A Study to Design and Explain the Export Development Model in Iran's Free Trade Zones

This article entitled" A Study to Design and Explain Export Development Model in Iran`s free Zones " is apart of a research report aimed at assessing the direct and indirect effects of export-development programs, imposed by the government, as well asinternal and external environmental factors on the exporting performance of exporter firms.
Explanatory-mixed method approach was employed to identify and explainExport Development Model in Iran`s Free Zones. We extracted the main and secondary factors affecting the export development and related indicators after conducting in-depth interviews with 14 Free zone experts,using qualitative content analysis, applying open and axial coding techniques. Statistical techniques were administered to confirm the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. The final questionnaire was distributed among 210 active economic firms in Free zones. Lisrel 8.54 was employed to evaluate the final model.
In the proposed model, we managed to extract 79 indicators (2 main factors and 8 secondary factors) for the export development. Therefore, the authors obtained a tested theoretical modelwith comprehensive nativecharacteristics. In this model, some indicators were taken into account such as micro-environmental characteristics, macro-environmentcharacteristics, FZ export structure, resources, organizational capabilities, managerial capabilities and competencies, competitive strategy, and export marketing strategy,Export value, growth of export volume and export market share within two main factors (environment and company).