Identifying and Prioritizing the Factors Affecting the Competitiveness of Start-up Businesses in the Country with a Sports Tourism Approach
Subject Areas : Geography and tourism planning, geography and urban planning, urban planning, architecture, geography and rural planning, political geography
seyed emad hoseini
1
,
maryam naghib hoseini
2
,
farshad emami
3
1 - Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
2 - PHD Student of Sports Management, Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Islamic Azad University, Amol, Iran
3 - Department of Sports Management, Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Islamic Azad University, Amoly, Iran
Keywords: Competitiveness, Fuzzy hierarchical analysis, Sports tourism, Start-up business.,
Abstract :
The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors affecting the competitiveness of start-up businesses related to sports tourism in the country. The type of research is applied, was done through a mixed method and a survey. The Delphi panel was used to confirm the list of components, as well as experts in the field of sports business to prioritize them. The fuzzy hierarchical analysis method was used to weigh the components and inferential statistics methods were used to analyze the statistical data. The results showed that a total of 5 components and 13 items are considered effective factors. From the point of view of the experts, the component of "optimal technology" with a weight of 0.78754 has the highest degree of importance, followed by the component of "social popularity" with a weight of 0.69094 and "dynamic economy" with a weight of 0.66889. At the end, two components "service quality" and "structural and administrative" are located with weights of 0.63022 and 0.59443, respectively. Also, 13 items were identified, which were: "Internet network and infrastructure", "Tourism market update and competition", "Government incentives and support", "Financing chain", "Administrative licenses", "Marketing requirements", "Compatibility with current needs", "Popularity of social networks and virtual space", "accepting society", "cost savings", "user satisfaction", "unique services" and "avoiding time wastage". Since Kendall's coefficient of agreement was 0.798, the overall fit is also confirmed.
Identifying and Prioritizing the Factors Affecting the Competitiveness of Start-up Businesses in the Country with a Sports Tourism Approach
Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors affecting the competitiveness of start-up businesses related to sports tourism in the country. The type of research is applied, which was done through a mixed method and a survey. The Delphi panel was used to confirm the list of components, as well as experts in the field of sports business to prioritize them. Fuzzy hierarchical analysis method was used to weight the components and inferential statistics methods were used to analyze the statistical data. The results showed that a total of 5 components and 13 items are considered as effective factors. From the point of view of the experts, the component of "optimal technology" with a weight of 0.78754 has the highest degree of importance, followed by the component of "social popularity" with a weight of 0.69094 and "dynamic economy" with a weight of 0.66889. At the end, two components "service quality" and "structural and administrative" are located with weights of 0.63022 and 0.59443, respectively. Also, 13 items were identified, which were: "Internet network and infrastructure", "Tourism market update and competition", "Government incentives and support", "Financing chain", "Administrative licenses", "Marketing requirements", "Compatibility with current needs", "Popularity of social networks and virtual space", "accepting society", "cost savings", "user satisfaction", "unique services" and "avoiding time wastage". Since Kendall's coefficient of agreement was 0.798, the overall fit is also confirmed.
Keywords: Start-up business, Competitiveness, Sports tourism, Fuzzy hierarchical analysis
Introduction
Sports is a growing industry that has many diverse aspects. Therefore, sports businesses are not exempt from this rule and can play a role in the sustainable development of the sports industry (Hosseinpour et al., 2020). As the participation of sports businesses in the services and industries sector is noteworthy. These businesses play an important role in inventing new methods that will lead to technological changes and increasing production capacity (Moody & Talebpoor, 2019). All sports fields can have the necessary attraction and capability in both aspects of sports marketing and marketing through sports. The sports industry, like other industries, has products and goods (Hamilton et al., 2016). The growing trend of people towards sports and the need to consume sports goods and services has made the sports industry a noteworthy revenue generating process and a significant contribution to the economy of countries (Azarian soosahab et al., 2020). It should be noted that starting or trying to own a personal business is not something that happens suddenly (Khodadadi et al., 2020). Four managerial, commercial, environmental and technical factors are effective factors on the formation of sports start-ups (Talebi et al., 2023).
Today, social networks are the strongest tools for the design and dissemination of ideas and the most efficient means for the penetration of cultures and attitudes into the hearts of societies, and the space of Internet social networks is one of the most important tools for manifesting the effects globalization (Memar et al., 2013). Modern technologies provide many opportunities to companies anywhere in the world (Becic et al., 2018). What can be confirmed as a social reality is the impressive presence of people in the community and their significant activity in virtual social networks (Jafari & Loghman Starkim 2015). Social networks are becoming an inevitable part of life and work in the field of communication, especially in large and densely populated cities (Khodadadi et al., 2020). Over the years, social networks are gaining more status (Rodrigues et al., 2019) and now social networks are strongly present in the daily life of modern urban society (Carvalho et al., 2021). ). The use of these networks, in fact, is the simultaneous consumption of time, space and symbolic content, all three of which are the foundations of the urban lifestyle in the current era (Zokaie & Hasani, 2017). Following the acceptance of the social networks of Facebook and Twitter by the global community and especially the young generation, managers and planners of this area thought of inventing new social networks such as: Viber, Line, Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram and ... (Komasi, 2018). Due to the popularity and importance of virtual social networks in connecting people and different businesses, some industry experts and researchers encourage businesses to be present in social networks and take advantage of its advantages (Shirkhodai et al., 2017). Therefore, the establishment of small and medium-sized sports businesses by paying attention to the creation of innovation and the capabilities of social networks in marketing processes has caused the activation of many efficient economic enterprises in the sports industry (Ghezelsofloo & Chori, 2020).
Startups are fledgling businesses that seek to produce value based on a new idea based on a need and adopt a solution to solve one of society's problems and expand their activity (Bryder et al., 2016). Startups play a fundamental role in innovation processes. A start-up is a company, a partnership, an organization or an institution designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model (Spender et al., 2017). In the past few years, researchers developed a model for the development of new sports businesses, emphasizing the role of virtual space in 5 main dimensions (Homauni Bayee et al., 2015). These dimensions were: causal conditions, central conditions, contextual conditions, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences (Rasuli & Azadi, 2022). Categories such as innovation and idea generation, expert human capital, organizational, individual and specialized unit aspects of sports startups in the country as contextual factors and categories such as structural and governmental, hard infrastructure, strategic, environmental factors and entrepreneurship centers and sports startups in federations and... as Intervening factors for the growth of new sports businesses were known, which can contribute to job creation, sports development, growth and revival of sports startups and sustainable economic growth of the country in the conditions of embargo (Pirjamadi et al., 2022).
On the other hand, nowadays, leisure time and sports tourism are expanding and this trend can be fruitful in creating new sports jobs (Kihan et al., 1400). Therefore, the presence of sports businesses can be a very suitable solution to solve the problem of unemployment of sports graduates (Mohammed Kazemi et al., 2017). On the other hand, specifying the important factors of creating sports businesses can give beginners a good understanding before creating a business and help them towards success (Kozechian et al., 2013: 59). In this regard, Kozechian et al. (2013) in a research entitled "A model for starting small and medium sports businesses" concluded that all three factors, individual, environmental and capital, have a positive and meaningful relationship with the creation of a business. They have, despite this model fit, the research showed that only the individual factor could play an effective role in creating a sports business; Although the environmental factor also affected it indirectly and through the individual factor, Farshian and Ranjbarali (2014) in a research investigated the role of government support in new businesses in start-ups in the motivational process of entrepreneurship. In this research, they have pointed out the supporting role of governments in small businesses, how they can motivate entrepreneurs with legal and incentive tools, holding festivals and conferences, as well as creating stability in security and economy and also be effective in developing small businesses. Ahmadi (2018) also conducted a study titled "start-up businesses" in the field of sports. The results showed that knowing the target audience of sports startups is one of the most important measures to start working in order to provide creative ideas to respond to the needs of each group of target audience. Likewise, the existing needs and challenges have created key opportunities for development in sports startups.
The audiences of sports startups are: the general public, beginner athletes, professional athletes, coaches, sports fans, club owners and sports managers, and policy-making institutions. Chan and Kiva (2012) in a research of driving factors such as family business, availability and readiness of resources (land and building), market capability and opportunities available for business, influence of friends and family and earning profit. Such attracting factors as individual attitudes, previous experience and individual interest have been considered important in creating a business. Hidok (2020) also stated in a research entitled the future of sports entrepreneurship that due to the amount and volume of changes that have occurred in the sports industry, there is a need for sports entrepreneurship to be able to evaluate its past and present in order to shape the future. In a study, researchers studied the role of social networks in the creation and development of small and medium businesses. The results of this research showed that social networks can act as a marketing tool in creating a competitive advantage (Jafari & Loghman Starkim 2015). They can also provide users with the necessary information through viral marketing. In a research, he looked at the capabilities of social networks in the development of sports business and showed that sports social networks are used to transmit information to audiences and customers (Jahantigh, 2019). In a research, experts explained the model of attitude towards advertising in sports goods through Instagram using the technology acceptance model. The results showed that according to the indicators of advantages, quality of advertising, awareness in social levels and income generation, variable changes in the acceptance of sports goods advertising are explained (Shekari et al., 2020). In general, advertising through the Instagram network as one of the most important sports marketing tools can play an important role in marketing strategies. Many experts examined the type of social media performance in business. The results showed the successful performance of social media that help to create and promote business.
An academic research showed that marketing in social networks is a unique and extensive channel for direct and quick communication between teams and athletes with fans and vice versa (Avola, 2018). Another group investigated the impact of social media on sports marketing (Kenyaspor football club case) in a research. The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between receiving information from Kenyaspor football club's social media channels and fans' consumer behavior tendencies (Sahin et al., 2020). According to the results of the researches, and also in line with technology in today's complex world, it seems necessary to create different businesses in the sports industry for graduates and those interested in this field. Therefore, the researcher seeks to find out what the optimal strategic model is for the development of sports businesses in the virtual space and how to use the capabilities of social networks in the meantime, and finally, whether the presented model is suitable enough or not.
According to what has been stated, the researcher in this research is looking for an answer to the question that what are the factors affecting the competitiveness of start-up businesses related to sports tourism in the country?
Materials and methods
The current research is practical in terms of its purpose and in terms of its method it is a mixed type (qualitative and quantitative). The statistical population of the research included 25 business experts, sports marketers, sports and tourism entrepreneurs, and university professors. The experts meant people who have at least 15 years of experience in the field of sports tourism or 10 years of experience in the field of successful start-up activities. The research process has been such that first the members of the Delphi group were identified and selected with the purposeful sampling method. Further, by reviewing written documents and consulting with experts, a list of factors and components affecting the success of sports tourism startups in the country was prepared. The Delphi process was carried out in a round-trip fashion (electronic method) and 3 stages. In order to prioritize the components, the fuzzy hierarchical method (FAHP) was used. This method is used to analyze the pairwise comparison matrix using fuzzy logic. In the traditional method of hierarchical analysis, the competencies and mental abilities of experts are used to make comparisons. But it should be noted that the traditional way of comparing pairs does not fully reflect the style of human thinking. Using fuzzy numbers is more compatible with verbal and sometimes vague human expressions. Therefore, it is better to use fuzzy numbers to make decisions in the real world. In 1983, two Dutch researchers named Van Laerhofen and Pedrik first proposed a method for the fuzzy hierarchical analysis process (Chard et al., 2013).
This method is based on the substitution of triangular fuzzy numbers in the matrix of pairwise comparisons and based on logarithmic least squares. The complexity of the steps of this method has made this method not used much. After that, several methods were proposed for the fuzzy hierarchical analysis process. You can get the opinion of experts in the form of phrases like: more important, more important, etc. and then convert them into triangular fuzzy numbers using the table below. In this research, an improved (expanded) algorithm has been used for fuzzification.
The improved fuzzy AHP method is one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods, which obtains the weight of the criteria by obtaining the geometric mean of the rows of paired comparisons and then reversing them. This method, which is called Buckley's method, has actually been introduced as an alternative to Chang's method, because Chang's method had shortcomings such as zero and negative weights (Bahmanpour and Tawfiq Khattab, 2019).
The steps are as follows:
1- Data entry
First, by selecting the desired fuzzy spectrum, the collected data is entered in the pairwise comparison matrix. If there is more than one expert, the fuzzy geometric mean is used to aggregate the experts' views.
2- Fuzzy expansion of each line
The concept of fuzzy expansion is used to determine the initial weight of each element. Chang has proposed to calculate the sum of the fuzzy numbers of each row for the fuzzy expansion of the elements of each row. Therefore, in the fuzzy pairwise comparison matrix, the geometric mean of the elements of each row is calculated.
The fuzzy expansion of each row shows the initial weight of the element included in that row. This weight should be normalized.The fuzzy expansion of each row shows the initial weight of the element included in that row. This weight should be normalized. Chan and Kumar (2007) used the concept of degree of feasibility for normalization, but several studies have shown that this method does not always give the correct answer and has many flaws. Therefore, the following solutions are suggested:
If we denote the geometric mean of each line (fuzzy expansion of each line) with Si, for normalization the sum of all the fuzzy expansions of all lines (fuzzy initial weights) are calculated. The sum of the preferences of all elements, Σ(Si), is calculated. For normalization, the phase expansion of each Si element must be divided by the sum of all preferences Σ(Si). Because the values are fuzzy, the following formula is used to calculate the weight of each element:
3- De-fuzzification
The calculated weight is the final weight of the investigated element. These are fuzzy weights, the fuzzy method is used to calculate the definite weight. Various de-fuzzification methods can be used for this purpose. This step is an important step in the fuzzy hierarchical analysis process. The obtained definitive weights can be normalized using the linear normalization method (Table 1).
Table 1. Phase spectrum equivalent to 9 degree scale in AHP technique
The verbal expression of the comparative situation of i with respect to j | Fuzzy equivalent | Inverse fuzzy equivalent |
Same preference | (1, 1, 1) | (1, 1, 1) |
in between | (3, 2, 1) | (1, 0.5, 0.333) |
slightly preferred | (4, 3, 2) | (0.5, 0.333, 0.25) |
in between | (5, 4, 3) | (0.333, 0.25, 0.2) |
very preferred | (6, 5, 4) | (0.25, 0.2, 0.166) |
in between | (7, 6, 5) | (0.2, 0.16, 0.142) |
Very much preferred | (8, 7, 6) | (0.166, 0.142, 0.125) |
in between | (9, 8, 7) | (0.142, 0.125, 0.111) |
Absolutely preferred | (9, 9, 9) | (0.111, 0.111, 0.111) |
(Source: Forzieri et al., 2008)
4- Inconsistency rate of fuzzy AHP method
The inconsistency rate indicates whether the pairwise comparisons were consistent or not. This rate should always be less than 0.1 so that the matrix of pairwise comparisons is compatible (Chan and Kumar, 2007).
Research findings
Qualitative data analysis
The results of Kendall's coordination coefficient in the third round of Delphi and after the consensus of experts' opinions are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Results of Kendall's coefficient of agreement in the third round of Delphi
Number of people | 25 |
Kendall's coefficient of agreement | 0.882 |
Kai Square | 31/404 |
Df | 28 |
Meaningful | 0.0001 |
The value of Kendall's statistic in the third round was 0.882, which indicates that there is almost 81% agreement between the opinions of experts in the qualitative part of this research. Also, the significant value of 0.0001 shows that the observed correlation coefficient is significant.
In total, 5 components and 13 items are considered as effective factors. The main components are "optimal technology", "dynamic economy", "structural and administrative", "service quality" and "social acceptance". Also, 13 topics were identified, which were "internet network and infrastructure", "tourism market update and competition", "governance incentives and support", "financing chain", "administrative licenses", "marketing requirements", " Adapting to the needs of the day", "popularity of social networks and virtual space", "accepting society", "cost savings", "user satisfaction", "unique services" and "avoiding time wastage". Therefore, it can be said that the consensus among experts has been considerable. Finally, the model extracted from the qualitative part of the research can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The model extracted from the qualitative part of the research
Quantitative data analysis
In the next step, pairwise comparison and weighting of components and items were done using experts' opinions. The results of the pairwise comparison of the four criteria are presented in Table 3. Also, in Table 4, the final results of component weights are also shown.
Table 3. Pairwise comparison of four criteria
| A= Optimal technology | B=Dynamic economy | C=Social acceptability | D=Structural and administrative | F=The quality of services | ||||||||||
| L | M | U | L | M | U | L | M | U | L | M | U | L | M | U |
Optimal technology | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.11 | 0.2 | 0.25 | 0.2 | 0.25 | 0.33 | 0.14 | 0.17 | 0.28 | 0.13 | 0.2 | 0.21 |
Dynamic economy |
|
|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.17 | 0.23 | 0.34 | 0.13 | 0.2 | 0.21 | 0.17 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
Social acceptability |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.25 | 0.33 | 0.5 | 0.28 | 0.3 | 0.41 |
Structural and administrative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.14 | 0.17 | 0.28 |
The quality of services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Incompatibility rate: CRg = 0.071 and CRm = 0.68 | ||||||||||||||
Table 4. Final results of fuzzy, deterministic and normal weight of triple components
Geometric mean of lines |
| Fuzzy weights |
| Definite weights |
| Normal weight | Criterion | ||||||||||||||||||||
0.464119 | 0.622333 | 0.757929 |
| 0.067411 | 0.107309 | 0.159687 |
| 0.799 |
| 0.78754 | A | ||||||||||||||||
2.632148 | 3.201086 | 3.722419 |
| 0.382304 | 0.551962 | 0.784273 |
| 0.677 |
| 0.66889 | B | ||||||||||||||||
1.391579 | 1.677572 | 2.045312 |
| 0.202119 | 0.289263 | 0.430925 |
| 0.692 |
| 0.69094 | C | ||||||||||||||||
0.321761 | 0.3898760 | 0.409353 |
| 0.445671 | 0.556569 | 0.784356 |
| 0.599 |
| 0.59443 | D | ||||||||||||||||
0.3398018 | 0.487879 | 0.5152341 |
| 0.490876 | 0.591213 | 0.667901 |
| 0.711 |
| 0.69094 | F | ||||||||||||||||
4.764333 | 5.799466 | 6.884964 |
| Sum |
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||
Based on this, the component of "optimal technology" with a weight of 0.78754 has the highest degree of importance, followed by the component of "social popularity" with a weight of 0.69094 and "dynamic economy" with a weight of 0.66889. At the end, two components "service quality" and "structural and administrative" are located with weights of 0.63022 and 0.59443, respectively. Figure 2 shows the comparative diagram of fuzzy weights of triple components.
Figure 2. Comparison diagram of fuzzy weights of five criteria
Table 5 shows the final and aggregated results of paired-fuzzy comparison of items.
Items | Normal Weights | |
Network and Internet infrastructure | 0.08876 | |
Adapting to the needs of the day | 0.08521 | |
Social acceptability | 0.08221 | |
User satisfaction | 0.0809 | |
Cost savings | 0.0779 | |
Government incentives and support | 0.0732 | |
Financial supply chain | 0.0711 | |
Unique service | 0.0683 | |
Tourism market update and competition | 0.0623 | |
Administrative licenses | 0.0604 | |
Marketing requirements | 0.0598 | |
Accepting society | 0.0554 | |
Avoid wasting time | 0.0512 | |
Incompatibility rate: CRg = 0.0807 and CRm = 0.0363 | ||
Finally, the final weight of the sub-criteria was calculated, which is shown in Figure 3.
Avoiding the waste of time Accepting society Marketing requirements Administrative licenses Tourism market update and competition Unique service Social security chain Government incentives and support Saving costs User satisfaction Probable acceptability Adapting to the needs of the day Network and Internet infrastructure |
Figure 3. Ranking chart of items based on the fuzzy final weight resulting from the intervention of triple components
Discussion
The purpose of this research was to identify and prioritize factors affecting the competitiveness of start-up businesses related to tourism in the country's sports. This research is almost the first scientific effort in the direction of designing a business management model in sports tourism start-up as one of the foundations of the economic dynamics of the sports industry and transition to the future. Model design studies in the country's sports is one of the important research fields that has received less attention among sports management research paradigms. In addition, creating suitable conditions for the development of start-up activities in sports has a special importance and priority in this period of time for tourism and leisure planners, and in other periods of tasteful support, partial policies, temporary financing and the establishment of rules and regulations for going through special conditions is a thing of the past, because such actions will not lead to sustainable and long-term entrepreneurial activities, and today most of the sports production and entrepreneurial companies need a comprehensive and long-term view of this space, in order to create deeper and wider effects on employment and entrepreneurship in sports.
Start-up environment: in the entrepreneurship literature, the environment includes all factors, variables and parameters that cannot be controlled and changed by the entrepreneur. In fact, the meaning is the environmental factors affecting the individual's decision to move towards start-up activities. According to the theory of social learning, environmental factors have a tremendous impact on learning and cognitive processes (Bandura and Hall, 2018). Therefore, behaviors will be the result of environmental stimuli. People are constantly interacting with their surroundings. The external environment can include a wide range of factors such as cultural, social, economic, political, demographic and technological factors. Based on North's theory of institutional economics (2005), the institutional environment including formal factors (such as laws and regulations, government support measures, property rights) and informal factors (such as social cultural norms and values) plays an important role in the formation of people's economic attitudes and behavior (such as entrepreneurship). "The rules of the game" play; In other words, it forms the institutional environment in a society (Nurse, 2005), when they are stable and effective, they can reduce the uncertainty, risk and costs associated with the implementation of entrepreneurial activity for entrepreneurs (Walter and Smallbone, 2011). ). In addition, from the sociological point of view, the environment should be adjusted according to the activity of entrepreneurs and the society should be prepared for the activity of creative and entrepreneurial people with all kinds of facilities, supports and encouragements. Opportunities that are beyond the resources that are available today and it is clear that the person who manages the business in the start-up and its role in the growth and development of the country depends on the existence of suitable opportunities that each person needs to fulfill his mission and certainly, the energy of business in any society depends at least to a large extent on such people who identify opportunities in their place of living (Rasouli, 1401). Entrepreneurs always emerge in environments where there are suitable business opportunities, because in general, a startup is a human institution that is created to provide a new product or service in a situation where there is high uncertainty and opportunity.
This is despite the fact that sports has been introduced as the sixth largest industry in the world, but it has not been dealt with in the country more than recreation and physical activity, in addition, most of the items needed by the country's sports are provided through imports, which is a sign of the potential of sports to create a start-up business (Ranjbar and Janjal, 2016). Therefore, the management of start-up businesses in sports needs to show entrepreneurship and business opportunities to the general public, in order to create a fertile environment by motivating and encouraging those interested in economic activity in sports to enter the space of sports businesses. In this context, we can refer to the research conducted by the following researchers (Ahmadi (2018), Chan et al. (2012) and Haydok (2020). In the field of recreational, educational and tourism services as well as professional services in sports, entrepreneurship and business opportunities in these areas should be told to students and sports activists, seminars and conferences should be held on these topics and attention should be directed towards such businesses. Recreational and sports camps, parks and urban spaces and all services in the field of tourism are among the startup business spaces that have a very high capacity in this field considering the potential of the country. In this context, we can refer to the research conducted by the following researchers (Kozechian et al. (2013), Farshian and Ranjbarali (2014) and Salamzadeh and Kawamoritaksim (2015).
Financing: Providing resources is necessary for starting businesses, and one of the main reasons for the failure of many start-up businesses is the lack of resources to establish themselves in the market (Safari et al., 2014). The process of obtaining the funds needed to start a business may take months and discourage entrepreneurs from managing businesses. On the other hand, without sufficient financing, start-up businesses will never succeed, and the lack of investment is considered the cause of many failures in new businesses. Because of this, many start-up companies are facing the problem of securing the required credits. Currently, despite the mushrooming growth, banks are not responding to the credit needs of the country's production sector. The unstructured monetary market and the informal sector of providing funds at very high rates confirm this. In addition, most of the start-up companies face problems in providing the guarantees and securities required by the operating banks. According to experts, to solve this problem, it is possible to establish a support fund for start-up businesses, so that sports entrepreneurs can refer to this fund to solve the problem of bank guarantee. In this context, we can refer to the research conducted by the following researchers (Ahmadi (2018) and Chan et al. (2012).
Among other problems of start-up businesses in the country are the problems introduced by the government. Therefore, among the factors that can influence the behavior and decisions of startup leaders are the institutional environment and suitable infrastructure for entrepreneurship. Infrastructure can be defined as basic social, political, and legal policies, standards, and regulations that facilitate or limit a wide range of individual behaviors and actions, including entrepreneurship. It should be noted that the economic growth of any country is highly correlated with the creation and improvement of the economic infrastructure and startup business environment of that country. Determining appropriate economic goals and choosing smart strategies and turning them into operational plans in the sports industry is an important part of the process of providing suitable infrastructure for entrepreneurship and business. It should be noted that the emergence and development of start-up business is not a random phenomenon, but this phenomenon requires countless factors, the most important of which is the infrastructure required for the growth and survival of businesses, and governments must provide a supportive environment for business and let things start, flourish and last. In fact, the goal of startup infrastructure is to create a suitable environment and systematic support that will provide the emergence of new entrepreneurs and the growth of the early stage of new companies. In this context, we can refer to the research conducted by the following researchers (Kozechian et al. (2013), Ahmadi (2018) and Salamzadeh and Kawamoritaksim (2015).
Summary and suggestions
According to the results of this research, it can be stated that success in the process of start-up businesses related to sports tourism in the country is dependent on a number of main and secondary components that were mentioned in this research, and compliance with these considerations can lead to entrepreneurship and job creation in this country. Although the current model has been able to introduce some new factors as business management factors for start-ups in sports tourism, it is by no means perfect and many studies can be done in its different parts. Therefore, according to the conditions related to the development of start-ups in the sports industry of the country, in the future, researchers should conduct a study on more knowledge of the areas mentioned in the start-ups in sports.
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