Amir Forouharfar | University of Sistan and Baluchestan (original) (raw)

Papers by Amir Forouharfar

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), 2018

Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of en... more Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is first to reveal the innovation-based competitive advantages of Oman’s economy; then compare Oman with Qatar relative to the Global Innovation Index’s (GII) sub-indices. The strategic vision and mission of the Sultanate’s four administrative entrepreneurship-promoting strategies are relevant to indices based on GII. The secondary data of the paper is collected directly from the Global Innovation Index Reports 2009–2017 and the regressions are calculated by the authors for both Oman and Qatar. In this study, Qatar, because of its international economic scores and rankings, has been assumed as a benchmark for comparing, evaluating and estimating the distances of the scores in each GII sub-index. After processing the data, the SWOT (SWOT is the acronym for an analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of Oman relative to Qatar was developed as a reference point. The findings show Oman has near scores to Qatar in institutional aspects and distant scores with Qatar in infrastructure indices. The analysis of innovation-based competitive advantage is longitudinal and embraces the span of time from 2009 to 2017. The research implication is that formulated strategies could be applied by the Omani decision-makers for the promotion of entrepreneurship and subsequently improving economic and social welfare in the Sultanate (The social implication could be the facilitation and promotion of the sultanate economy for the betterment of economic prosperity through effective entrepreneurship). Moreover, as one of the pioneering studies in this area, the originality and value of this paper lies in its application of GII sub-indices for the first time to formulate administrative strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurship in Oman. Finally, four strategies are suggested: Economic Diversification Strategy, Human Resources Upskilling Strategy, Economic Globalization Strategy and Economic Privatization Strategy. These are in accordance with Oman’s Vision 2020, and as such enhance economic diversification and the promotion of entrepreneurship in the Sultanate.

Contextual Strategic Entrepreneurship, 2021

This edited volume discusses the contextual nature of strategic entrepreneurship. It unfolds the ... more This edited volume discusses the contextual nature of strategic entrepreneurship. It unfolds the concept of context in strategic entrepreneurship and demonstrates how entrepreneurial strategies differ among various countries, societies, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Written by global experts in strategic entrepreneurship research, chapters discuss emerging issues in the field such as barriers to strategic entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial resourced-based view, mixed embeddedness, social media marketing, competitiveness in small enterprises, strategic learning, and the triple helix approach to university-business-government strategic cooperation. Affirming that strategic decisions, planning, and formulations are greatly context-related endeavors and hence any true understanding of entrepreneurial strategy starts with appropriate understanding of relevant context, this volume makes a vital contribution to the discussion of strategic entrepreneurship

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2022

Contributions to Economics, 2022

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013

Since failures are inevitable where any service is offered, the subsequent complaints are predict... more Since failures are inevitable where any service is offered, the subsequent complaints are predictable, and thus, considering suitable policies to handle the customers' complaints is essential. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of the perceived justice by the airline customers in the process of resolving their complaints on their satisfaction and also the consequent trust in the respective company. To this end, 273 questionnaires were distributed among the passengers of Mashhad Shahid Hasheminejad International Airport, who had at least one service failure in the last two years and had complained to the respective company. Structural Equition Modeling approach has applied to analyze the results. The results verified the effect of each aspect of justice. The study has shown that the interactional justice leads to the maximum recovery satisfaction and procedural and distributive justices stand after it. Moreover, the effect of the recovery satisfaction on customers' trust is verified too.

This research is a survey and exploratory study to present a conceptual model for the sustainable... more This research is a survey and exploratory study to present a conceptual model for the sustainable development of Iran based on social entrepreneurship. Its approach for conceptual modeling is based on Path Analysis through Multiple Regression Method. The study has benefited from five questionnaires (four for the Delphi Method’s rounds and another for the conceptual modeling itself). The statistical population of conceptual modeling section includes three public organizations of Iran: "State Welfare Organization," "Department of Environment," and "Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare," which reflect the pivotal SD concepts of society, environment, and hence social economy, respectively. After setting a conceptual framework, the preliminary conceptual model was formed accordingly. Each path on the model was equal to a hypothesis. Finally, a statistically significant SD-based conceptual model of social entrepreneurship, which passed goodness-...

International Journal of Social and Economic Research, 2011

Entrepreneurs play different roles according to the economists and academicians, and the priority... more Entrepreneurs play different roles according to the economists and academicians, and the priority of these roles are different in the academic settings and the entrepreneurs’ real setting.This survey have been done among 15 Iranian entrepreneurs in Shiraz Industrial Town, to understand their idea about the roles that they play. Iranian entrepreneurs believe that they play the roles of firm owner, employer, and manager.

Cogent Business & Management, 2020

Fractal metaphor could be introduced to organization studies to elaborate on those organizational... more Fractal metaphor could be introduced to organization studies to elaborate on those organizational concepts that call for self-organization, self-similarity, similarity persistence in different organizational levels, symmetrical expansion, homogeneous discipline and quality, omnipresent controlling measures, and growth, as well as the organizational processes and procedures that require recursion. Organizational power is an abstract entity which could precisely be explained via a metaphorical fractal. Thus, Sierpinski Triangle, a familiar geometrical fractal has been applied in the paper with the purpose to unfold the fractal characteristics of the power within organizations. Such an approach presumes power characteristics as hierarchical, pyramidal, distributive, recursive, accumulative, dependent, comparative, and unequal. The discussions through the paper could contribute to future organization theorists to form an idea on two ubiquitous concepts of organizational power: directionality and dimensionality. Moreover, the paper theorizes the triangular combination of need, interest, and relationship as ontological elements of potential power and a fourth entity (enforcement) in combination with the three previous elements as the necessary elements of every pragmatic power.

QScience Connect, 2016

Human body, other animate beings, plants, and organizations are all dynamic and systemic entities... more Human body, other animate beings, plants, and organizations are all dynamic and systemic entities. The similarity between living organisms and organizations, especially considering highly evolved organisms such as the human body, is noteworthy. Therefore, whenever an organization fails to accomplish its function and mission, an organizational symptom or disease may be envisaged to have come up; as a result, a variety of organizational symptoms and diseases can be considered. Recent studies have attempted to find analogies between the human body system and a social system such as an organization, to find analogous malfunctions and ailments, in order to enable the introduction of guidelines for the diagnosis of organizational symptoms and diseases, and their remedies and treatments. This paper deals with the concepts of biological metaphor and analogy, which have been present in organizational management for several decades. It attempts to study some subsystems of the human body analo...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

Many studies have been carried out on the barriers to intrapreneurship or corporate entrepreneurs... more Many studies have been carried out on the barriers to intrapreneurship or corporate entrepreneurship, but a few ones have prioritized these studied barriers to the domestic atmosphere of Eastern countries. Therefore, as a case study, Work and Social Affairs Organization in Iran has been chosen. This organization is in charge of promoting and paving the way for entrepreneurship in Iran. Based on the size of the organization, a sample of 15 employees in this organization in its Fars Province branch has been chosen .They answered to the questionnaires which had the list of barriers. Since they are familiar with the barriers to intrapreneurship in the atmosphere of Iran, the frequency of their answers (stated barriers) were shown in a final bar chart. Based on this study the tension between the values of the intrapreneur and its organization, is the principal barrier to intrapreneuship in Iran.

Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 2018

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018

Entrepreneurship could be used as a foreign policy tool in the world of politics. The Gulf Cooper... more Entrepreneurship could be used as a foreign policy tool in the world of politics. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a politicoeconomic alliance of six Arab states in close proximity to the Gulf. The council embraces the states which actively apply entrepreneurship for the promotion of their national foreign policies through ‘bait-andswitch,’1 i.e. by showing economic incentives (baits) they prepare the ground for the involvement of foreign partners through investment or getting loans, which is then used for other politico-economic motives (switches) under numerous strategies in service to their foreign policies, e. g. with the intention of increasing foreign direct investment, political legitimacy, domestic job generation, etc. In the following, each move toward statesponsored entrepreneurship by a GCC state will be unfolded as a potential motive for foreign policy advantage(s). A state’s support of any issue, especially when it is done or motivated by those high in the hierarchy of political decision-making and has absorbed great quantities of public investments, is not independent of pushing forward the state’s political strategies and policies. Moreover, a strategic interpreter is not the oracle of Delphi, unfolding rather than predicting the latent and plausible scenarios. The application of entrepreneurship to gain or facilitate the acquisition of strategically pre-defined visionary goals of foreign policy is the exer tion of the ‘soft power’ of appeal and attraction. It is killing two birds with one stone, i.e. the generation of entrepreneurship inside, and reinforcement of foreign policy outside.

Cogent Business & Management, 2019

Middle East as one of the most socially, politically and culturally vulnerable parts of the world... more Middle East as one of the most socially, politically and culturally vulnerable parts of the world is in an unprecedented turmoil, at least from the Second World War onward. Although there are plenty praiseworthy and socially entrepreneurial examples in some of the countries of the region, the flagrant and bare facts in this mostly war and drought stricken zone of the world with its numerous potentially smoldering social problems drove the middle eastern governments not to have a passive role but to dynamically choose strategic visions and missions and actively pave the way towards choosing social entrepreneurship strategies. This paper tries to provide an overview of the governmental SE strategies in the middle eastern countries; therefore, it is a review paper and relies mostly on secondary data, facts and figures which are issued by the authentic governmental agencies of these countries, the non-governmental operational SEOs, the UN, UNDP, UNHCR, UNESCO, GEM, ECOSOC, World Economi...

Contributions to Management Science

Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of en... more Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is first to reveal the innovation-based competitive advantages of Oman’s economy; then compare Oman with Qatar relative to the Global Innovation Index’s (GII) sub-indices. The strategic vision and mission of the Sultanate’s four administrative entrepreneurship-promoting strategies are relevant to indices based on GII. The secondary data of the paper is collected directly from the Global Innovation Index Reports 2009–2017 and the regressions are calculated by the authors for both Oman and Qatar. In this study, Qatar, because of its international economic scores and rankings, has been assumed as a benchmark for comparing, evaluating and estimating the distances of the scores in each GII sub-index. After processing the data, the SWOT (SWOT is the acronym for an analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of Oman relative t...

Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), 2018

Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of en... more Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is first to reveal the innovation-based competitive advantages of Oman’s economy; then compare Oman with Qatar relative to the Global Innovation Index’s (GII) sub-indices. The strategic vision and mission of the Sultanate’s four administrative entrepreneurship-promoting strategies are relevant to indices based on GII. The secondary data of the paper is collected directly from the Global Innovation Index Reports 2009–2017 and the regressions are calculated by the authors for both Oman and Qatar. In this study, Qatar, because of its international economic scores and rankings, has been assumed as a benchmark for comparing, evaluating and estimating the distances of the scores in each GII sub-index. After processing the data, the SWOT (SWOT is the acronym for an analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of Oman relative to Qatar was developed as a reference point. The findings show Oman has near scores to Qatar in institutional aspects and distant scores with Qatar in infrastructure indices. The analysis of innovation-based competitive advantage is longitudinal and embraces the span of time from 2009 to 2017. The research implication is that formulated strategies could be applied by the Omani decision-makers for the promotion of entrepreneurship and subsequently improving economic and social welfare in the Sultanate (The social implication could be the facilitation and promotion of the sultanate economy for the betterment of economic prosperity through effective entrepreneurship). Moreover, as one of the pioneering studies in this area, the originality and value of this paper lies in its application of GII sub-indices for the first time to formulate administrative strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurship in Oman. Finally, four strategies are suggested: Economic Diversification Strategy, Human Resources Upskilling Strategy, Economic Globalization Strategy and Economic Privatization Strategy. These are in accordance with Oman’s Vision 2020, and as such enhance economic diversification and the promotion of entrepreneurship in the Sultanate.

Contextual Strategic Entrepreneurship, 2021

This edited volume discusses the contextual nature of strategic entrepreneurship. It unfolds the ... more This edited volume discusses the contextual nature of strategic entrepreneurship. It unfolds the concept of context in strategic entrepreneurship and demonstrates how entrepreneurial strategies differ among various countries, societies, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Written by global experts in strategic entrepreneurship research, chapters discuss emerging issues in the field such as barriers to strategic entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial resourced-based view, mixed embeddedness, social media marketing, competitiveness in small enterprises, strategic learning, and the triple helix approach to university-business-government strategic cooperation. Affirming that strategic decisions, planning, and formulations are greatly context-related endeavors and hence any true understanding of entrepreneurial strategy starts with appropriate understanding of relevant context, this volume makes a vital contribution to the discussion of strategic entrepreneurship

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2022

Contributions to Economics, 2022

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013

Since failures are inevitable where any service is offered, the subsequent complaints are predict... more Since failures are inevitable where any service is offered, the subsequent complaints are predictable, and thus, considering suitable policies to handle the customers' complaints is essential. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of the perceived justice by the airline customers in the process of resolving their complaints on their satisfaction and also the consequent trust in the respective company. To this end, 273 questionnaires were distributed among the passengers of Mashhad Shahid Hasheminejad International Airport, who had at least one service failure in the last two years and had complained to the respective company. Structural Equition Modeling approach has applied to analyze the results. The results verified the effect of each aspect of justice. The study has shown that the interactional justice leads to the maximum recovery satisfaction and procedural and distributive justices stand after it. Moreover, the effect of the recovery satisfaction on customers' trust is verified too.

This research is a survey and exploratory study to present a conceptual model for the sustainable... more This research is a survey and exploratory study to present a conceptual model for the sustainable development of Iran based on social entrepreneurship. Its approach for conceptual modeling is based on Path Analysis through Multiple Regression Method. The study has benefited from five questionnaires (four for the Delphi Method’s rounds and another for the conceptual modeling itself). The statistical population of conceptual modeling section includes three public organizations of Iran: "State Welfare Organization," "Department of Environment," and "Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare," which reflect the pivotal SD concepts of society, environment, and hence social economy, respectively. After setting a conceptual framework, the preliminary conceptual model was formed accordingly. Each path on the model was equal to a hypothesis. Finally, a statistically significant SD-based conceptual model of social entrepreneurship, which passed goodness-...

International Journal of Social and Economic Research, 2011

Entrepreneurs play different roles according to the economists and academicians, and the priority... more Entrepreneurs play different roles according to the economists and academicians, and the priority of these roles are different in the academic settings and the entrepreneurs’ real setting.This survey have been done among 15 Iranian entrepreneurs in Shiraz Industrial Town, to understand their idea about the roles that they play. Iranian entrepreneurs believe that they play the roles of firm owner, employer, and manager.

Cogent Business & Management, 2020

Fractal metaphor could be introduced to organization studies to elaborate on those organizational... more Fractal metaphor could be introduced to organization studies to elaborate on those organizational concepts that call for self-organization, self-similarity, similarity persistence in different organizational levels, symmetrical expansion, homogeneous discipline and quality, omnipresent controlling measures, and growth, as well as the organizational processes and procedures that require recursion. Organizational power is an abstract entity which could precisely be explained via a metaphorical fractal. Thus, Sierpinski Triangle, a familiar geometrical fractal has been applied in the paper with the purpose to unfold the fractal characteristics of the power within organizations. Such an approach presumes power characteristics as hierarchical, pyramidal, distributive, recursive, accumulative, dependent, comparative, and unequal. The discussions through the paper could contribute to future organization theorists to form an idea on two ubiquitous concepts of organizational power: directionality and dimensionality. Moreover, the paper theorizes the triangular combination of need, interest, and relationship as ontological elements of potential power and a fourth entity (enforcement) in combination with the three previous elements as the necessary elements of every pragmatic power.

QScience Connect, 2016

Human body, other animate beings, plants, and organizations are all dynamic and systemic entities... more Human body, other animate beings, plants, and organizations are all dynamic and systemic entities. The similarity between living organisms and organizations, especially considering highly evolved organisms such as the human body, is noteworthy. Therefore, whenever an organization fails to accomplish its function and mission, an organizational symptom or disease may be envisaged to have come up; as a result, a variety of organizational symptoms and diseases can be considered. Recent studies have attempted to find analogies between the human body system and a social system such as an organization, to find analogous malfunctions and ailments, in order to enable the introduction of guidelines for the diagnosis of organizational symptoms and diseases, and their remedies and treatments. This paper deals with the concepts of biological metaphor and analogy, which have been present in organizational management for several decades. It attempts to study some subsystems of the human body analo...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

Many studies have been carried out on the barriers to intrapreneurship or corporate entrepreneurs... more Many studies have been carried out on the barriers to intrapreneurship or corporate entrepreneurship, but a few ones have prioritized these studied barriers to the domestic atmosphere of Eastern countries. Therefore, as a case study, Work and Social Affairs Organization in Iran has been chosen. This organization is in charge of promoting and paving the way for entrepreneurship in Iran. Based on the size of the organization, a sample of 15 employees in this organization in its Fars Province branch has been chosen .They answered to the questionnaires which had the list of barriers. Since they are familiar with the barriers to intrapreneurship in the atmosphere of Iran, the frequency of their answers (stated barriers) were shown in a final bar chart. Based on this study the tension between the values of the intrapreneur and its organization, is the principal barrier to intrapreneuship in Iran.

Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 2018

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018

Entrepreneurship could be used as a foreign policy tool in the world of politics. The Gulf Cooper... more Entrepreneurship could be used as a foreign policy tool in the world of politics. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a politicoeconomic alliance of six Arab states in close proximity to the Gulf. The council embraces the states which actively apply entrepreneurship for the promotion of their national foreign policies through ‘bait-andswitch,’1 i.e. by showing economic incentives (baits) they prepare the ground for the involvement of foreign partners through investment or getting loans, which is then used for other politico-economic motives (switches) under numerous strategies in service to their foreign policies, e. g. with the intention of increasing foreign direct investment, political legitimacy, domestic job generation, etc. In the following, each move toward statesponsored entrepreneurship by a GCC state will be unfolded as a potential motive for foreign policy advantage(s). A state’s support of any issue, especially when it is done or motivated by those high in the hierarchy of political decision-making and has absorbed great quantities of public investments, is not independent of pushing forward the state’s political strategies and policies. Moreover, a strategic interpreter is not the oracle of Delphi, unfolding rather than predicting the latent and plausible scenarios. The application of entrepreneurship to gain or facilitate the acquisition of strategically pre-defined visionary goals of foreign policy is the exer tion of the ‘soft power’ of appeal and attraction. It is killing two birds with one stone, i.e. the generation of entrepreneurship inside, and reinforcement of foreign policy outside.

Cogent Business & Management, 2019

Middle East as one of the most socially, politically and culturally vulnerable parts of the world... more Middle East as one of the most socially, politically and culturally vulnerable parts of the world is in an unprecedented turmoil, at least from the Second World War onward. Although there are plenty praiseworthy and socially entrepreneurial examples in some of the countries of the region, the flagrant and bare facts in this mostly war and drought stricken zone of the world with its numerous potentially smoldering social problems drove the middle eastern governments not to have a passive role but to dynamically choose strategic visions and missions and actively pave the way towards choosing social entrepreneurship strategies. This paper tries to provide an overview of the governmental SE strategies in the middle eastern countries; therefore, it is a review paper and relies mostly on secondary data, facts and figures which are issued by the authentic governmental agencies of these countries, the non-governmental operational SEOs, the UN, UNDP, UNHCR, UNESCO, GEM, ECOSOC, World Economi...

Contributions to Management Science

Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of en... more Oman, as a welfare state, should have effective administrative strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is first to reveal the innovation-based competitive advantages of Oman’s economy; then compare Oman with Qatar relative to the Global Innovation Index’s (GII) sub-indices. The strategic vision and mission of the Sultanate’s four administrative entrepreneurship-promoting strategies are relevant to indices based on GII. The secondary data of the paper is collected directly from the Global Innovation Index Reports 2009–2017 and the regressions are calculated by the authors for both Oman and Qatar. In this study, Qatar, because of its international economic scores and rankings, has been assumed as a benchmark for comparing, evaluating and estimating the distances of the scores in each GII sub-index. After processing the data, the SWOT (SWOT is the acronym for an analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of Oman relative t...