Explaining the pattern and presenting strategic branding challenges in saffron industry

In today's competitive world, saffron as a strategic product needs a special attention in order to gain a proper place in branding. Compared to other countries, Iranian saffron brands have no competitive advantage in exporting this product. Therefore, Iranian companies should strive to shape, guide and consolidate a proper understanding of their brand’s identity in the minds of their customers and pay special attention to the formation and strengthening of reputable brands.  The present study aimed at explaining the pattern and presenting the challenges of strategic branding in the saffron industry. The tool for data collection was a semi-structured interview. The interviewees included university professors familiar with the subject and managers of saffron exporting companies. The final model consists of a set of axial categories, causal conditions, contexts, necessary variables, confounding variables, branding strategies and consequences for the saffron industry. We used the interpretive structural modeling to show the ranking of strategic branding challenges of the saffron industry.