Asghar Moshabaki Esfahani - Professor at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Department of Business Administration, Tarbait Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Shyban Ali - PhD Student in the Department of Business Administration – Marketing Management at Tarbait Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Asadoleh Kordanaij - Professor at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Department of Business Administration, Tarbait Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Current discussions on branding stress its importance for presence in the global market, and have attracted interest in various countries, especially developing countries facing economic challenges. This study is a descriptive survey in methodology and applied in objective. The required data study was collected with a questionnaire and interviews and field and library research. Therefore, the information needed to codify the literature and the theoretical background (books, articles, journals, and theses and dissertations) was collected using library research; and interviews and questionnaires were the methods of collecting field information. This study investigated the factors affecting branding in the Syrian olive oil industry and opportunities and challenges. Sampling covered four provinces, namely Damascus, Homs, Tartus, and Latakia. Data collection with questionnaires and interviews was completed in ۲۰۲۰. Although the results from the survey point to numerous challenges, eleven incentivizing factors were determined for branding in the olive oil industry, including four product factors, namely taste, color, odor, and the region of origin’s reputation, and seven contextual factors, namely abundant olive oil production, using the organic production method, sufficient domestic demand, access to specialized labs, management's view toward the benefits of branding, skilled workers, and economic export agreements. Moreover, the neglected factors were extracted from the scatter plot, namely advertisement and information related to the branded olive oil product, suitable packaging, modern technologies and equipment for high-quality production at the appropriate price, olive oil product standardization, and expert consulting services regarding branding and agricultural research and development to improve the olive oil product.

branding, brand, intrinsic cues, extrinsic cues, olive oil