Entrepreneurial Strategies of Enhancing Competitive Advantage of Medicinal Herbs in Ilam Province, Iran

Finding new ways to compete in competitive markets is the essence of strategic thinking and marketing strategy. This issue has always been addressed by the experts and scholars of economics and management over recent decades. In this regard, the present study explores the entrepreneurial strategies to gain a competitive advantage in Ilam Province medicinal plants. This study employed a mixed-methods research paradigm. In the qualitative part, Delphi method and in quantitative part the Analytic Hierarchy Process was used. The population in the qualitative part comprised experts in the fields of marketing, entrepreneurship and herbs in Ilam Province that among them 12 participants were selected using purposive sampling methods. In the quantitative part, the population included 33 experts in the field of medicinal plants which were studied by census method. The data were collected using a paired comparison questionnaire and analyzed by Expert Choice11 software. Results showed that according to considered criteria in this re- search) differentiation strategy, ways to reduce costs, focusing on customers and market strategies, innovations and risk taking strategy) differentiation strategy plays the greatest role in gaining advantage for medicinal plants in Ilam Province.