Information Chain of rural silk hand woven carpet producers in the Zanjan Township

Information sources are important sources for any enterprise and access. Proper, updated and accurate information in managing an enterprise help it improve its performance in product's value chain. The purpose of this study was to understand sources and methods of providing required information of rural silk carpet weavers. Using a case study methodology, data were collected through focus groups, semi-structured interviews, participatory diagramming, document analysis and observations. The study was conducted with silk carpet weavers of 90 rural households from 23 villages in the Zanjan Township and market actors from the cities of Zanjan, Qom and Kashan. In entrepreneurial carpet production system, carpet weavers required information for knowing appropriate entrepreneurs, increased carpet quality and providing carpet after weaving in two stages of before production and in the process of production. Entrepreneurs and family members were main information sources of carpet weavers for knowing an appropriate entrepreneur. Moreover, actors such as rural health homes, Commerce Administration, and the Rural Hand Weaving Carpet Union were the most important information sources of the weavers. At the stage of production, entrepreneurs provided required updated information of the weavers for increasing silk carpet quality. On the other hand, in the carpet self-producing system, local actors and market actors acted as main information sources of the weavers before and during production, while public and semi-public sources, which provide information during production, were not considered as important sources. This shows information sources and their providing methods depend on hand weaving carpet production system.