A Study on the Influence of Competitive Strategies on the Expansion of Iran's Hand-Knotted Carpet in the Domestic Market (Case Study: Tehran)

In a competitive environment, identification of appropriate strategies improves a business by choosing the right passage. In this article the effects of competitive strategies of Michael Porter including differentiation, concentration and cost leadership on the expansion of domestic market of Iran’s hand-knotted carpet are evaluated. This research is descriptive and the survey methodology is used. A questionnaire is designed and after accreditation distributed among two respondent groups; i.e. technical staffs of Iran National Carpet Centre and carpet retailers in Tehran who have more than 10 years experience. The results show that all three competitive strategies could trigger the expansion of domestic market of Iran’s hand-knotted carpet. On the other hand, the concurrent implementation of these strategies has different influences on market expansion. In technical staffs’ view, cost leadership has the highest role in market expansion, while the other two strategies have a minor role in domestic hand-knotted carpet market. On the contrary, retailers evaluate two other strategies; i.e. differentiation and concentration, would have higher impact in hand-knotted carpet market expansion, respectively; whereas cost leadership would be insignificant. Although the research hypotheses are accepted, the statistical analysis shows a very significant difference between the views of the retailers and technical staffs of Iran National Carpet Centre.