محمدجواد عباسی

Purpose - Achieving balanced development and spatial justice with much emphasis on competitive advantages has been constantly the main concern among planners and policy-makers to reduce inefficiency, inequality, polarization, and fragmentation in the spatial structure of different countries. Fulfilling such goals demands the knowledge of local potentials and the way to exploit them in a correct manner. Therefore, this study aimed to identify competitive advantages and levels of living in the study area, and then assess the effective drivers of balanced regional development (BRD) based on local competitiveness using future studies. Design/methodology/approach- An analytical-exploratory applied method was used to reflect on the rural areas and the researchers working on regional planning in Ardabil Township, Iran, were the statistical population. The sample size was thus determined to be 30 individuals using the snowball sampling method (via theoretical saturation). The data were also collected by a Delphi questionnaire, library method, documents, statistics, and initiatives. To analyze the data, Micmac software, the Geographic Information System (GIS software), Microsoft EXCEL, and the Morris method were employed. Finding- Analyzing the research findings associated with the variables as determinants with direct influence showed that among 23 variables in this study, 13 cases were within direct influence-dependence scope or condition but only 12 variables prioritized respectively as policy stability, executive regulations/procedures, price stability and predictability and intervention logic, monopoly prevention, unfair concessions or rents and competitions, removal of administrative barriers to business through delegation approach, effective deterrence of criminal laws and prosecutions in the judicial system, innovation/initiative flow, prevention of biased perceptions of laws by relevant stakeholders, distribution system and marketing status, effective market demand, administrative procedures and business information transparency, willingness to buy foreign goods, as well as auditing and taxing regulations/procedures as determinants had the highest influential power, that is, they constituted the drivers of BRD. Research limitations/implications - Among the most important limitations of the present study was no access to the statistics of all cases and the unwillingness of a number of executive organizations and bodies in Ardabil Township to cooperate. Furthermore, the pivot strategies in this research were established based on local development and BRD strategies. Practical implications - To meet the objectives of BRD planning in the rural areas of Ardabil Township, the key role of the 12 main variables mentioned here should be taken into account. Such variables have high influence and low dependence on BRD improvements in the study area and they are of top priority in planning for BRD based on local competitiveness in the rural areas of Ardabil County, Iran. Originality/Value - Little research has thus far assessed the effective drivers of BRD based on local competitiveness using future studies. Amongst the advantages of the present study, the comprehensiveness and impediment of its research criteria stand out.

Purpose- The purpose of this study is to present a framework for studying the consequences of rural tourism entrepreneurship development. Design/methodology/approach- The type of study is applied Research and descriptive-exploratory in essence. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire and the validity of the questionnaire items was confirmed by experts and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha (.876). Based on statistical population of experts, local managers and owners of tourism complexes in the villages of Darram and Chavarzgh counties that were selected through purposive non-probability sampling method, 277 households were selected from the owners of tourism complexes and practitioners related to tourism activity. The field-library data collection and data analysis were performed using SPSS software and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS software. The relevance of the four factors affecting the outcomes of rural tourism entrepreneurship development is discussed. Finding- The results show that the extent of the impact of independent variables of entrepreneurship on tourism development outcomes in the study area, respectively, are the indicators of the opportunities created by the growth and development of entrepreneurship with 0.98 as the first rank and the most influential, socio-economic value creation index of entrepreneurship with 0.87, which is ranked second, innovation and creativity index is ranked third with 0.43 and finally, environmental entrepreneurship index of tourism entrepreneurship is 0.38 and is ranked fourth. Practical implications- The formulation framework for evaluating the implications of tourism entrepreneurship development presented in this study has a meaningful and acceptable explanation in the study area.