Designing a Model of International Strategic Branding of Iranian Wrestling with an Export and Currency approach

Abstract

Introduction and State of Problem

The export of non-oil goods is particularly important in economic development. Brand is considered as a strategic lever for sports organizations, both at the national and international levels. considering the current conditions of Iran's economy, attention to non-oil exports is very important and Meanwhile, strategic planning for the export of sports services along with sports goods and equipment can play an important role in this field. Considering the country's positive abilities and many talents in wrestling, this sports field it has the ability to be considered as one of the main axes for the development of sports exports inside and outside the country. Therefore, this research aims to design the international strategic branding model of Iranian wrestling with an export and foreign exchange approach.

Methodology

The research method is qualitative with exploratory nature and the grounded theory strategy was used in it. the data collection tool in this study was in-depth and structured interviews with experts in the field of international sports based on wrestling. Selection of individuals and conduct of interviews continued until the theoretical saturation was reached. Also, snowball sampling method was used to select the interviewees and the data obtained from the interview were coded and analyzed by grounded theorizing method. Finally, this method was an interview with 12 experts. In terms of education, the interviewees all have specialized doctorate degrees in the fields of business management, sports management, etc., and in terms of field experience, they also have several years of experience in the Iranian Wrestling Federation, members of the World Wrestling Federation, and faculty members of prestigious Iranian universities. , was a member of the board of directors of the Iranian Sports Industry Association, the marketing director of several famous Iranian sports clubs, Olympic and world medalist champions, etc. Also, these people have several years of research experience in the fields of sports marketing, strategic sports management, sports economics, entrepreneurship in the sports industry, knowledge-based ecosystems, etc. Also, to ensure the validity of the research, a combination of criteria (member checking, triangulation, generality) was used. The written protocol and framework was prepared with the cooperation of business and sports management professors of universities and experts in the field of wrestling to control the reliability of the research through this framework in the interviews. To ensure the effectiveness of this framework in covering the research objectives, this protocol was used in all interviews, with the opinion of all professors and experts.

Results

A total of 153 initial codes were obtained from the analysis of 12 interviews. An example of the text of the interview: when the coach, referee or athlete of the national team appear in the international fields, due to the weakness in communicating in the official international language (English), they get stressed and cannot present their abilities as they should, or in the courses Education, they have problems in acquiring specialized sciences. After extracting similar codes and after examining and putting them together and removing duplicate concepts, 53 main concepts (open code) were identified. 53 open codes extracted from the interviews were divided into 20 sub-categories (axial code: providing products, providing services, changing perspectives in this field, establishing the world wrestling museum in Iran, having a strategic approach to Iranian wrestling, holding a high-quality and powerful wrestling league in Iran, global marketing, cultural and religious conditions of the country, political conditions of the country, creating , ship diplomacy, strengthening the spirit of team work, creating productivity protocols, macro and micro environmental factors, internal and global crises, increasing knowledge and awareness, benchmarking, domestic and national interests, reducing tensions and political conflicts, preventing the weakening of the rights of wrestlers in Global competitions, facilitating the hosting of global events). axial codes were categorized into 7 main categories (selective code: facilitating the possibility of exporting and monetizing wrestling, creating sports tourism, strategic planning for wrestling, intervenors, platforms and contexts, causal conditions, consequences). The obtained examples and concepts were in the form of a paradigm model including causal conditions, main phenomenon, intervening conditions, contextual conditions and consequences.

Discussion and Conclusion

Based on the paradigm model of grounded theory: In this research and according to the identified goals and categories, the category "international strategic branding of Iranian wrestling" is considered as the main (core) category. This means that the core of the conceptual model of this research is to focus on the international strategic branding of Iranian wrestling. The causal conditions in this research include the following: micro factors and macro environment, internal and global crises, increasing knowledge and awareness, benchmarking, Backgrounds and contexts. Therefore, in this research, background and background factors are divided into the following two groups: strengthening the spirit of teamwork, creating productivity protocols. The intervening conditions in this research include the following: the country's cultural and religious conditions, the country's political conditions, The establishment of ship diplomacy. In this research, the strategies are defined as follows: having a strategic approach to Iranian wrestling, holding a powerful and high-quality wrestling league in Iran, global marketing, creating sports tourism, facilitating the possibility of exporting and gaining currency for wrestling. Therefore, the consequences of the international strategic branding of Iranian wrestling can be divided into the following sections: obtaining domestic and national interests, reducing tensions and political conflicts, preventing the weakening of wrestlers' rights in global competitions, facilitating the hosting of global events.

In general, the results in the form of a qualitative model showed that by adopting appropriate strategies such as having a strategic approach to Iranian wrestling, holding a strong and quality wrestling league in Iran, global marketing, creating sports tourism, facilitating the possibility of exporting and currency wrestling, It can be achieved by gaining domestic and national interests, reducing political tensions and conflicts, preventing the violation of wrestlers' rights in world competitions, and facilitating the acquisition of hosting world events.