نشریه مطالعات کارآفرینی و توسعه پایدار کشاورزی
سال یازدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 42، تابستان 1403)

In recent years, circular business models have attracted the attention of many business fields. The agri-food sector is also facing new challenges in order to reduce losses and food waste along its supply chain. In this context, the adoption and application of circular business models provide opportunities to promote the transition towards a more sustainable performance and a more economically suitable future. Therefore, the current research has identified the benefits of using circular business models in the agri-food sector with a qualitative approach and a meta-synthesis method. In this regard, the number of 57 related studies was evaluated and finally, after reviewing, 29 articles were selected and analyzed using the seven-step model of Sandelowski and Barroso, in two stages of open coding and axial coding. In this way, the most important identified benefits of using circular business models in the agri-food sector were categorized into five main categories: economic, environmental, value chain, marketing and social. In the end, according to the propositions of the research, suggestions were presented. In an important example, the policy makers and those involved in the agri-food sector should raise the awareness of the society (through culture building by television and radio and schools) and farmers (through holding courses and helping to revalue the product and by-products and their labeling). In addition, the creation of facilities and financial incentives can also be effective in providing the prerequisites for the implementation and success of circular business models in agri-food sector.

This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the alignment of the curriculum planning system of agricultural vocational schools with entrepreneurship education, using a mixed exploratory method (qualitative and quantitative). In the qualitative part of the research, first by reviewing the theoretical literature, the effective factors on the planning system of agricultural vocational schools were identified. Then, to determine the obstacles of entrepreneurship education, a group of experts (n=8) was invited to hold a meeting in the style of a focus group. Questionnaires were included in three rounds using the Delphi method to ask the opinions of experts (n=30) who were experts in the fields of agriculture, management and planning. After receiving the first round of Delphi questionnaires, experts' opinions were checked. The cases whose dispersion coefficient was 0.5 and less, in addition to the new cases proposed by the experts, were put to the opinion poll in the second round of Delphi, and the results of the second round were analyzed in the same way as the first round, and the experts were asked for their opinion again in the third round was presented. Finally, in the third round, the final model including 12 components and 148 sub-components was obtained. The results of the three Delphi steps show that the components of content, art students and teaching methods rank first to third, respectively, which need to be considered in order to align curriculum with entrepreneurship education.

The development of value co-creation in agricultural production cooperatives leads to the increase of performance and success of these cooperatives. The main purpose of this descriptive-correlation research was to explain a model for developing value co-creation in cooperatives producing off-season products in Kermanshah Province. The statistical population was the members of active cooperatives (N=137), which was collected by census method of 129 questionnaires. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, whose validity was determined by a panel of experts in the fields of rural development, agricultural extension and rural planning. The reliability of the research tool was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability. Based on the results five factors affect value co-creation behavior as follows: environmental pressure, managers' support (organizational culture), perceived self-efficacy, social capital, and perceived comparative advantage. The findings of the structural model with Smart-PlS showed that "perceived self-efficacy" (β= 0.657, sig= 0.00) has the greatest direct effect on value co-creation behavior. Another variable influencing the strengthening of value co-creation in the cooperatives was the support of the cooperative managers (β=0.237, sig=0.02), which is deeply under the influence of environmental pressures (β=0.825, sig=0.00). Finally, the research variables explained 64.5% of the variance of the co-creation behavior. Using the structural model presented in this research can help to develop value co-creation behavior in agricultural cooperatives producing off-season products.

The covid-19 pandemic overshadowed the performance of small and medium food industries as well as other businesses. Considering the central role of innovation in critical conditions and also the vital role of small and medium food industries in economic development, the current research was carried out with the aim of explaining the performance of small and medium food industries in Mazandaran based on the innovation approach during Covid-19 pandemic. The current research is a causal studiy that used the quantitative research paradigm and field survey method. The statistical population included 500 small and medium food industries in Mazandaran. 217 businesses were selected as a sample based on the table of Krejci and Morgan and by random sampling method. The data collection tool was a five-option Likert scale questionnaire and its reliability was confirmed by calculating ordinal theta coefficient (θ= 0.831). SPSS26 and Smart-PLS3 were used for descriptive and inferential data analysis, respectively. The results showed that organizational innovation had a more prominent role in explaining performance compared to other forms of innovation. In addition, the evidence showed that if a business has an acceptable innovation capability, this capability leads to improved innovative performance through improved innovation status, and this in turn results in improved production, market and financial performance in critical conditions. Therefore, in order to survive and grow in crisis conditions and improve innovative performance, practitioners and business owners are expected to focus on improving innovation capability and then concentrate on promoting organizational innovation.

Intense competition and complexity of markets have led to the innovation variable being considered a key issue for the continuation of firms' activities. Therefore, firms have turned to entrepreneurship and the use of new technologies to control it. Based on this, the aim of this research is to investigate the moderating role of internet of things (IoT) capability and competition intensity in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and product innovation in knowledge-based firms. This research is considered as quantitative and applied studies. The statistical population includes knowledge-based manufacturing firms in the field of biotechnology, agriculture and food. In this research, Cochran's formula was used to estimate the sample and a questionnaire was used to collect data. It should be mentioned that 177 analyzable data were received from the studied firms. On the other hand, relationships between the research variables were investigated and analyzed with the method of structural equation modeling in the form of partial least squares. The result of the first hypothesis showed that entrepreneurial orientation has a positive and significant effect on product innovation. Also, based on the result of the second hypothesis, moderating role of IoT capability in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and product innovation was found to be significant. On the other hand, the third hypothesis showed that the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and product innovation is strengthened in high competitive conditions. Finally, the contribution of this research has been to provide a new conceptual model, fill the existing gap and increase the subject literature.

The aim of the research was to analysis the influential factors in technological and innovative entrepreneurship in the fishing industry. The studied population in the content analysis section was consist of proficient panel and for ISM section consisted of experts in which a sample of 30 individuals was selected by a combination of purposive and snowball sampling methods. By content analysis technique, the effective components were identified and categorized which 55 codes were extracted and categorized into 10 components. The results of ISM indicated that the influential factors were classified into 4 levels. At the bottom level (level 4) the support component was placed, which was the most basic and acts as the basis of the model. In the third level, environmental and management components, in the second level, the components of biological, economic, market and the supply of financial and human resources, and in the upper level (level 1), which had the least influence the factors educational and research, technical and professional and international were placed. The results of the MICMAC analysis also indicated that the managerial and support factors with the highest level of influence and low dependence were placed in the driver area. Technical, professional and international factors with a high degree of dependence were placed in the dependent area and other factors were placed in the linkage area. The model presented in this study can serve as a guide and roadmap for policymakers and key decision-makers in the fishing system to achieve sustainable ecosystem entrepreneurship development.

In recent years, rural areas have become strategic points for implementing renewable energy projects; Because these areas have a high potential for the establishment of renewable energy facilities and, as a result, sustainable rural development. Despite the fact that political strategies have predicted the positive effects of renewable energy in achieving sustainable rural development, how to achieve this important goal in accordance with the current conditions of different societies, is still an aura of ambiguity. In this regard, the current research was conducted with the aim of identifying factors affecting the implementation and development of the use of renewable energy in the rural areas of Ilam province. Instrument of data gathering in this quantitative research was a researcher-made questionnaire, which validity and reliability were confirmed using content validity and Cronbach's alpha test. The statistical population of this research included all the experts in the field of energy in Ilam province (N=265), and using the sampling table of Bartlett et al., 154 of them were randomly selected as research samples. Data analysis using SPSS software showed that according to the belief of most experts, governance-political, economic-financial, managerial-organizational, social-cultural, educational-promotional, international, technical features, Physical-infrastructural, natural-regional and market conditions play a role at a higher than average level in the implementation and development of the use of renewable energy in the rural areas of Ilam province. The results of this study can play an effective role in changing the pattern of energy production in Ilam province and moving towards sustainable energy development.

This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the impact of received microcredits on the livelihood of rural households in Zabol County. The target population included 7263 heads of rural households. The results of the credit accessibility quality assessment showed that the easy conditions of collateral and guarantee, providing the required documents, transparency in the work steps and providing sufficient information about credit facilities were of better quality and 70.80% of the respondents rated the quality of the received credits as average. The results of Friedman's test showed that items like wage labor, animal husbandry, agronomy, handicraft production and government aid are among the important livelihood strategies in the study area. The results of the one-sample t-test showed that human, physical, natural and financial capitals are not in a favorable condition and only social capital is slightly more than average. The results of exploratory factor analysis led to the classification of livelihood strategies and the extraction of three livelihood groups including "livelihood strategy based on product production", "livelihood strategy based on self-employment" and "livelihood strategy based on receiving salaries" which explained for 65.58% of the total variance. The results of linear regression in order to investigate the effect of the credit quality index on each of the livelihood capitals showed that credits have a significant positive effect on three types of human capital, physical and financial, as well as the total sustainable livelihood index, and has no significant effect on two types of social and natural capital.