The rapid and continuous development of markets and competitions has changed the boundaries and dynamics of the business environment. Therefore, firms have increasingly confronted with unexpected challenges. The theory of dynamic capabilities states that firms require dynamic capabilities to success and gain competitive advantage in rapidly changing complex environments. The purpose of this study is to quantify the effect of dynamic capabilities on competitive advantage through organizational ambidexterity mediation. Organizational ambidexterity is considered as a new managerial structure, which is discussed for the competitive advantage and survival of companies and is obtained through the efforts of organizations to exploit and explore opportunities. In this research, a questionnaire was developed to collect data and the sample size was suitable for 78 subjects using G*Power software. Research data collected from Iranian export companies. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to measure the effects of variables. The paper argues that dimensions of dynamic capabilities including sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring have a positive significant effect on competitive advantage, both directly and through organizational ambidexterity. Based on the results, all research hypotheses were accepted at a minimum level of 95% confidence. This research showed that dynamic capabilities have a positive impact on gaining competitive advantage. In addition, higher dynamic capabilities will facilitate the company's ability to mobilize resources to attract opportunities and eliminate threats and help to reconfigure knowledge resources to explore and exploit.

Despite the growing importance of the role of knowledge in promoting innovation performance and maintaining competitive advantage in a highly competitive global environment, organizations face many difficulties in utilizing and developing the external knowledge flow infrastructure. Promoting organizational learning based on absorptive capacity theory and creating exploration and exploitation structures based on organizational ambidexterity theory can be an explanation to help organizations to solve these problems. This study aims to explain the effect of knowledge absorptive capacity in achieving competitive advantage and the mediating role of organizational ambidexterity in a study in export companies.

The initial model was extracted from the literature and in the qualitative stage through in-depth interviews with experts, the final conceptual model was drawn. The research questionnaire, after confirming its reliability and validity, was distributed among managers and experts of Iranian export companies by random sampling method. The statistical population of the research were 570 top Iranian export companies. In the qualitative section, sampling was performed by theoretical sampling method and 11 managers of companies with more than 5 and 10 years of experience were selected. The field of activity of selected companies included: gas and petrochemical, steel, auto parts, pipes and fittings and food.

In the quantitative section, a sample of 78 companies was selected with the help of G*Power software. Qualitative data analysis was performed by ATLAS.ti and quantitative data with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results show that the absorptive capacity does not have a significant effect on the competitive advantage. Nevertheless, the effect of this variable on organizational ambidexterity and the effect of organizational ambidexterity on competitive advantage is significant. Therefore, it can be said that organizational ambidexterity has been a perfect mediator in the relationship between absorptive capacity and competitive advantage.

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The findings of this study provide a path for export companies in order to gain a competitive advantage. Companies can facilitate the flow of external knowledge into the organization by strengthening the ambidexterious organizational structures, creating learning environments and strengthening the capacity to absorb knowledge.

Exports have direct effects on Iran’s economic growth; therefore, a variety of state and private owned institutes promote Iranian companies’ export activities via export promotion programs (EPPs). The main goal of these programs is to improve the export performance of Iranian companies and to motivate export activities of those companies. To explore the effects of export promotion programs on export performance and activities of firms a filed study in Iranian electric industry with a sample of 260 firms was initiated. According to results of this study, awareness and use of EPPs has no direct impact on export performance of firms; however, these programs can improve export performance via mediating impacts of marketing strategy. According to the findings of EPPs some policy implication to improve the effectiveness presented based on the results of study in the end of paper.

Knowledge-based exports have emerged as a source of economic growth in many nations worldwide, including Iran. This study aims to explore knowledge-based export diversification strategies among stakeholders operating in Iran's electronic industry through qualitative methodology using an oriented content analysis approach and semi-structured interviews with high-level executives and consultants. The findings indicate three main diversification path which includes SMEs, Intermediaries and value chain leaders. Intermediaries categorized in export management companies, consortiums and innovation centers. These results will help policymakers to develop new policies regarding the export of technical knowledge, fables production, the formation of export intermediaries, and promoting participation of knowledge-based componies in market leader companies value chains.

This study is an empirical research that examines the firm-specific factors that affect the export performance of SMEs in Iran. The statistical population includes active exporter manufacturing firms based on the census of the Statistical Center of Iran. Due to missing data, 1169 manufacturing firms were selected as the final sample of this study. Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchical multivariate regression methods were used to analyze the data. The results suggest that smaller, privately owned companies have better export performance. Also, the level of technology and capital intensity do not affect the export performance of small and medium-sized businesses. The findings of the research indicate the effect of staff skills and their degree of education on export performance. Research and development (R&D) and product diversity also have an effect on export performance. The results show that manufacturing companies with a few numbers of products have better performance in export.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of marketing capabilities on export performance of Entrepreneurial Exporter companies of Agricultural Products in Iran, directly and indirectly, with the mediating role of competitive advantages. The statistical population of this research is export companies of agriculture products in Iran, which have export performance in the past 3 years. using available rrandom sampling method, 423 questionnaires were collected. Respondents to questionnaires in companies, were executives. To test the research hypotheses and data analysis, SEM structural equation modeling and SPSS and Smart PLS software were used. The results of statistical data and structural equation modeling showed that marketing capabilities do not have a direct impact on the export performance of the company and its impact is due to the creation of competitive advantages. Marketing capabilities have a positive and significant effect on competitive advantages, and competitive advantages have a positive and significant effect on export performance. Also, a general review of the results shows that the variable of marketing capabilities, directly and indirectly through the creation of competitive advantages, explains 45% of the variations in the export performance, which indicates the importance of marketing capabilities Market sensing, Customer engaging, and Partner linking) in Achieving superior export performance. Based on the results of this research, companies should be aware of the importance of marketing research and try to keep in touch with customers and partners alike and note that connecting with customers in international markets and recording their demands and suggestions can be effective in improving the company's export performance.</div>

Iran, despite having a high potential for exports, holds a small share in international markets and, despite the upward trend since the third Development Plan, is still far from optimal conditions. Given the importance of developing non-oil exports, government stimulus programs for export and making them effective are considered as one of the main strategies in line with the policy of macro-economic growth. This study aims at evaluating the effect of government development programs on export performance as well as assessing the performance of construction materials exporters with an emphasis on stimulus programs. For this purpose, 38 top exporting companies in the field of construction materials in 2014 were chosen as the study population. The data were gathered by questionnaires and analysed by the structural equations method with SPSS and LISREL software programs. The result indicated that the manager's perceptions of the export market, export knowledge export strategies, and stimulus programs using variables determined about 71 percent of the export performance of these companies. According to the derived coefficients, export strategies variable had the greatest effect. Also, a one-percent increase in the government stimulus programs could increase the export commitment for 0.29%, the export strategies for 0.22%, the export performance for 0.29%, the manager's perceptions of the export market for 0.33%, and the export knowledge for0.51%.

The modern business theory addresses international trade and economic growth during the 1990s and focuses on technological progress and its external implications, as well as the use of new knowledge as a clear variable. Export Promotion Programs complete the information and knowledge of managers in the field of exports. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of export incentive programs on the export performance of international trading companies, directly and indirectly, with the mediator role of the attractiveness of foreign markets and the company's export capabilities. A total of 240 questionnaires of Iranian trading companies were collected by random sampling method. SEM modeling was used to test the hypotheses and analyze the data. The results showed that export incentive programs do not have a direct effect on the export performance of the company and its effect is through the perception of the attractiveness of foreign markets as well as the development of export capabilities of the company on the company's export performance. Also, the results show that the variable of export incentive programs, directly and indirectly, explains 66% of the variations in the export performance, which indicates the importance of export incentive programs to achieve superior export performance. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that programs in the field of encouraging business companies be given more importance to educational issues. Also, corporate executives should note that communication factors are considered as the most important factor in creating the export capability for major companies.