This paper presents an implementation of system dynamics model to determine appropriate product mix by considering various factors such as labor, materials, overhead, etc. for an Iranian producer of cosmetic and sanitary products. The proposed model of this paper considers three hypotheses including the relationship between product mix and profitability, optimum production capacity and having minimum amount of storage to take advantage of low cost production. The implementation of system dynamics on VENSIM software package has confirmed all three hypotheses of the survey and suggested that in order to reach better mix product, it is necessary to reach optimum production planning, take advantage of all available production capacities and use inventory management techniques.

This study examines a number of factors suggested in the literature as important determinants of the foreign market selection. Key strategic factors are determined as four groups: host-country characteristics, firm-specific factors, competitive situation and content adaptation. In this study, multiple regression and path analysis are used. To test the model with modeling techniques, the necessary data from 29 media firms were used. It is based on a questionnaire, which has provided several insights into market selection elements. Our findings indicate that all components of the host country, exporting companies, competitive situation and the content adaptation could influence positively the selection of foreign market. The results also indicate that the adaptation of content was the most effective in choosing a foreign market. In addition, cross-cultural adaptation is an important component in selection of foreign markets. The results also suggest that the causal relationships between the independent variables are positive and significant, while the relationship between the content adaptation and the competitive situation has not been confirmed.

During the past few years, balanced scorecard (BSC) has been widely used as a promising method for performance measurement. BSC studies organizations in terms of four perspectives including customer, internal processes, learning and growth and financial figures. This paper presents a hybrid of BSC and structural equation modeling (SEM) to measure the performance of an Iranian university in province of Alborz, Iran. The proposed study of this paper uses this conceptual method, designs a questionnaire and distributes it among some university students and professors. Using SEM technique, the survey analyzes the data and the results indicate that the university did poorly in terms of all four perspectives. The survey extracts necessary target improvement by presenting necessary attributes for performance improvement.

This paper presents an investigation on the effects of various components of justice including distributive justice, interactional justice and procedural justice on building a mutual trust among customers in insurance firms. The proposed study of this paper uses a questionnaire originally developed by Daniels [Daniels, N. (1996). Justice and justification: Reflective equilibrium in theory and practice (Vol. 22). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.] and designs a questionnaire for measuring trust. The study was performed among 384 people who had used insurance services in city of Tehran, Iran. Cronbach alphas for two questionnaires of justice and trust are 0.799 and 0.935, respectively, which are well above the minimum acceptable level. Using Spearman correlation test, the study has detected that two justice components, interactional justice and procedural justice, positively influence on customers’ trust, significantly.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between social capital and organizational commitment. The study considers the relationship between social capital with three components of organizational commitment; namely, affective commitment, continuous and normative commitment. The study has been applied among a sample of 292 regular employees who worked for an Iranian bank located in city of Tehran, Iran. The implementation of Pearson correlation has indicated that there were positive and meaningful relationships between social capital and affective commitment (r = 0.197, Sig. = 0.01), continuous (r = 0.308, Sig. = 0.01) and normative commitment (r = 0.423, Sig. = 0.01). In addition, the study has detected that women had more commitment on their organization than men did. The proposed study of this paper has also considered a regression model where organizational commitment is dependent variable and trust and communication are considered as independent variables. According to the results of regression analysis, an increase of one unit in trust and social capital communication will increase organizational commitment by 0.189 and 0.204, respectively.

The aim of this research is to determine and to assess the effective factors on customer loyalty, concerning the internet-purchase of products and services of Tehran tourism agencies. For this purpose, the standardized questionnaire was distributed among on-line internet customers of Tehran tourism agencies and finally 384 questionnaires were applied in analyzing the research hypotheses. The data obtained from customers were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis technique and the structural equations modeling (SEM). The findings of the research with regard to the proposed model and its nine hypotheses from the highest to lowest route coefficients and hypothesis confirmation are respectively: the effect of customer loyalty with the route coefficient of 0.559; the effect of search capability with the route coefficient of 0.481; the effect of satisfaction on customer trust with the route coefficient of 0.388; the effect of transaction cost on customer satisfaction with the route coefficient of 0.321; the effect of search capability on customer trust with the route coefficient of 0.292; the effect of trust on customer loyalty with the route coefficient of 0.184; the effect of the perceived security on customer satisfaction with the route coefficient of 0.159. The above seven hypotheses have been confirmed and the effect perceived security effect on customer trust and the effect of transaction cost on customer trust with the route coefficient of 0.018 were finally rejected.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of successful intelligence training program on academic hopefulness of probation students of Esfahan University of Technology. The research is semi-experimental of pre-test, post-test type with control group. Research population includes all probation students of Esfahan University of Technology. The study chooses 30 female and male students and assigns them randomly into two groups of experimental and control. Experimental group participate in 13 successful intelligence-training sessions for 13 weeks. Research tools consists of, Hope in certain aspects. Statistical analysis is conducted using SPSS18 on inferential statistics level proportionate to data analysis level. Statistical test hypothesis are analyzed through univariate covariance and multivariate covariance analysis. The results show that successful intelligence program training was effective to enhance hopefulness of probation students (p & LT; 0.05). Given the results of present research, successful intelligence program training can be used as an intervention method in order to decrease harms because of dormitory and student life.

This paper presents a study to measure the effect of personal characteristics including neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness and agreeableness on word of mouth advertisement. The population of this survey includes all people who use mobile phone in city of Tehran, Iran. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scape and distributes it among 400 randomly selected people who use mobile devices. Using Spearman correlation test, the study confirms the positive of effects of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience on word of mouth advertisement and the negative impact of agreeableness on word of mouth advertisement. However, the study does not find any meaningful relationship between conscientiousness and word of mouth advertisement.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between intellectual capital and investment opportunities on selected firms listed on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) over the period 2005-2011. In our survey, Tobin Q represents investment opportunity and intellectual capital is measured based on different variables such as value added intellectual capital and human capital. The study uses regression technique with panel data and random effect and the results indicate that there was no meaningful relationship between intellectual capital and investment opportunity. In other words, most investment opportunities on TSE do not depend on intellectual capital and they mostly depend on traditional methods of investment.

For years, there have been growing interests on cost reduction for products and services. Privatization is considered as one of the most important techniques to increase relative efficiencies of publically held firms. In this paper, we present an empirical investigation to rank important barriers on privatization of television (TV) media industry in Iran. The proposed study of this paper designs and distributes a questionnaire using a sample of 234 out of 600 graduate students who were enrolled in media communication studies. The survey considers social, cultural, economic as well as rules and regulations factors influencing privatization of TV media industry. The survey uses the ranking method presented by Cook and Kress (1990) [Cook, W. D., & Kress, M. (1990). A data envelopment model for aggregating preference rankings. Management Science, 36(11), 1302-1310.]. The results of the investigation indicate rules and regulations are the most important barriers on privatization of Iranian TV followed by cultural, social and economic factors.