Explaining the differentiation strategy by entrepreneurial leadership and competitive intelligence for the home appliance industry

 Today, one of the greatest challenges facing companies is how to gain and maintain a competitive advantage in order to remain competitive. A competitive advantage is a capability that distinguishes an organization from its competitors, and achieving this capability is one of the most challenging requirements for most industries in the country, and in particular for those in the appliance industry. The aim’s paper is to explain the differentiation strategy of the home appliance industry based on entrepreneurial leadership and competitive intelligence.

 Research is applied one and included an analytical and descriptive correlation. It focuses on managers of industrial companies that manufacture household appliances. Cochran's formula was used and the sample size was estimated to be 384 people (n=384). A simple random sampling method used. The field approach used to collect data by the use of a questionnaire. The validity of this questionnaire confirmed by a confirmatory factor analysis. Calculating the reliability of research questionnaires was based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient. We calculated Cronbach's alpha coefficient for all variables above 0.7 to determine whether the questionnaire was reliable. In order to determine the adequacy of the sample, the sample adequacy index (KMO) was used, which is equal to 0.789, which is higher than 0.6. Accordingly, the correlation matrix meets the necessary criteria for adequacy. In order to test the hypothesis that the correlation matrix is a unit matrix, Bartlett's sphericity test was used. An analysis of the significance of the mediator variable was conducted using Sobel's test. As a means of checking the normality of the data, a confirmatory factor analysis test was performed to validate the model, and a structural equation model test was utilized in Lisrel software to examine the research hypotheses and to determine whether they played a mediating role. In order to determine whether the hypothesis is significant, Sobel's test was used.

 Based on the results of this research, there appears to be a strong and favorable correlation between two variables of entrepreneurial leadership in addition, differentiation strategy. In addition, the indirect path of the mediator variable had a greater effect on entrepreneurial leadership than the direct path of the mediator variable. A strong and favorable correlation between competitive intelligence and differentiation strategy is demonstrated by the main research model and the findings of the research, which indicates that the competitive intelligence variable has a very strong and favorable influence on the differentiation strategy. This confirms the third hypothesis as well. According to the obtained results, entrepreneurial leadership and competitive intelligence showed a strong correlation, so the fourth hypothesis was also confirmed. The research and evaluation results indicate that due to sanctions, the home appliance industry, which consists of over 70% foreign (Korean) brands, has suffered severe damage and challenges. While in this industry, the companies that were successful were those that abandoned traditional structures in the leadership of their organizations. Through the use of an intelligent and innovative approach, they were able to occupy the freed share of competing brands by producing new, high-quality products. This claim has been confirmed by the announcement of a 25% increase in interior construction, according to the secretary of the Iranian Household Appliances Association. Of course, the impact of entrepreneurial leadership and expert human resources seen in the production of smart refrigerators, gas stoves with 90% efficiency, anti-allergy vacuum cleaners with very low noise, and the establishment of the country's first dishwasher production line.

 Because of sanctions, the home appliance industry is transferring and transforming the threat to establish competitive advantage through competitive intelligence. It is evident from the quantitative and qualitative growth trend of domestic production that industries are oriented toward entrepreneurial activities. Additionally, the results of this study indicate that leadership and competitive intelligence have an impact on differentiation strategies as well.