Evaluation of the Actor’s Network of Traditional Herbal Seller and Medicinal Plant Sellers in Iran (Case Study: Alborz Province)

Medicinal plants have played a fundamental role in the health of society in the distant past, but today people's tendency toward these herbals has increased due to the cost and side effects. Therefore, it is essential to supply the market demand for medicinal plants. Traditional herbal seller and medicinal plant sellers have an influential place in the supply chain of medicinal plants, and proper communication of this group facilitates the supply of these plants. This research was conducted to evaluate the network of traditional herbal seller and medicinal plant sellers in Alborz province. The statistical population was all groceries and medicinal plant sellers in Alborz province (N=250). Sampling method was random sampling. Also sample size determined by Krejcie & Morgan table. The number of samples was obtained 130, which by the data was gathered. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. USINET6 and SPSS22 software programs were used to analyze the network of traditional herbal seller and medicinal plant sellers. According to the network analysis results, traditional herbal seller and medicinal plant sellers interact and communicate more with suppliers of unions and guilds, other sellers, marketers, and traditional medicine experts. Also, Medicinal plant business networks, sellers, unions, guilds, suppliers, and processors have more mediating power in the network. The traditional herbal seller and medicinal plant sellers are a central activist in the business network of medicinal plants. The reciprocity index of links showed that this index is in the average range; thus, the network stability is in the average range. The degree of input and output of the model also showed that medicinal herb sellers and traditional herbal seller, major suppliers, and medicinal herb unions and guilds are in network’s center. From this, it can be concluded that these actors in the network have high control and mediation power in the network. Also, exploratory factor analysis showed that the main components of the model are: cooperation and partnership network, information, communication, network formation and development measures, network organization, evaluation and follow-up of activities, marketing and sales.