The Effect of Commercial Logistics on Iran’s Bilateral Industrial Exports with the Gravity Model Approach

The efficiency of business support structures such as logistics services, is one of the determinants of industrial exports. The main aim of the paper is to investigate the impact of Iran's logistics performance and export destinations on Iran's bilateral industrial exports. This analysis is based on logistics performance index and its six core components for a large sample of export destinations. Empirical analysis includes the estimation of gravity model coefficients using the pseudo-Poissian maximum likelihood method (PPML) for the time period of 2007-2018, which includes logistics performance criteria. The findings of this study provide strong evidence of the positive role of logistics in increasing Iran's bilateral industrial exports. In addition, the results show that increasing Iran's logistics performance is more important and effective than increasing the logistics performance of export destinations. This analysis also continues by examining whether the determinants of logistics performance are important for Iran's industrial exports or not. Meanwhile, the components of international transportation, tracking and tracking, service quality, on-time delivery, infrastructure and customs of export destinations respectively have the greatest impact on Iran's industrial export demand. While the increae in the quality of Iran's logistics services compared to other components of logistics performance is known as the key factor affecting the supply of industrial goods exports. Therefore, continuous investment in logistics infrastructure and services for export destinations and improving the quality of Iran's logistics services can have a positive effect on Iran's industrial exports.