Factors Affecting the Export of Turkmen Carpet

The present study is an applied research using quantitative method. In the first step، the intended factors of marketing mix، production-export consortium and branding of Turkman carpet were studied in existing literature، and then، the quantitative method of questionnaire was used for collecting needed data and extracting basic factors. The questionnaire was prepared by the researcher. After gathering the questionnaires، the collected data were put in the SPSS software and were analyzed through various methods of inferential statistics. For measuring the significance of each component of the questionnaire، the five-point Likert scale، which has ordinal scales، was used to measure the factors and convert them to quantitative data، with giving each factor a number from 1 to 5. The data of the research was collected in a period from October of 2010 to September 2011، and the research was conducted in Golestan province. The population was constituted of five groups: 1. experts، who became expert in managing، scientific and research affairs related to carpet through working in this field; 2. exporters، who sell hand-woven carpets wholesale; 3. importers، who import Iranian hand-woven carpets from Iran into the target countries; 4. retailers، who sell the carpet to the consumers; and 5. weavers، consisting of all real or legal people who produce carpets in workshops or at homes، in cities or villages. For selecting the sample subjects from the first four groups، simple random sampling method was used; and the sample subjects of the fifth groups were selected through the Morgan table and simple random sampling. Therefore، 406 subjects were selected as samples with a balanced and appropriate proportion. By following up the project and informing about the research''s goals، all questionnaires were filled out and delivered to the researcher. The Chronbach''s coefficient alpha was 93%، and for prioritizing the variables، the Friedman test، and for supporting or rejecting the hypotheses، the binomial test was used. The conclusions show that all hypotheses were significant in export of Turkman hand-woven carpets. Among the hypotheses، the great potential of the province in producing hand-woven carpets was a strong point، and lack of attention to marketing mix، absence of a production- export consortium، and lack of attention to branding were of weak points، which need the especial attention of the provincial and export companies'' managers and planners. At the end، besides presenting detailed conclusions and findings، the mentioned issues were summarized، and applicable suggestions were offered to the managers and experts، and also future similar researches.