Determining the foreign market potential for Iranian sporting goods

Abstract

The selection of export markets is a difficult choice. There is a plethora of international markets, but some will be more attractive than others. This study determines the foreign market potential for Iranian sporting goods. Using secondary data obtained from the United Nations, we used both screening and numerical taxonomy approaches. The two approaches produced divergent findings. The screening approach identified China, Bulgaria, the USA, Canada and Panama as the best export target markets. In contrast, the numerical taxonomy approaches indicated Panama, Australia, Macao and Singapore as the best export markets. Given the size and likely growth of the global sporting goods industry, there is a potential for Iran to access more of this global demand. However, to do this Iran must overcome economic sanctions, inflation, a poor national brand, fluctuating exchange rates, and political instability.