JOURNAL OF ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGIES IN AGRICULTURE
Year:2019 | Volume:6 | Issue:11|Papers Count:7

In the conceptual frame of rural and agricultural development, the emphasis on improving the quality and empowerment of rural women and advancement of their working conditions in rural communities is what needs to be carefully stressed. Entrepreneurship development and empowerment are in complementary touch with each other and lead to strengthening women in various entrepreneurial activities including social, economic and cultural fields. This research is set out to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurship, empowerment capacities and analyze the structures affecting the various aspects of rural women's empowerment in Fars province. Implementing a survey method and questionnaires, the present research is conducted among rural women entrepreneurs membered in Agricultural Activities Backing Company in Fars. Totally, a sample of 393 participants was selected through stratified random sampling. According to the findings of regression analysis, the variables of entrepreneurship motivation, entrepreneurship development, participation in training courses, entrepreneurship knowledge, the rate of applying information resources, environmental factors (business environment), supportive policies, and skills in compiling a business plan were able of predicting 56% of women's empowerment changes. The variables of entrepreneurship motivation in entrepreneurial activities, supportive policies and the skills of compiling a business plan depicted the maximum and minimum rate of predicting women's empowerment changes, respectively. The availability of raw and in process materials, ratification of the appropriate laws in line with improving women's business, women's participation in training courses held by the company, improving the conditions for selling products, increasing more positive interest and motivation among the company members and paying attention to the professional needs of membered women are among the focal suggestions of the present research.

Evidence and previous research results indicate that many barriers have affected the success of entrepreneurs in dairy industry. The main objective of this paper is to identify and prioritize the barriers to entrepreneurship development in dairy farming in southern Khorasan province. The statistical population of this study, in the Delphi method, was knowledgeable experts, among whom 15 experts were selected by snowball sampling method and the determined factors were prioritized by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results showed that among the barriers to entrepreneurship in the dairy farming sector, the highest priority was given to market barriers with an importance of 0. 333, legal barriers with a significance of 0. 196, second priority and psychological barriers with an importance of 0. 150 priority third. And "financial barriers", "barriers caused by inappropriate government interventions", "educational and educational barriers", and "management-information barriers" are other barriers to entrepreneurship development in the dairy industry of southern Khorasan province. In general, the results indicate the importance and necessity of policymakers to eliminate the barriers of entrepreneurship towards the development of entrepreneurship in dairy cattle industry in South Khorasan province.

Strengthening and paying attention to entrepreneurial spirit among the members of society are of important topics in entrepreneurship. Meeting the goals in this field requires some contextual factors that are considered as the prerequisites of ground setting for entrepreneurship. Present study aims to investigate the effects of contextual factors on the entrepreneurial spirit among members of agricultural cooperatives in Naghadeh Township. Present study is an applied research which was carried out through cross-sectional survey. Statistical population of this research was members of cooperatives (N=1170). Krejice and Morgan Table was used to determine the sample size (n=290). A stratified random sampling method was implemented to select samples. The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire that its validity confirmed by a panel of experts. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated to test the reliability of different parts of questionnaire (0. 88≤ α ≤ 0. 92). The results of structural equation modeling showed that economic, social, technological, and political factors have positive and significant effects on entrepreneurial spirit. So that the value of the determination coefficient (R2) could account for 0. 66% of the variance of the dependent variable. According to the results, it is recommended that agricultural cooperatives be given more attention by policymakers because of their potential in entrepreneurship and improving entrepreneurial spirit.

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between social skills and agricultural students' attitude towards entrepreneurship at University of Tehran. The statistical population of the study contained of all M. Sc. students in agriculture faculty of Tehran University (N= ), from which students were selected by using SPSS Sample Power software. Simple random sampling was employed in selection of the respondents. A questionnaire was developed to gather data. Validity and reliability of the research instrument were confirmed based on the evaluation of a panel of experts and ordinal alpha coefficient (. &. ), respectively. The results indicated that the social skill of the majority of students was either low or intermediate and their attitude towards entrepreneurship was either intermediate or high. The finding of correlation analysis revealed that there was a positive significant (at significance level) relationship between conversational skill, collaborative skill, conflict resolution skill, persuasion and total social skill and students' attitude towards entrepreneurship. The results also showed that there was a positive significant (at significance level) relationship between solidarity and empathic skill and self-promotion and students' attitude towards entrepreneurship. Therefore, it can be concluded that if students' social skills improve through education, their attitude toward entrepreneurship will also be improved.

This research aimed to diagnose the reason to increase in the total number of unemployment insurance applicants (claimants) in the Golestan province in order to find realistic solutions. From the perspective of data collection, this research is a field-based, in terms of controlling variables is non-experimental research and with regard to purpose is applied research. Quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were interview and questionnaire, respectively. This research was conducted in two main phases during 2017 and 2018. In the first phase, a Delphi panel technique is used to identify the causes and solutions of the increase of unemployment insurance applicants in Golestan province and in the second phase, the AHP and TOPSYS techniques were used for quantitative assessment and prioritization of identified causes and solutions in the first phase. The results of the AHP showed that four factors of "business milieu", "responsible institutions", "employers" and "applicants", have the most importance in increasing the willingness of unemployed insurance. Considering these four criteria, the most important reasons for rising request for unemployment insurance are: "market fluctuations with stagnation in manufacturing and industry (such as construction) and job losses", "labor market imbalance (Labor force inflation as a result of supply over demand for labor force), "the non-payment of the minimum official wage (the gap between the actual wage and unemployment insurance payout), " and "the limited economic ability of active enterprises in the province (low employment capacity)". In order to accurately assess the solutions identified for unemployment insurance, four criteria of "economic feasibility" and then, "environmental feasibility", "administrative feasibility" and "institutional appropriateness" (in accordance with the general rules and regulations) in order of importance was considered. considering these four criteria, the most important solutions for optimal management of unemployment insurance are: "reviewing the conditions and mechanism for receiving unemployment insurance compensation for preventing collusion between the worker and the employer", "recruiting foreign investments for industrial development of the province", "training workers on work discipline and conscience in cooperation with business enterprises" and "strengthening the field of labor relations. "

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of marketing capabilities on export performance of Entrepreneurial Exporter companies of Agricultural Products in Iran, directly and indirectly, with the mediating role of competitive advantages. The statistical population of this research is export companies of agriculture products in Iran, which have export performance in the past 3 years. using available rrandom sampling method, 423 questionnaires were collected. Respondents to questionnaires in companies, were executives. To test the research hypotheses and data analysis, SEM structural equation modeling and SPSS and Smart PLS software were used. The results of statistical data and structural equation modeling showed that marketing capabilities do not have a direct impact on the export performance of the company and its impact is due to the creation of competitive advantages. Marketing capabilities have a positive and significant effect on competitive advantages, and competitive advantages have a positive and significant effect on export performance. Also, a general review of the results shows that the variable of marketing capabilities, directly and indirectly through the creation of competitive advantages, explains 45% of the variations in the export performance, which indicates the importance of marketing capabilities Market sensing, Customer engaging, and Partner linking) in Achieving superior export performance. Based on the results of this research, companies should be aware of the importance of marketing research and try to keep in touch with customers and partners alike and note that connecting with customers in international markets and recording their demands and suggestions can be effective in improving the company's export performance.

In recent years, with the growth of studies in the field of family business, research on the corporate social responsibility has increased in parallel. Regarding the importance of social responsibility studies in the field of family business, the present study identifies the component of corporate social responsibility in order to investigate its impact on family business performance in Mazandaran province. In this regard, a descriptive survey method using structural equation model was used in this research. In order to, a researcher-made questionnaire of questions with a five-point Likert questionnaire was used to collect data. A simple stratified sampling method was used to select a sample of active business owners in Mazandaran Province Cooperation and Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture Chambers. The data were analyzed by PLS software and the findings showed that the impact of customer social responsibility with a factor of percent had the greatest impact on the financial performance of the company.