A Regional Analysis of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Rural Areas of Northern Iran (Case Study: Watershed of the Haraz Plain)

Purpose- Having an appropriate and integrated entrepreneurial ecosystem in rural areas largely guarantees the sustainability of rural businesses. Therefore, this study was conducted with the purpose of classification of the rural regions of Haraz plain watershed in terms of entrepreneurial ecosystem.Design/methodology/approach- This is a descriptive study that was done using a survey. The questionnaire was the key instrument for gathering data. The study samples were ۱۸۲ pluriactive rice farmers and ۵۰ rural experts.Findings- The results showed that the studied regions are in an inappropriate situation in term of rural entrepreneurship ecosystem. Relative assessment using Shannon's entropy showed support component ranked at the highest level by a large difference compared to other components. The financial component ranked at the lowest level in comparison with other components. The results using the ORESTE and hierarchical cluster analysis techniques showed that Nour and Babolsar regions are the most appropriate regions in term of the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem for rural business development, respectively.Research implications/limitations- The improvement of REEs in the six regions should be seriously considered and pursued by policy makers. At the same time according to this research and creating mental ideas for the authors, it is suggested that researchers study the REE and introduce the types of rural businesses appropriate to the situation of the EE in all region of the world; the subject that is not covered in this article. In addition, the method, model, and strategy used in this study provide an appropriate pattern for future researches in entrepreneurial activities development in different regions of the world.

Keywords:

Rural Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (REE) , ORESTE technique , Shannon's Entropy (SE) , Watershed of Haraz Plain (WHP)