Development of Entrepreneurial Strategies through the Diagnosing of Urban Socio-economic Development Processes (Mashhad city case study)

This applied research was carried out with a strategic planning approach aimed to analyze the situation and formulating entrepreneurship development strategies in the city of Mashhad. The research tool was a questionnaire that included 48 external factors (17 opportunities and 31 threats) and 53 internal factors (28 strengths and 25 weaknesses). Data analysis was done based on SWOT framework and strategic planning matrix. The target population of the research included 30 experts (academic faculty members, executives and senior experts in the field of urban planning and experts in the field of development planning in the governorate of Khorasan Razavi province). The results of the ranking of the items showed that the most important items of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat are "the presence of Astan Quds as a strong attraction to attract religious tourists", "weakness in the policies of maintenance and repairs of means of transportation" and public transport", "economic development and development of business opportunities" and "control and all-round intervention of the government". The findings of SWOT analysis showed that the total score of internal factors is 2.910 and 3.650, and for external factors is 3.049 and 2.663, respectively. According to the obtained results, entrepreneurial development strategies in Mashhad city are close to SO strategies. Among these strategies, the following have been more important: using the opinions of experts and entrepreneurs in urban decisions, strengthening civil institutions and trade unions, focusing on tourism entrepreneurial activities to exploit existing resources and attractions in order to earn money and job creation.