Determining the Competitive Advantages of Production Co-operatives for Development of Cooperative Markets in Khuzestan Province

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the acquisition of competitive advantage of cooperative companies in Khuzestan province for the development of cooperative markets. The statistical population of this research was all managers of companies and employees of production cooperatives in Khuzestan province. Using Morgan table and random sampling method, 267 samples were estimated. After distributing the questionnaire and reviewing the returned questionnaires, 147 questionnaires could be used. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability was confirmed using structural equation modeling tests by partial least squares method. The results of this research show that, on one hand, factors of the effectiveness of HRM, organizational reputation, technology status, and quality are the most important factors of competitive advantage of production cooperatives. On the other hand, advertising, customer orientation, and innovation did not have a role in creating the competitive edge. A review of the side effects of the research showed that sales was one of the main challenges of the production cooperatives, which was highly influenced by the competitive advantage factors discussed in this study and the success in which can be affect business sustainability.Therefore, having a competitive advantage could have a significant effect on this important and functional variable