Designing an interpretive structural model (ISM) of branding in business(Case of study: Petrochemical Industries of Iran)

Today, with the expansion of globalization, increasing competition, the entry of various domestic and foreign companies, diverse products and advances in technology, maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty has become difficult. One of the characteristics of successful companies today is competitiveness. The main purpose of this study is structural-interpretive modeling of brand competitiveness in the petrochemical industry. This research is a qualitative-quantitative exploratory mixed research. The statistical population in the qualitative part of the research includes faculty members and experts in the field of industrial management, marketing and branding, professors familiar with the subject of research and managers and deputies with experience in petrochemical companies in the country using 16 snowball sampling method were chosen. In a small part, the statistical population includes personnel (managers, deputies and experts) of the marketing and sales department of the country's petrochemical companies. For sampling, due to the small size of the statistical population and the irreversibility of the questionnaires, the whole number has been used and the whole population has been considered as a sample in a small part (N = 255). The research tool in the qualitative part of the interview is semi-structured and in the quantitative part is a researcher-made questionnaire. For data analysis in the qualitative part, fuzzy Delphi theme and technique analysis has been used and in the quantitative part, ISM technique has been used for data analysis. In the qualitative part of the research, a total of 14 variables were identified as factors affecting the competitiveness of the brand.