Evaluating and Analyzing the Levels of Economic Competitiveness of Urban Zones, Case Study: Five Zones of Zahedan City

The purpose of this research is to evaluate and analyze the level of economic competitiveness among the five regions of Zahedan city. This research is descriptive-analytical based on its nature and method, and applied-developmental in terms of its purpose. The data collection of the research was done using questionnaires and documents (data from the Statistical Yearbook of Iran Statistics Center and Zahedan Municipality Statistics and Information Center). The questionnaire tool was designed based on the global indicators of the Economic Forum as well as the use of other articles and researches. The research data were analyzed in SPSS software. To rank the zones of Zahedan based on competitiveness indices that, first the data were weighted using entropy technique, then the Aras multi-index technique was used. The results of study indicate the inequality of five zones of Zahedan in having economic competitiveness indicators. Therefore, Zone 1 of Zahedan city with 0.765 weight in the first rank had high level of competitiveness, Zone 2 with 0.542 weight and zone 5 with 0.407 weight respectively located in the second and third ranks with regards to competitiveness level. On average, zone 4 with a weight of 0.223 in fourth rank and finally zone 3, with a weight of 0.99, in fifth rank showed low level of competitiveness.