Comparative study of business environment quality in Iran and Indian subcontinent

One of the methods of measuring the ease of production and the rules governing it, is evaluate the business environment in the related region. In the present research, using the indicators of "ease of doing business ","global competitiveness", "economic freedom" and "fragile state" the countries, Several dimensions affecting the business environment of Iran and subcontinent countries during the years 2010-2018, was evaluated and compared. This study that is applied in terms of purpose and analytical-comparative in terms of method, and at the level of inferential statistics Mean statistical tests of one society (one sample t test) and one-way ANOVA test (f test) were used. The results of the study indicate that Bhutan has a more favorable business environment than other countries in terms of ease of doing business and economic freedom indices and India according to global competitiveness and fragile state indicators. Also in the overall ranking, India is in the first place and Iran ranked fourth.

The business environment means a set of policies, legal, institutional and regulatory conditions that affect the functioning of the economic units, and managers or owners of units cannot change or improve it. The quality of the business environment can directly affect the amount of costs incurred by business activities, the risk of starting a new business, the interaction between firms and financial partnerships, and consequently on investment decisions, job creation the level of productivity, production and economic growth of the country will also be affected. In other words, improving the business climate means improving the investment climate and, as a result, stimulating economic growth (Hans, 2018: 67). The business environment is one of the prerequisites for achieving sustainable economic growth, and its development allows long-term competition in global markets to develop a standard of living and economic freedom for any country (Głodowska, 2017: 192). In other words, the business environment in a wider way reflects the quality of the country's economic conditions and its gradual improvement as an important motivating factor in business; the best way to support economic organization, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises. Be On the other hand, the performance of the efficient economy is also the essence of the quality of the business environment, and it can be said that there is a mutually binding relationship between them (Kaderabkova, 2008: 476). Therefore, evaluating the business environment of countries and recognizing its components can be effective in economic decision making. Considering the importance of the business environment and its impact on key variables such as employment and production, this study attempted to assess the business environment in Iran and subcontinent countries based on international standards related to the business sector. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to study the business environment in Iran and subcontinent countries using the relevant combination indexes. Also, the subsidiary objectives of the research are comparative and separate comparison between Iran and the subcontinent countries' business space in terms of ease of business index, global competitiveness index, economic freedom index and fragile state index.

The present research is applied in terms of purpose and analytical-comparative in terms of method, and using the indicators of "ease of doing business ","global competitiveness", "economic freedom" and "fragile state" the countries, Several dimensions affecting the business environment of Iran and subcontinent countries during the years 2010-2018, was evaluated and compared. In order to analyze the data, the level of inferential statistics Mean statistical tests of one society (one sample t test) and one-way ANOVA test (f test) were used.

Stern (2002) considers the business environment as a set of policies, institutions, and behavioral environments that are effective on the returns and risks of investors in a particular location and the economic growth of that area affects itself. This general definition includes three broad categories. The first category involves macroeconomic aspects; the latter includes the infrastructure needed for productive investment and the final category, including governance, institutions and political stability. Since the majority of internal and external studies, the basis for assessing the business environment, is the only index of ease of doing business provided by the World Bank, this study attempts to examine and combine the various standard indicators provided by International institutions will assess more dimensions of the business environment of the countries and their status. Therefore, it is possible to use the combination of business combination over the time period and ranking of the countries studied, including the innovations of this research.

Considering the comparison of the situation of the countries during 2010-2018 and the analysis of variance of one way, it was found that Bhutan compared to other countries in terms of ease of doing business and economic freedom and India according to the indicators of global competitiveness and fragile state is more favorable. Also, based on the combined business combination index during the study period, they were ranked by one-sample t-test, respectively, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Iran, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Looking at the statistics and the results, it can be said that all countries of the desirable region are significantly different from the global statistics, and this necessitates the need for more countries to address the bottlenecks and constraints on business development. The flexibility of the banking system in providing facilities and defending and improving institutional and governance components through policies to facilitate exports, protecting the rights of investors, and motivating them to improve quantitative and qualitative production, Reduce the opposition to the flow of innovation, eliminating production restrictions, more attention to the property rights of individuals, create a secure environment for domestic and foreign investment activities and strengthening the production infrastructure can have a significant impact on improving the business environment of the countries. Adopting macroeconomic policies that include employment, price stabilization, increased productivity, and improved production and economic growth, especially for Iran, suffering from high rates of unemployment and inflation, has helped greatly improve the business environment.