مهدی پورطاهری

Purpose:  In recent years, it has become more necessary to seek and apply new strategies to strengthen the foundations and diversification of economic activities in rural areas. Accordingly, in the context of the new theories of sustainable development, one of the approaches that is of great importance for the growth and sustainability of businesses in today's complex environments is branding. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to identify businesses with branding potential in Turkmen Sahara of Golestan province in Iran. The overwhelming limitations of product marketing are supporting the declining revenues of traditional sources in dealing with competitive markets as well as trying to expand, making available and identifying regional products with a branding approach Design/methodology/approach: In this study, we first identified and localized the branding indices and then identified the brand-liable products in the region using the Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) method in multi-criteria decision making. Findings: The results showed that among the indicators of brand products in rural areas, satisfaction index with weight of 0.095 was put in the first place followed by adaptability with weight of 0.091, quality-orientation approach with a weight of 0.086 and valuable with a weight of 0.081. Also, among the common businesses and products in the region, cotton cultivation with a coefficient of 0.971 was the first priority followed by carpet weaving with a coefficient of 0.966, traditional foods with a coefficient of 0.952, Turkmen horse breeding with a coefficient of 0.943 and eco-tourism with a coefficient of 0.924 for planning the branding of products and services based on Brand Explanatory Indexes and using ARAS method. Practical implications: The study provides a perspective on the process of branding products and services in rural areas. Originality/value:  This paper makes two major contributions: first, the introduction of branding indicators for rural businesses, and second, applying decision making models in the process of branding products and services with brand potential in rural studies.

Purpose- This study aims to demonstrate the factors affecting the current development pattern of second homes, emphasizing on the role of spatial planning in the forest villages that are considered as the tourism destinations of Mazandaran province.Design/methodology/approach- This is a descriptive-analytical study carried out in nine villages of nine county of Mazandaran as tourism destinations. The statistical population consisted of 18 rural managers and 1980 rural households in the under-study villages.Findings- The ANOVA results showed that the institutional-political factor of social-cultural dimension, with the mean of 3.7133 had the highest effect on the current development pattern of second homes.Research limitations/implications- As the statistical population of the present study consisted of rural managers, it was difficult to have access to the managers since they were involved in agricultural works.Practical implications- Based on the current pattern of second home development, the distribution pattern of the spatial planning of second homes was designed. In order to sustain second home development, the negative points in each step of the input, activity, short-term, and long-term consequences should be reduced or eliminated.Originality/value- Since second home tourism is one of the different types of rural tourism that plays a main role in the development of rural areas, and considering the importance of second home tourism in the development of rural areas and their impact on the villagers' life, it is necessary to clarify the factors affecting second home development. Therefore, this study aims to improve the proper distribution of spatial planning in second homes by providing a spatial planning pattern for second home development.