using a SWOT analysis. To this end, different internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors affecting rice production development were reviewed in the literature. Next, a questionnaire was designed based on the potential opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses in the literature and the initial interview of the experts; then, the experts were asked to determine the importance of factors on a five-point Likert type scale. The results showed that the rice production received the total scores of 2.14 and 2.24 for the External Factor Evaluation (EFE) matrix and the Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) matrix, respectively, indicating the ineffectiveness of the industry’s strategies. These scores mapped the position of rice production in Guilan Province. Finally, a number of strategies for sustainable development of rice crop were outlined in order to reduce the weaknesses, avoid the threats, improve the strengths, and grasp the opportunities for the rice production of Guilan Province.
