Analysis of factors affecting the competitiveness of regions with a futures research approach (Case study: East Azerbaijan Province)

With the growth of globalization and rapid change in the global space, the issue of regional competitiveness has become increasingly important to accelerate regional development. For this purpose, the present study tries to investigate the factors affecting regional competitiveness in East Azerbaijan province using a future research approach. The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in nature. Both library and field methods have been used to collect the required information. Using the library method, the theoretical foundations, the background of the subject and the collection of effective factors in the competitiveness of East Azerbaijan province have been studied; In the field method, the required information has been completed by using the Delphi method and various questionnaires. In this study, the dimensions and indicators obtained from the library method using a questionnaire in two stages (the first stage of 82 closed questions and one open question and in the second stage of 84 closed questions) to obtain the final factors. It was provided to the members of the Delphi panel, and finally 84 variables in different dimensions were selected to examine the competitiveness of the regions of East Azerbaijan province. Micmac software was also used to analyze the data. Findings show that out of a total of 84 influential factors, 16 factors play a key role in the competitiveness of the regions of East Azerbaijan province, of which 8 variables related to the economic dimension; 3 variables related to the institutional-political dimension; There are 3 variables related to the socio-cultural dimension and 2 variables related to the infrastructure dimension.