Technological Capabilities Auditing in Iranian Downstream Petrochemical Industries

In the industrial development of Iran, despite significant investments and focus on the upstream petrochemical industry, the development of the mid-stream and downstream industries has been neglected. Although this has resulted in acceptable export performance in the upstream industry, it has created limited export development benefits in the downstream petrochemical industries. This article seeks to analyze the reasons for these conditions from the perspective of the technological capabilities.Through the exploratory study of literature, the dimensions of technological capabilities were identified and adapted to the conditions of these industries during interviews with twelve experts. Using a questionnaire, these dimensions were evaluated in 128 enterprises in three industries: plastics, detergents, and paint, and resin and compared with each other using the "importance-performance" analysis method. Based on the results, the strengths of these industries are limited to project implementation and process engineering capabilities, while their weaknesses are in pre-investment, learning, industrial engineering, product engineering, linkage, and networking capabilities. But the major challenge for these companies is the lack of complementary capabilities including marketing, creating sales networks and distribution channels, managing brands, developing after-sales services and other related capabilities. Although the managers rated these components as very poor in "performance", they did not attach high "importance" to them either. The reasons are the continued dominance of the import substitution approach, lack of expert personnel, lack of long-term planning for a stable presence in regional markets, and deviation in export support policies. In order to develop export technological products, this article suggests that companies design and implement smart programs in upgrading these complementary capabilities with the support of relevant government institutions.