نشریه پژوهش های کارآفرینی
پیاپی 2 (زمستان 1401)

The topic of brand competitiveness is one of those topics that have strongly drawn the interest of economic researchers in recent years. Today, brands are known as the most valuable assets of many companies. Therefore, the success of the banking industry is undoubtedly related to their performance. The purpose of this research was to study the impact of brand competition on banking performance with the mediating role of entrepreneurial opportunities. The research is an applied study in terms of its purpose and a descriptive-survey study in terms of data collection. For the purpose of field investigation in the present research, the statistical population included all employees of Shahr Bank of Tehran province, amounting to 1496 people out of whom 306 people were sampled according to the population size from Cochran's formula. In addition to library studies, the data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis and its reliability was estimated by Cronbach's alpha. Data were analyzed both descriptively and inferentially using the SPSS version 23 and Lisrel version 8.8 software suites. The results of structural equation modeling show that brand competitiveness significantly influences banking performance negatively and entrepreneurial opportunities positively. Also, entrepreneurial opportunities influence banking performance positively and significantly. Finally, brand competitiveness influences banking performance through entrepreneurial opportunities positively and significantly. It is inferred from the results that branding and entrepreneurial opportunities play a very important role in improving bank performance.

Some important challenges of small businesses are limited financial resources, lack of experience in starting a business, and lack of business knowledge. A strategy to solve the challenge of small businesses is to use the capacity of large companies. Also, one of the emerging and new trends in the development of cooperation between small businesses and large companies is the use of the cooperation acceleration model. The present research was an applied study in goal and was conducted by a qualitative method based on grounded theory. The participants included 11 managers and professors who were knowledgeable in the field of business acceleration selected by purpose-based sampling until reaching theoretical saturation. To validate the findings, the raw text of the interviews was reviewed by an external observer with expertise in qualitative grounded theory research to determine the similarity of the extracted themes. The results indicated that the categories (strategic goals and definition of a joint cooperation roadmap, formulation of cooperation models and strategies, agility of procurement and legal processes, appointment of corporate mentors, gradual experimental process, testing, and cooperation partnership) would accelerate cooperation. The main contribution of the research is to provide a practical and market-oriented model of cooperation between small businesses and large companies in the ecosystem of entrepreneurship whose application will contribute to developing entrepreneurship and economic growth in society.

Most countries owe their success in recent decades to knowledge-based companies. Mazandaran province also needs the establishment of sustainable knowledge-based agricultural cooperatives despite its abundant labor force and suitable agricultural conditions. So, the present research aimed to identify and explain the factors effective in the establishment of knowledge-based agricultural cooperative companies across Mazandaran province. The general research approach was quantitative-qualitative and it used the Delphi technique to achieve the research goal. A team of 54 people consisting of informed elites was formed using the non-probability (purposive) sampling method. Data were collected in three rounds using a questionnaire. Four items were excluded from the questionnaire in the third round. The credibility and consistency of the findings were confirmed through the review of the findings by the participants, peer review, and the triangulation technique. Also, 70% of Delphi experts agreed on the raised issues. The Delphi experts expressed that the external organizational conditions of cooperative companies were suitable for conducting knowledge-based activities whereas the employment of idea-generating people in cooperative companies, the creation of an entrepreneurial spirit, etc. are among the factors that are considered internal to the organization and are needed to start knowledge-based activities. Therefore, more attention must be paid to human resources in cooperative companies, product marketing, facilitation of the legal conditions, and reinforcement of the interactions of knowledge-based cooperative companies with the surrounding environment and other actors.

Climatic diversity, soil and water richness, the land potential for growing horticultural products, and the economic value of horticultural products have turned Kermanshah province into one of the areas prone to producing horticultural products. The cultivation and processing of olives in the hot regions of the province is not an exception. In this regard, the identification and development of agricultural clusters (orchards) are one of the solutions adopted in developed countries for agricultural development. The purpose of this research was to study the feasibility of a cluster of olive processing businesses in Kermanshah province. The research was based on a mixed-methods Design (sequential-explanatory) that used a survey method, a document study, and a few case studies. The research population was composed of gardening and processing experts in the Agriculture Jihad Organization, experts of industrial township companies, processors of garden products, and gardeners who were sampled by the snowball technique. The sampling continued until theoretical saturation. The research investigated the feasibility of creating an olive processing cluster in the study site by considering the characteristics of the cluster feasibility study, including geographic focus, cooperation and competition between businesses, and shared advantages and challenges. The results showed that the geographical concentration of olive processing was in Dallaho County. Also, the results revealed that the olive processing businesses had competition and cooperation with each other and had common challenges and advantages. The results can be used by the Industrial Township Company Office and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial marketing dimensions and firm performance in greenhouse units in Mazandaran province. It is an applied study in goal with a descriptive-correlational nature that was conducted by the survey methodology. The required data were gathered using the quantitative research approach. In this research, the effect of variables such as proactiveness, focus on opportunities, risk-taking, innovation, customer orientation, resource leveraging, and value creation in greenhouse firms were investigated on some aspects of the performance as dependent variable. The statistical population was all managers of these firms out of whome 255 manager were selected as the sample randomly based on the Cochran's formula. Data were collected with a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of entrepreneurial and agricultural economy experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was estimated at 0.70-0.95 for different section using Cronbach’s alpha. The data were analyzed through SPSS and partial least square (PLS-SEM) approach. Based on the findings, the performance of the greenhouse firms had a significant relationship with proactiveness, focus on opportunities, risk-taking, innovation, resource leveraging, and value creation, but there was no significant relationship between customer orientation and firm performance. In a general conclusion, it can be concluded that applying entrepreneurial marketing in greenhouse firms can improve their performance.

Tourism is an effective tool in cultural interactions and familiarization with the culture and civilization of nations, and culture, which is the most obvious symbol of a society's identity and dignity, is influenced by it. Considering the plurality of Muslim communities and their increasing desire for pilgrimages, religious tourism has gained great importance and is one of the rich propositions and opportunities for promoting cultural foundations and raising the cultural level of Muslims. On the other hand, in discussions related to entrepreneurship, which has the greatest impact on the economic development of today's societies - especially when they are in the process of innovation - the importance of using neglected capacities such as religious tourism with an entrepreneurial perspective is particularly important. In this research, which was based on library and analytical studies, the entrepreneurial capacities in religious tourism and its cultural and social benefits were examined in several aspects, and solutions were presented as conclusions, along with emphasizing the necessity of playing a better role in the development of entrepreneurial capacities in the religious tourism sector and the development of social and economic interactions. In the end, it is suggested that an entrepreneurial view into religious tourism capacities is a very valuable and effective opportunity for economic and sociocultural growth at the regional and national levels, so it should be considered by politicians and entrepreneurs.