درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Khorasan Razavi Province suffers from the most critical groundwater resources in Iran, i.e. the groundwater decline has reached 1 m; 34 out of 37 water plains are banned in Khorasan Razavi Province. Recently, Mashhad plain has been fighting with the crisis of drought and water scarcity. Illegal harvesting from groundwater resources and the warming trend caused by change in climate have exacerbated the crisis. Comprehensive water resources management, assuming the complicated nature of water-related issues, rapid growth of population, water requirement for a variety of purposes, and limited water resources, requires novel methods to stack up technical, economic, environmental, social, and logical perspectives in an integrated forum. One of the tools for comprehensive water resources management is utilizing hydro-economic models to simulate the present status of drainage basins and evaluate the impacts of different scenarios and policies. The current study used a hydro-economic model to simulate the hydrological status of Mashhad plain and evaluate the impacts of different scenarios. Then, the agent-based model (ABM) was used in order to reach an agreement with stakeholders on executing different conservation scenarios. The hydro-economic model results revealed that reducing the water demand of the agricultural sector and, as a result, surface and groundwater consumption is possible through following adaptation scenarios. Implementing various adaptation scenarios may alter the present cultivation pattern. Moreover, the ABM results showed a significant difference between the volume of available water, due to the execution of strategies, and water demand, bringing about the lack of farmers’ cooperation regarding the implementation of conservation scenarios. However, through applying some incentive policies, a number of representative farmers may agree to pursue adaptation scenarios.

Export is a crucial driver of economic growth in various countries and significantly contributes to a country's entry into global markets and enhances economic success. In developing countries such as Iran, economic and social development programs prioritize the expansion of exports, particularly high value added agricultural products. The growth in non-oil exports, such as dried fruits, and the entry of domestic producers into new global markets have led to an increased demand for Iran's export products. This has also resulted in higher production levels, increased employment opportunities, and higher value added in the related activities. To enhance export performance, which is a crucial measure of a company's success in utilizing its resources and capabilities in the international arena over a specific period of time, it is important to focus on improving marketing strategies and specialized knowledge. Therefore, this research aims to examine the impact of marketing mix and specialized marketing knowledge on the export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in exporting dried fruits in Mashhad, Iran in 2022. A total of 80 questionnaires were distributed among senior managers, board members, and business managers of dried fruits SMEs using the available sampling method. Structural equation modeling was employed for data analysis and test of research hypotheses. The statistical data and structural equation modeling revealed that the joint impact of marketing mix and specialized marketing knowledge has a positive and significant influence on export performance. In order to improve the company's profitability, it is essential for senior managers and sales managers to recognize the significance of these two factors and undergo relevant training to acquire the necessary skills. Moreover, managers should make effective use of appropriate distribution channels to expand their exports. Simultaneously, they should consider adapting product quality and packaging to align with the preferences of foreign buyers.

Iran attempts to expand the non-oil exportsfor diminishing the dependency on oil export income. This research tries to examine the export and trade balance of Iran's agricultural sector. Accordingly, the gravity model was used for export, applying panel data from 1997 to 2017. Also, the trade balance of Iran's total agricultural and the related sectors’commodities was examined. It should be noted that for the trade balance, time series data from 1978 to 2018 were used. The results of the gravity model show a negative effect for the variable of distance. The coefficients of Iran’s per capita GDP and also the GDP of trading partners are positive, as expected. It was found that a one percent increase in the per capita GDP of Iran causes a rise of 3.42 percent in the export of agricultural products; however,that of importing countries haslow statistical significance. Based on the coefficient obtained for the population, an increase in the population of the importing countries raises the demand for Iran's agricultural products.The degree of trade openness revealed a positive and significant effect on the export of agricultural products. The coefficient for the real exchange rate was found to be around 0.9 percent. It was also found that the volatility of the exchange rate is related directly to the export of agricultural products. Comprehensive sanctions have a negative and significant effect, while less restricting sanctions have an insignificant effect on the export of agricultural products. The global economic crisis has also had a dampening effect on exports. For trade balance, the results show that the value added of the agriculture has a positive effect on the trade balance of entire agriculture and sectors. The real exchange rate has a negative effect on the trade balance of agricultural commodities as a whole and livestock and agronomy sectors, confirming the J-Curve theory while it was not supported for the horticultural sector. Also, the variable of exchange rate volatility was included in the model using two measures of positive and negative series of exchange rate changes and the Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) effect, but their effect on the trade balance was not the same in terms of both the direction and statistical significance. The trade openness for the agricultural and horticultural sector was found with a positive coefficient, indicating that their production is based on comparative advantage. However, for the sectors of agronomy and livestock, it illustrated a negative effect. Sanctions have also harmed the trade balance.