محمد رضا فتحی - Associate Professor, Department of Management and Accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Iran
محسن ترابی - Assistant Professor, Department of Management and Accounting, University of Hormozgan, Hormozgan, Iran.
مرتضی کریمی - Suhrawardi Institute of Higher Education, Qazvin, Iran.

Purpose: Today, with SMEs’ development, entrepreneurs’ decision-making is unique in promoting the manufacturing strategy. This study investigated the relationship between entrepreneurial differentiation and fear of failure in promoting SMEs’ manufacturing strategies of Sporting Goods Manufacturers.Methodology: Regarding purpose, this study is applied research, and methodologically, it is correlational type. The research population consists of Sporting Goods Manufacturers. According to the statistics, there are ۹۹۵ companies. Based on Morgan’s table, the sample size was ۲۷۷ firms. The questionnaires used in this study included the differentiation questionnaire developed by Skowron and Friedlander (۱۹۹۸), the fear of failure questionnaire adapted from Cacciotti et al. (۲۰۱۶), and a researcher-made manufacturing strategy questionnaire. Relevant industry experts and professors confirmed the validity of this questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis through SmartPLS software.Findings: The results showed that internal and external factors affecting entrepreneurs’ fear of failure could promote the manufacturing strategy by ۵۹.۲% (R۲ = ۰.۵۹۲). On the other hand, entrepreneurial differentiation could also affect the promotion of the manufacturing industry by ۵۲% (R۲ = ۰.۵۲۰).Originality: Although much research was done on entrepreneurship and manufacturing strategy, little was done on entrepreneurs’ differentiation and fear of failure. Entrepreneurs can be among the primary beneficiaries of this research. Corporate executives and research organizations can also use research findings to plan the manufacturing industry and entrepreneurial initiatives and manage strategy and entrepreneurship.

Decision Making, Economic Development, Manufacturing Strategies, Risk taking, small and medium-sized enterprises