Introduction
One of the most important prerequisites for economic development and increasing income is export performance which is considered an important source for the overall development of countries' economies. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the factors affecting the non-oil export performance of manufacturing companies in Guilan province. In this regard, on the one hand, providing a model leads to an increase in domestic income, and on the other hand, it will create a favorable environment for the growth of private and small businesses. In developing countries, including Iran, that export oil has always been the axis of economic development and foreign exchange earnings. Therefore, today, the growth of non-oil exports and the increase of the country's share in world trade and international markets in order to reduce the heavy dependence of the economy on oil revenues is considered one of the important economic goals. From this point of view, this research has investigated the drivers of non-oil export development of manufacturing companies in Gilan province and intends to answer this important question; what are the most important drivers of non-oil export development of manufacturing companies in Gilan province?
Methodology
The research method is mixed research. The statistical population in the qualitative section includes university professors in the field of international trade, executive managers and successful and expert managers in the field of non-oil exports, and in the quantitative section, managers of all companies that export non-oil products in Gilan province. Using the purposeful sampling method, 17 quality department experts and 311 senior managers who had effective responsibility in the manufacturing companies of Gilan province were randomly selected. To measure the validity, two criteria of convergent and divergent validity were used, and in order to check the reliability, two criteria of Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability were used. The research questionnaires included entrepreneurship, market orientation, organizational learning, organizational innovation, competitive advantage and export performance. In this research, in order to investigate research hypotheses and test direct and indirect paths, structural equation modeling was used using Amos software version 24.
Results and Discussion
The results showed entrepreneurial orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.288), market orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.181), organizational learning (Beta coefficient: 0.125), organizational innovation (Beta coefficient: 0.232) and competitive advantage (Beta coefficient: 0.234) have a significant effect on the export performance of Guilan companies. Also, entrepreneurial orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.262), market orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.146), organizational learning (Beta coefficient: 0.137) and organizational innovation (Beta coefficient: 0.36) have a significant effect on competitive advantage of Guilan companies. In the other dimension, entrepreneurial orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.387), market orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.275) and organizational learning (Beta coefficient: 0.203) have a significant effect on the organizational innovation of Guilan companies. Finally, entrepreneurial orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.171) and market orientation (Beta coefficient: 0.198) have a significant effect on the organizational learning of these companies.
Conclusion
The results show that entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, organizational learning and organizational innovation have direct and indirect effects on export performance. Having an entrepreneurial orientation has enabled manufacturing companies to obtain valuable information from the market in the field of non-oil products as well as the market gap in this field, and the organization can better identify market opportunities. The result of such an attitude is organizational learning, higher innovation and successful export performance. Also, the adoption of a market-oriented approach will cause the manufacturing companies of Guilan province to adopt the best response to environmental changes, changes in customers' tastes, as well as unforeseen events, and this preparation and complete study of market trends will create the basis for better performance and gaining a competitive position. It is noteworthy that organizational learning, while acquiring extra-organizational and exploratory knowledge and analyzing this knowledge in order to solve the company's problems (exploitative learning), facilitates the opportunity to create a competitive advantage and, subsequently, continuous export performance. Also, innovation facilitates the creation of a competitive advantage and subsequent higher export performance by focusing on areas such as the development of innovative products in accordance with market needs, technological processes for the production of innovative products, designing new marketing strategies, as well as adapting to unexpected opportunities. Finally, competitive advantage, in turn, is directly related to the availability of resources and core competencies and cost leadership and distinctive strategic strategies. From this point of view, when manufacturing companies are successful in the field of differentiation strategies and cost leadership, on the one hand, they inject products and services that are special and different from their competitors to the target market, and on the other hand, by reducing the costs of producing products, they offer highly competitive prices that leads to a favorable export performance.