Ranking of Entrepreneurial Enterprises in Rural Areas of Dezful County

The first step in planning for employment and developing entrepreneurial activities in rural areas is to identify job opportunities in these areas. Accordingly, this research study based on the sequential mixed method was carried out to identify and make ranking of rural enterprises across Dezful County. At first, different opportunities for job creation in rural areas was identified; then job selection criteria in rural areas were prioritized using the AHP method. In this section, 22 experts who were purposefully selected from Jihad-e- Keshavarzi Administration, Cooperative, Labor and Social Welfare Office and Dezful’s Agricultural Union Association participated as contributors. At the next phase, rural occupations and enterprises, based on those prioritized job criteria, were ranked using numerical taxonomic method. For this stage, 11 experts who selected purposefully from Jihad-e- Keshavarzi Administration of Dezful County participated. Findings showed that route safety with a weight of 0.224, sufficient income with a weight of 0.137, and the need for professional knowledge and expertise with a weight of 0.109, respectively, were assigned as the important criteria for choosing a job in a rural environment. Also, the results of job classification revealed that production and packaging of vermicomposting obtained an almost optimal grade. The overall results, also, showed that, jobs related to agriculture and associated industries have more potential to develop in rural areas of the study area and in contrast, jobs related to livestock are less likely to develop.