To examine the impact of environmental changes on SMEs growth with the mediator role of entrepreneurial orientation (case of study: Travel agents of tehran)

Today, many SMEs face failure and lack of proper growth in the early years of their activity.Therefore, examining the internal characteristics of these companies as the most important factor affecting growth in today's turbulent and competitive environment is very important. In the meantime entrepreneurial orientation is one of the factors affecting their growth, and it shows the desire of the organization to maintain its competitive advantage and aggressive competition through risk-taking, Proactiveness and Innovativeness. By understanding these conditions, the aim of this research is to investigate the effect of environmental changes on the growth of travel agencies with the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation. The statistical population of this study is 1300 managers of travel agencies in Tehran. According to Morgan's table, 297 people have been selected as a statistical sample. The research tool used is a questionnaire. Data analysis was done using structural equation modeling and Spss version 22 and Smart-PLS 3 software.The results of this research show that entrepreneurial orientation has an effect on the growth of travel agencies. And the managers who have an entrepreneurial orientation and are innovative to act in the competitive and tense environment of tourism businesses and take actions before competitors such as diversifying the product or reducing the price of services and assume a relatively high risk for such actions, enjoy better growth. In this study, the significance of the relationship between environmental changes and the entrepreneurial tendency of travel agencies was confirmed and it was shown that the changes in the business environment in terms of changes in the technologies used in the tourism industry, the increase in the aggressive activities of competitors, the competition over the price of the services provided, as well as the change in Travelers' needs and marketing techniques can influence their entrepreneurial orientation; And to force the managers of these businesses to use innovative strategies and to innovate in their services, to target a specific market, to act faster than competitors and to show more risk-taking in this way.