Conceptual Design of Iranian Saffron Export Brands Coalition Strategies and Intervening Conditions Affecting It

Iran is the largest producer and exporter of saffron, but in recent years, Iran's share of the global market for this national product has been steadily declining. On the other hand, Iranian saffron export brands do not have a good competitive position in international markets compared to the foreign brands in its importing countries. According to the most experts, one of the main reasons is the lack of a strategic and shared vision among the stakeholders of the Iranian saffron industry. The aim of this study was to conceptually design the strategies of the Iranian export saffron brands Coalition and intervening conditions affecting it. The statistical population of the study included members of the Khorasan Razavi Saffron Exporters Union. The samples were selected via purposive sampling at the beginning and theoretical sampling during the study process until saturation. In-depth semi-structured interviews used for data collection, which is a common method of qualitative studies and data analysis was performed by three steps of open, axial and selective coding. The results showed that the main category of "Iranian Saffron Export Brands Coalition Strategies" has 13 sub-categories and 83 related concepts. Also, it was found that these strategies are strengthened by the sub-categories of "export smoothing", "promotion and informing" and "business facilizing" where sub-categories of "conflict of interests" and "saffron mafia" are weakened them. Finally, it is recommended that all industry stakeholders can use the findings of this study for strategically planning of Iranian export saffron brands coalition.