Abstract: This study focuses on the importance of growth models, growth strategies, role of knowledge management system in the formulation of effective strategy for the enterprises following growth. Choice of an appropriate growth strategy is at the heart of any successful entrepreneurial venture. Selection of a strategy may be effective for one entrepreneur while it is not for other. Choice of Growth Strategy depends on various different factors, organisational context and environment which may vary from enterprise to enterprise. Resource based view is very important consideration for the entrepreneurs on the path of growth. Evaluation of all kind of resources helps them to grow their enterprises successfully. Selection of an appropriate growth strategy allows the entrepreneurs in overcoming growth challenges and avoiding the growth reversals and setbacks.

Abstract: In this paper, we study the impact of leadership style among middle level managers of Iran Khodro, the biggest Iranian automaker, to promote innovation among regular workers. The proposed study designed a questionnaire and distributed it among middle level managers of this auto-maker. The study uses t-student test to examine the relationship between leadership behavior components and innovation and Freedman test is employed to rank the effects. The results of t-student values indicate that all leadership behavior of middle level have positive influence on innovation and Freedman test implied that stimulating knowledge diffusion was number one priority followed by intellectual stimulation and innovative role-modeling. We have also performed multi-regression analysis and the results have indicated that there were some positive relationship between leadership components and innovation.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation to find important factors influencing multi-dimensional organizational culture. The proposed study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale consists of 21 questions, distributes it among 300 people who worked for different business units and collects 283 filled ones. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 0.799. In addition, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy and Approx. Chi-Square are 0.821 and 1395.74, respectively. The study has implemented principal component analysis and the results have indicated that there were four factors influencing organizational culture including, diversity in culture, connection based culture, integrated culture and structure of culture. In terms of diversity in culture, sensitivity to quality data and cultural flexibility are the most influential sub-factors while connection based marketing and relational satisfaction are two important sub-factors associated with diversity in culture. The study discusses other issues.

Abstract: Undoubtedly, human capital is the main source of knowledge generation, which leads to a competitive advantage and sustainability of organizations. When managers pay more attention to such capital, they will be able to lead their organization, more effectively. In such route, the managers should look for their employees’ opinions on policies/plans of the organization and learn how to run the organization and organizational challenges. They should use their employees’ knowledge to improve the quality of decisions, they should encourage them to share their ideas and protect them from organizational silence. Thus, human capitals will be obviously considered as strategic capitals of an organization. Concerning the importance of organizational sound, the status of organizational silence is studied in 13 selected organizations in Qom Province – as one the biggest Iranian provinces. The findings indicate that organizational silence in Qom selected organizations is not in an ideal status and the current level should be mitigated. Likewise, findings show that there is no significant difference between organizational silence in Qom selected organizations in terms of demographic variables.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation to find important criteria for performance measurement based on two methods of balanced score card (BSC) as well as European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) methods. In order to determine the mission, vision, strategy and values we first review different documents including International Federation of football documentations, AFC and Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Charter Club. Next, we determine the necessary criteria for performance measurement using interview with decision makers, design a questionnaire and distribute it among 57 players and coaching staff as well as experts, veterans and supporters club. Next, we study the results using t-student test and analyze them. The results are categorized in terms of four criteria of BSC method including internal processes, learning and growth, costumer and financial. In addition, key performance results based on the Excellence Model are classified according to nine areas of leadership, strategy, human resources, partnerships and resources, processes, customer results, human resource results and society.

Abstract: Product positioning plays an important role on business development especially in food industry. In this paper, we perform an exploration study to find important factors influencing product positioning in Iranian food industry. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 260 randomly selected people from food industry. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.86 in preliminary stage and final 0.697 in final stage, which are statistically acceptable. The study uses factor analysis to find important factors and detects six important factors including marketing organization, market analysis, past perception strategy, product presentation, brand loyalty and dynamic organizational structure.

Abstract: Management information system (MIS) plays an important role on sharing necessary information within organization. In this paper, we study to find out important factors influencing the implementation of MIS in banking industry. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among 253 randomly selected people. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.82, which is within an acceptable limit. The study uses factor analysis to find important factors and detects six important factors including fear of technology, organizational instability, informal groups, cultural factors, organizational development and understanding that change is always good.

Abstract: During the past few years, organizational commitment has been a major concern in different types of business activities including banking industry. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to study the relationship between social entrepreneurship and organizational commitment. The proposed study of this paper adapts a standard questionnaire developed by Meyer and Allen [Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human resource management review, 1(1), 61-89]. Cronbach alpha has been calculated for affective commitment, employee engagement and normative commitment as 0.77, 0.79 and 0.61, respectively. The results of survey indicate that affective commitment, employee engagement and normative commitment have positively influenced organizational commitment, significantly. In addition, Freedman test has indicated that normative commitment is number one priority with mean rank of 2.85 followed by affective commitment with mean rank of 2.47 and employee engagement with the mean rank of 2.26.

Abstract: During the past few years, there has been a growing trend on luxury good consumption among Iranian consumers. Many rich people change their mobile devices, purchase new expensive cars, etc. This paper investigates the effects of three factors including consumer perceived value, sensitivity to social norms and need for uniqueness on consumer’s intention to purchase luxury products based on the theory of planned behavior. The proposed study uses clustering technique and randomly chooses a sample of 250 rich people and distributes a questionnaire among them. The study uses structural equation modeling and the implementation of the proposed model has been executed using LISREL software package. The results indicate the all three factors, consumer perceived value, sensitivity to social norms and need for uniqueness, influence consumer intention to buy luxury goods. In addition, consumer knowledge is a mediator factor between need for uniqueness and purchase intention.

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between life cycle and cash flows of automotive and machinery industry among firms whose shares are accepted in Tehran Stock exchange. The multivariate linear regression is used and the classification is based on the applied researches. The study population consists of accepted automotive and machinery industries in Tehran Stock Exchange. According to limitation in population of study, the total population has been considered and because of the nature of this research, Eviews software is used. The results indicate that the effect of cash flows are superior to accrual financial information and by increasing of the company`s life cycle and entering to maturity and decline stages, the information of cash flows and accrual flows will reduce.

Abstract: Like other innovative strategies, companies have paid more attention to market oriented strategies in recent years. This has been focused by organizations for improved effectiveness and the organization performance accelerated a lot in business competition. In responding to this fact, organizations are trying to formulate many of the issues familiar to large organizations, which have involved with market oriented strategy planning. This paper reviews key elements in market-oriented strategy planning with regard to competitiveness and performance in large organizations and outlines a comprehensive model for strategy planning in profit organizations. These elements include environment, top management, organization structure and market oriented strategy. Professional question of this study has a particularly important role in formulating relations of this model. These elements are well positioned to evaluate the impact of market-oriented strategy planning on organizations and their expected impacts on organization performance. A well-organized questionnaire to help organizations with their planning is proposed in this survey. Based on the proposed questionnaire, data obtained from Tehran food industry experts and analyzed by using SEM method. Results accepted eight hypotheses and rejected one.

Abstract: Customers or clients are counted to be reasons for existence and continuation of life of every organization and, therefore, it is essential to review various aspects of customer satisfaction. Many customers may seem to be satisfied but they may switch to competitor companies for various reasons. Loyal customers constitute a major factor for organizational successes and there are many attempts to create loyal customers. The customer loyalty was defined as commitment of customers to deal with a particular organization or buy given goods repeatedly. During the present research, the researcher engages in the evaluation of factors effective on satisfaction and loyalty of customers and in the study of their interactions, using the famous American Model of Customer Satisfaction. Major variables of such pattern are as follows: customer expectations, perceived quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, Repurchase Likelihood, Price Tolerance changes and customer complaint. In this study, 384 cell-phone users were randomly selected from different departments of North Tehran Branch of Islamic Azad University. Valuable data were gathered by closed response questionnaire. Afterward we derived eleven correlations between different parameters by using structural equation modeling. Finally, all of suppositions were confirmed by confidence level up to 95%. In addition, the SPSS and XLSTAT PLS software packages are utilized in the process and analysis of data and investigation of study's hypotheses and necessary analyses have been done.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation to measure the performance of holding company compared with the performance of market using Sharp ratio over the period of 2008-2011. SHASTA is one of the biggest holding firms in Iran, owned by social security organization, and has some subsidiary firms. The study measures the risk of holding firm and market performance firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange using the Sharp ratio. To compare the performance of holding versus subsidiary firms as well as the market, the study first performs normality test on the data. Statistical data for the performance of holding company is not normally distributed but all subsidiary data are normally distributed. Therefore, the study uses non-parametric test to measure the performance for holding company and parametric test is employed to measure the performance of other firms. The result of our investigation indicates that there was no difference between the performance of holding firm and market performance.

Abstract: This study presents an empirical investigation to measure the relationship between traditional accounting performance measurement as well as theory of constraint-based figures with operating cash flow. Traditional accounting measurement includes net profit and return of investment and theory of constraint method includes net profit and return of investment based on theory of constraints. The study selects 69 firms list on Tehran Stock Exchange over the period 2000-2010. Using panel data and fixed effect, the study performs regression analysis and the results confirm that there was a positive relationship between net profit measured by theory of constraints and cash flow and it can be effectively used for performance measurement.

Abstract: Job satisfaction plays an essential role on having happy society since people may have better lives when they fully satisfied with their jobs. In this paper, we present an empirical study to investigate the effect of marital status as well as educational background on job satisfaction. The study performs the study among university employees of Khomeinishar branch located in province of Esfahan, Iran and all questions are designed in Likert scale of 1-5 based on Brayfield & Rothes Index of job satisfaction. Using a sample of 100 people, the study first uses Kolmogrov-Smirnov test and verifies that all data are normally distributed (α=5%). The survey also finds that there is no difference between female and male employees in terms of job satisfaction (α=5%). In addition, the study confirms that marital status has no significance on job satisfaction (α=5%).

Abstract: This study examines the influencing factors on brand equity in banking industry. The proposed study designs a questionnaire consists of 16 questions for measuring brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand compatibility and perceived quality in one of Iranian banks named Mellat Bank. Using a descriptive and non-experimental study, the proposed study gathers data and analyze them using t-student test. The results indicate that three components including brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand equity compatibility on brand equity of Mellat bank branches in Mazandaran province are in desirable level but the effect of perceived quality indicator on brand equity of Mellat Bank is not desirable. The study provides necessary suggestions to improve the quality of services for the proposed case study.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical survey on understanding the content validity and reliability of technology acceptance measurement (TAM) among 278 university professors who worked for university of Shahid Beheshti located in city of Tehran Iran. We use a questionnaire consists of 37 different questions in five categories including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude towards the use of technology and operating plan in Likert scale. The proposed study uses first-order confirmatory factor analysis for validity of the questionnaire and Cronbach alpha is employed for measuring the reliability of the questionnaire. The results have confirmed that TAM questionnaire maintains sufficient content validity and reliability. In other words, The measures were refined and stream-lined, resulting in two six-item scales with reliabilities of 0.89 for usefulness and 0.87 for ease of use.

Abstract: One of the primary concerns on stock market is the risk associated with securities. There are different attempts devoted to detect and reduce any existing risk and provide necessary action to reduce them as much as possible. In this paper, we study the relationship between quality of earnings and systematic risk as well as cost of capital. The proposed study of this paper uses the information of 150 firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange and using multiple regression technique examines two hypotheses based on yearly information over the period 2006-2010. The results of our survey indicate that as the quality of earnings increase, the risk as well as the cost of capital decrease.

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between monetary policy and activity of the Tehran Stock Exchange. The statistical population of the research consists of all companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange and central bank monetary policy variables including time series generated by the central bank seasonally. For the purpose of data analysis, econometric autoregressive system models, and two-stage ADF regression with unit roots test, co-integration and reliability were used to determine level of effect and type of effect of the four components of monetary policy on exchange activity. The results of this study show that there is a strong relation between share price index and monetary policy variables and between monetary policy variables and trading volume. However, the relation between monetary policy variables and cash yield index was not so strong, but monetary policy variables’ effect on stock exchange activity was acceptable considering strong relation between the two first variables. It is suggested that if this work is done using non-linear models, it will yield better results.

Abstract: Work-life balance (WLB) plays an essential role on having peaceful life. There has been a substantial growth of families where both husband and wife work. Despite enjoying advantages of role mixture, life style in family has been faced by tremendous pressures due to ignoring conventional division of work in family as well as making new and more commitments. One of these pressures is the conflict between work and life, which could lead to unfavorable impacts on social integrity of family functions, mental and social health. This paper investigates WLB in terms of accountants’ perspective. The proposed study designs a questionnaire, which contains 12 questions where 6 questions are associated with the importance of WLB and the other 6 questions are associated with effective variables in creating WLB. The method of the research is descriptive-survey and the study uses ANOVA test to analyze the results. The researcher has employed Friedman test to score research variables. The results of the research indicate that WLB components had different rates of importance among accountants with various genders.

Abstract: Customer relationship management (CRM) plays an important role on marketing planning. In this paper, we re-examine the effect of having efficient CRM on efficiency of a telecommunication company. The proposed study considers three hypotheses. The first hypothesis examines whether implementation of CRM could improve customer’s perception in terms of customer retention, satisfaction, loyalty and awareness. The second hypothesis examines whether implementation of CRM influences on market performance in terms of reduction on customer complaints, quality improvement, improving customer perception, access to services and increase in market share. Finally, the third hypothesis considers the effect of CRM on financial figures in terms of sales growth, profit growth, earnings per share and productivity. The results of our survey have confirmed the first hypothesis and rejected the third hypothesis. In other words, while CRM improves customer perception it does not influence financial figures in most cases (P<0.01).

Abstract: This paper investigates whether a quality improvement program can reduce work-family and family-work conflicts or not. The proposed study of this paper selects 30 female employees of municipality of Tehran, Iran and divides them into two groups of test and control group. The first group is asked to participate in eight 90-minute sessions of quality improvement program and after the program ends, both groups are requested to fill in Netemeyer’s work-family questionnaire. We then analyze the results using different statistical tests. The results of our survey indicate that quality improvement program statistically improves quality of life among the first group in reducing the work-family as well as family-work conflicts (P<0.01).

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation on the effect of public attitudes toward the role of arts and cultural institutions for the cultural development of the country. The study performs the study among urban and rural families in city of Esfahan, Iran and all questions are designed in Likert scale of 1-5. Using a sample of 700 people, the study finds that people generally have negative impression toward the role of arts and cultural institutions for the cultural development of the country. In their opinions, the nature and quality of the effects play the most important role, which must be improved. The study also finds the people’s style of living and place of residency are also important issues on the perception toward cultural development.

Abstract: This paper presents a study on relationship between coping approaches and general self-efficacy scale among 67 teenagers aged 13-15 who attended guided schools in city of Najaf-Abad, Esfahan, Iran using a cluster random selection. Students were requested to fill in two questionnaires of Coping Strategies Scale-Revised (CSSR) and General Self- Efficacy Scale (GSES). The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and stepwise linear regression techniques. The results indicate that effort has a positive correlation re-evaluation, planful problem-solving, Emotion-focused coping (P<0.01) and Active coping (P<0.05). In addition innovation maintains a positive relationship with restraint, emotion-focused coping and re-evaluation (P<0.01) and it has a negative relationship with avoidance coping (P<0.05). In our study, people with higher level of efficacy use planful problem-solving.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical study to measure the effect of training emotional intelligence on communication skills among 32 teenagers who visited counseling center in city of Esfahan, Iran during the year of 2011. The people were divided into two groups of control and witness and using a questionnaire consists of 34 questions we measured the effect of training emotional intelligence on improving communication skills. The questionnaire consists of five groups of questions including the skills of listening, understanding of a message, emotion regulation, Insight into the communication processes and decisive related communication. The results of the investigation indicated that there were some meaningful differences between two groups in terms of the first four components. However, there was not any difference between two groups in terms of decisive related communication.

Abstract: Previous studies show investors’ overreaction towards firms past performance. In fact, investors overvalue past winners and undervalue past losers. However, when their expectations do not come true, stock prices return to their fair values. This study investigates investors’ overreaction in Tehran Stock Exchange in three steps. Using a five-year period data collected from Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), we evaluate portfolio performance and analyze them based on a sample of 70 firms selected from this exchange and, using Pearson correlation as well as regression analysis, examine the effects of past performance on price appreciation. The preliminary results indicate that TSE investors normally overreact to sale, quality of sale, operating profit, quality of profit, cash flow and stock return, significantly.

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation on fluctuation and trend of added value changes in oil and gas industries and their products and also to anticipate the current added value of these industries. For this aim, fluctuation of added values of different subsidiaries such as oil group products, exporting crude oil, production of gas and petroleum is investigated over the period 1959-2004. The study selects the best network to anticipate added value in subsidiaries of energy section. For the training and testing the network, all data are divided into two groups. To define input layer neurons number which are equal to auto regressive vector rank in ARMA method, the rank of auto regressive (p) and mobile mean (q) have been used according to proposed method of Pesaran & Pesaran. The simulated results have been extracted by using neural networks, in feed forward network which had low compatibility with the real added value.

Abstract: Building a distinguished brand often makes it possible to have sustainable growth in competitive market. It also helps us sell products with higher price; attract reliable customers for long term relationships. This paper presents an empirical investigation to find important factors influencing rubber industry. The proposed study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale consists of 20 questions, distributes it among 300 people and collects 265 filled ones. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 0.756. In addition, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy and Approx. Chi-Square are 0.75 and 1292.573, respectively. Based on the results of our survey, we have derived six factors including brand transparency, expected quality, brand promises, brand support and brand sustainability.

Abstract: Supplying car accessory is one of the most important growing industries in the world. Every year, millions of cars are produced and people need to have the access to necessary car accessory. In this paper, we present an exploration study to detect important factors influencing car accessory market. The proposed study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale consists of 16 questions, distributes it among 200 experts and analyses it using factor analysis. Cronbach alpha and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy are calculated as 0.823 and 0.863, which validate the overall questionnaire. The results indicate that there are three influencing factors including brand capability, brand characteristics and consumers’ believe.

Abstract: Capital structure plays essential role on financial strength of business units and there are literally many studies to confirm the relationship between capital structure and return growth. In this paper, we re-examine this relationship by investigating on 12 Iranian private banks using structural equation modelling over the period 2005-2011. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among experts and analyse it use LISREL software package. The result indicates that there is a positive and meaningful relationship, when the level of significance is five percent between capital structure and stock return in private banking industry in Iran. The implementation of Pearson and Spearman correlation tests also validate the findings.