Pathology of Iran's Handicraft Exports During Sanctions

In Iran, there are more than 290 branches of handicrafts, which according to statistics make Iran the top country in the world in terms of diversity. Artistic and cultural values, along with high added value and high foreign exchange rate, make handicrafts an ideal export commodity. Considering that a large part of the raw materials are domestic, the industry can prevent the export of raw agricultural materials such as cotton, leather, wood and silk and turn them into added value instead. Since the main places of production of handicrafts are the rural areas, export can contribute to the economy of these areas, maintaining the rural population and preventing migration to cities. Strengthening rural household jobs is not only economically important, but also in terms of psychological and sociological, by empowering rural women, their sense of belonging, creativity, importance and usefulness increases.The dollar value of each ton of exported handicraft goods is 27 times the average price of each ton of exported goods in the year of 1400, while such a high added value constitutes only 0.04% of Iran's total non-oil exports in this year.Considering the long history of production, inexpensive human resources, local raw materials, recognition of Iranian handicrafts in the world market such as carpets and other products, what problems does the export of Iranian handicrafts face under the sanctions and what are the solutions to fix and improve these issues?What compelled the researcher to conduct a field study to answer these questions is the difference and variety of opinions in the reasons given by the producers and exporters. Each of them, based on their own experiences, put forward reasons for the small share of handicrafts in Iran's exports and offered some solutions. This low share is rooted in several weaknesses, and this research attempts to draw a general picture of these issues.The method of the present study is descriptive-analytical and practical in terms of purpose. The collection of data has been done through the library method, questionnaires and interviews. The statistical population of the study includes handicraft producers, handicraft exporters, university professors, and cultural heritage experts. According to the data saturation level, 10 of them have been selected via typical case sampling for semi-structured interviews as well as 10 published interviews in newspapers. Thematic analysis was used in 6 steps to analyze and categorize the data. The first step was to familiarize oneself with the data by reading the texts several times. Then, in the generating initial codes step, short meaningful pieces of texts containing the obvious or hidden meaning of the interviews were collected. After the initial coding, searching and recognizing the themes was conducted, the codes were divided into several groups, and the similar groups were put together and formed the primary themes. Consequently the primary themes were recognized, the review and control of the themes was done by extracted codes, and the network of themes was drawn.In the fifth step, theme network analysis, themes were named and defined, and then the theme network was described. In the final step, which was compiling the report, the network of themes was summarized into 4 main categories with a brief description of each one of them interesting examples were presented and important quotes from interviews were extracted , to form the final body and conclusion of the study.According to the findings, the biggest problems of Iran's handicraft exports are summarized in 4 main themes: "Domestic sanctions against handicrafts", " The troubles of foreign sanctions ", " Commerce, the missing link of export" and "The Traditional and modern duality".In the first main theme, i.e. the domestic sanctions against handicrafts, the problems are divided into three sub-groups including legislation as sanctions, poor management and weakness of the administrative organizations. By domestic sanctions, this study means the decisions and resolutions of the government and parliament, and management impediments and incompetence of organizations in charge of handicrafts, and in general, the mismanagement that has been created on the basis of problematic legislations or against the required laws, and lack of any demands for reconsideration from the corresponding administrative organization.The sub-theme of legislation as sanctions consists of 3 main code groups, which include problematic existing laws, lack of required laws, and internal organizational regulations such as the Post Office, transportation, and some solutions are offered. In the sub-theme of poor management, there are sub-categories of goods departure, supply of raw materials, distribution of raw materials, slogan of support and supervision. This theme is more focused on how to implement the existing laws and management, while the previous theme focuses on the laws themselves. It can be said that all the mentioned cases, both in terms of management and laws, can be solved with a strong demanding body. An organization that conducts pathological researches and after identifying the problems and with the support of experienced experts consults with various departments including the Central Bank, Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, Post Office, Airlines, Insurances, Transportation, etc. and prioritizes solving the problems of handicraft exporters in all cases.Some suggested solutions according to the mentioned problems and issues are as follows:Solving the conflicts of existing laws, removing problematic laws, strengthening the administrative organization and making demands through it, defining the duties of the bodies and organizations related to handicrafts, synergy between multiple claimant entities, facilitating the departure of handicrafts from the country, providing export incentives, providing funds through private sector, supplying raw materials and distributing them through syndicates.The second main theme, the troubles of foreign sanctions, is divided into two sub-themes, sanctions glass half empty and sanctions glass half full. The half-empty glass of sanctions includes the effect of sanctions on raw materials, money transfer, exchange rate and high prices, tourism, the internet, and the export of handwoven carpets. In the solutions section, cases such as the cooperation of the producer with export companies and merchants to bypass sanctions, creating virtual tourism infrastructure, using third parties and companies based in other countries for online sales, the use of cryptocurrencies, the transformation of handwoven carpets into global brands and capital goods are suggested.Marketing, branding, export strategy, virtual and real markets, the taste of the audience and many other concepts that are raised in the pathology of export are all small pieces of a bigger puzzle called commerce. One of the problems that can be seen in most of the producers' interviews is that the producer himself exports and sells abroad, and for many reasons, including incognizance of international trade, lack of an export marketing strategy, the necessary resources and communications to move money and products, etc. they experience losses or are not successful in their ventures. There are not enough export companies active in handicrafts, and these few are not even known among the producers. In the third theme, the effects of the lack of specialized merchants in the five sub-themes of merchant, buyer, survival in the market, online sales and neglect of branding and advertising are discussed. In online sales, the problems in 6 groups of online marketing, online shopping platforms, entering the market, human resources, content production and sending export goods have been categorized and analyzed.Among the solutions presented in this section, education and training of brave and active businessmen, separation of production and export, specialization of exports, prevention of excessive import of parallel products from competing countries, correct identification and selection of the target market, can be mentioned.Finally, the fourth theme the personality of the artist and their production, and the struggle between the traditional and the modern, is discussed. Handicraft is an art-industry that comes from tradition and uses tradition in design and production methods and even in human interactions in workshops. The master-student concept that still exists among artists in this field is a clear example of it. Such strong traditional roots can be both strength and weakness at the same time. In the modern world, designing products in a way that preserves its historical and cultural roots while being relatable to the consumers of this day and age, somewhere between traditional and modern, is of great importance. In the solutions section, renewing the old traditional designs, training and facilitating the entry of the new generation of artists into the handicraft production sector, updating the designs and work methods, using new science and technology, and making the goods practical are among the suggestions that have been offered.In the end, it can be said that in order to overcome the current problems of handicrafts, each of the three sectors, the custodian, the merchant, and the artist, need to change and reform. Proper export is possible during the sanctions, provided that we first overcome the internal embargo, the lack of active and expert merchants, the obsolescence of designs and products, and the mental barriers of artists in this field with the help of training adequate human resources in all three aspects and fundamental strengthening of the administrative organization in charge of handicrafts.