The role of border markets in balancing and converging the economic space of Iran's border regions with other regions (Case study: Marivan border market)

Border markets are among the variables that affect the balance of economic space between the border regions of Iran and other regions of the country. The process of balancing can have positive and negative effects on the border regions and the rest of the country. The main question of the present study is that how can the Iranian border markets, specifically Marivan border market have a convergening and overlapping role in balancing the other economic spaces of Iran? The present study attempts to apply the SWOT model by classifying and analyzing the internal and external factors as well as considering the economic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the border markets to be balanced with the other economic spaces of Iran. To determine the weight of criteria, Analytica Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied. Results of the present study indicate that the optimal strategies to make a balance between border markets and other economic regions of the country are competitive strategies. The main goal of such strategies is to apply specific methods to prevent and eliminate the external threats (such as goods smuggling) by internal strengths. This strategy is related to the external situation of border markets that evaluates the negative points (the threats ahead) related to the outside. The goal of this strategy is to reduce the threats as much as possible.