درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

Livestock and poultry production and supply is one of the significant food sectors in which more production can lead to a decrease in dependence on exports and earning foreign exchange. Poultry farming is a vital industry for sustainable food supply in all countries. In this research, intelligent applications and solutions in the poultry industry are identified and prioritized using the simultaneous evaluation of criteria and alternatives (SECA) methodbased on criteria representing the sustainable development. Analysis showed that eighteenprincipalfieldsof intelligent solutions are identified in the poultry industry. The weights obtained for sustainable development criteria based on the SECA method are economic (0.351), social (0.3383), and environmental (0.3065) in order of value. Economic sustainability should be most importantinimplementing smart solutions-based projects in the poultry industry. One of the main challenges of the agricultural sector, especially the poultry industry, is traditional production utilization which leads to the overuse of land capacity. Also, the globalization trends, climate changes, moving from a fossil fuel-based economy to an environment-based economy, competition for land, freshwater, and labor shortage have led to more complications in supplyingnutrition. Considering the potential of smart solutions in realizing sustainable development objectives, it is suggested to focus more on the environmental aspects of poultry industry projects.

A suitable marketing strategy is essential for increasing sales and profitability at different stages of the product life cycle. The main objective of this study was to assess the factors that affect the choice of marketing strategy at various stages of the product life cycle in the food industry in Mashhad, Iran. Data were collected in 2017 through a survey which 88 marketing managers in the food production industry completed the questionnaires. To reach the goal of the study, the multinomial logit model was applied to determine the effects of explanatory variables on the probability of choosing a special marketing strategy at the various stages of the product life cycle. Results showed that the manager’s experience, education, type of product, competitiveness, reputable brand, and market share had a significant effect on the chosen strategy at different stages of the product life cycle. Therefore, a company’s profitability in a market could be improved by the implementation of a marketing strategy based on product type and in relation to the specific stage of the product life cycle.

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.