Analysis of Competitiveness of Iran's Saffron Exporting Companies in Global Markets

Recent multi-year experiences in Iran show that reliance on income from the sale of crude oil leads to instability in export earnings.  In order to reduce the dependence of the Iranian economy on crude oil exports, export policies should be directed towards export of non-oil commodities, including exports of agricultural products. Saffron is one of the most important export items of the agricultural sector and medicinal plants. However, its production and export has not grown exponentially in recent years despite growing allocation of land and production. The results of various studies in  have shown that one of the main reasons for failure of Iranian companies in the world market for exporting medicinal herbs is decline in competitiveness in these markets in recent years. Therefore, this study seeks to examine factors affecting competitiveness of Iran's saffron exporting companies in global markets. Competitiveness measurements using symmetric revealed comparative advantage index and analysis of its influencing factors were analyzed using the Porter Diamond Competitive Model and Fractional Logit Panel regression model. The statistics and data were collected through collecting questionnaires from 35 saffron exporter companies for 2011-2016. The results showed that the six components of the Porter diamond model including demand conditions, factor conditions, supporting industries, firm strategy, state and unpredictable events affect the competitive situation of the companies under study. Accordingly, observance of quantitative and qualitative export standards, prevention of fluctuations in the price of saffron, reduction of exchange rate fluctuations in line with government policies, reduction of production fluctuations due to climate change by providing technical solutions and sufficient attention of companies to marketing strategies are proposed as new ways to improve the competitive situation of the companies being studied.