EXTENDED ABSTRACT Introduction: Business sustainability helps address or reduce environmental, social, and economic challenges through the strategic management of a company's resources. It seeks to improve a company's impact on the outside world. A sustainable business can foster positive relationships and trust among customers, employees, the community, investors, and other stakeholders. Additionally, a business sustainability program can reduce costs and enhance the long-term financial health of the organization. If a company spends less on electricity, water, and other resources, it can increase profits. Similarly, a company’s sustainability initiatives may improve business outcomes by enhancing its reputation within the community and among employees. Companies should regularly publish sustainability goals and report their progress in achieving them. This transparency helps employees and external parties understand how the business contributes to a sustainable global economy. Furthermore, these progress reports help maintain trust with stakeholders. The primary objective of this research is to identify and prioritize the factors influencing the sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the city of Shahrekord. Given the importance of these businesses in economic and social development, identifying key factors that contribute to their long-term sustainability is essential. This study, focusing on various dimensions of sustainability (economic, social, and environmental), aims to provide a comprehensive model to improve the performance of these businesses and assist managers and policymakers in making better decisions.Methodology: In the first stage, based on the literature and previous research, 6 main criteria and 35 sub-criteria influencing the sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises were identified. Then, using the Delphi technique, these criteria and sub-criteria were screened, resulting in the selection of 6 main criteria and 24 sub-criteria for further analysis. This process led to the elimination of sub-criteria that were deemed less significant by the experts. In the next stage, using the Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) technique, the criteria and sub-criteria were ranked. The results showed that innovation and creativity were identified as the most influential factor, followed by supportive and regulatory factors, individual and managerial factors, and strategy in subsequent ranks. Discussion and Results: By reviewing the literature and analyzing the data, 6 main criteria and 24 sub-criteria were identified as key factors influencing the sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises in Shahrekord. Conclusion: The results indicated that innovation and creativity play a crucial role in the sustainability of these businesses. This factor enhances flexibility and the ability to address challenges. Following this, supportive and regulatory factors (such as government support and banking facilities) and individual and managerial factors (such as adherence to sustainability ethics and positive managerial attitudes) were ranked next. These findings suggest that to achieve long-term sustainability, small and medium-sized enterprises must simultaneously focus on innovation, government support, and internal management improvement. This research provides a comprehensive model and practical solutions to enhance the sustainability of these businesses, helping managers and policymakers achieve sustainability goals by focusing on the identified key factors. Based on the analyses conducted using Delphi, ISM (Interpretive Structural Modeling), and MICMAC techniques, innovation and creativity were identified as the most influential criteria, directly impacting other factors such as social factors and corporate governance. These findings indicate that innovation and creativity not only serve as driving forces for business development but also form the foundation for building resilience and addressing challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Social factors and corporate governance were identified as second-level criteria, directly influenced by innovation and creativity. These factors highlight the importance of social interactions, social responsibility, and transparency in business management. On the other hand, supportive and regulatory factors, individual and managerial factors, and strategy were identified as dependent criteria, reflecting the reliance of these businesses on government support, internal management, and marketing and advertising strategies. Key Takeaways:1) Innovation & Creativity – The most critical driver, shaping other sustainability factors; 2) Social Factors & Corporate Governance – Directly influenced by innovation, emphasizing ethical and transparent operations; 3) Supportive Policies, Management, and Strategy – Dependent factors, requiring external and internal alignment for long-term stability. This structural analysis underscores that fostering innovation is essential for SMEs to enhance adaptability, meet social responsibilities, and strengthen governance while relying on supportive policies and strategic management for sustained growth.

Objective: The objective of this research was to design a digital marketing model for sports businesses, considering the growing importance of internet marketing in the sports industry.  Methods: This study adopted a qualitative and exploratory approach, falling under applied research in terms of purpose. The participants included marketing experts, sports management professors, and digital marketers, selected through purposeful sampling. Data was collected via in-depth, semi-structured interviews, reaching theoretical saturation after 25 interviews. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data and derive the research findings.  Findings: The findings of the research show a four-level conceptual model consisting of 9 components, which are: social responsibility of the university, development of university agility, creation of shared value in university communications, establishment of corporate governance in the university, internationalization of the university, commercialization of knowledge and technology, promotion of an innovative culture, knowledge-based capacity building and investment in research and development and entrepreneurial projects. Conclusion: Sustainable innovation for realizing an entrepreneurial university consists of interconnected components that facilitate economic knowledge production, dissemination, and commercialization. Knowledge-based capacity building and the promotion of an innovative culture play crucial roles by providing the necessary infrastructure and support. These components empower managers and policymakers to foster sustainable innovation, advance entrepreneurial universities, and enhance future academic generations. a

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the competitiveness and growth of small and medium-sized sports businesses.Method: The research method was quantitative (descriptive-correlational) conducted in two phases of Delphi and survey. The statistical population consisted of faculty members of the faculties of physical education and management with specialization in sport entrepreneurship and business management. In the first step, the researcher identified and categorized by comparative study of conceptual model of exogenous factor relationships in the form of 9 main factors and 23 items; endogenous factors in the form of 8 main factors with 48 items and competitiveness index in 9 dimensions with 28 items in sport business level. Then a Delphi panel of 21 accredited sports business experts and ultimately 180 sports business owners responded to the tool.Results: The results of structural equation modeling analysis showed that the effect of exogenous factors on competitiveness and growth of businesses had more effect on endogenous factors than on endogenous factors, respectively. Generally, customer satisfaction, productivity, future capabilities, financial indices, contract growth, employee satisfaction, community satisfaction explained significantly constructs of competitiveness.Conclusion: The conceptual model of competitiveness mutual relations creates a new approach in the analysis of competitive variables and enables managers to better understanding the relevance of competitiveness factors and indices to the development of an internal competitiveness measurement system for sports businesses to analyze performance and factors of their competitiveness.

Objective: Despite the importance of the issue of green marketing challenges in small and medium businesses, little research has been done to summarize and analyze the scattered content of this field. The purpose of this research is to analyze the challenges of green marketing in small and medium businesses.Method: The upcoming article with a qualitative approach and using the meta-combination method, the seven-stage model of Sandelowski and Barroso examines the issue of what challenges there are for the development of green marketing and what are the solutions to face it. Based on this, the articles published in reliable domestic and foreign scientific databases until 2023 were identified and searched, then they were classified and categorized based on the logic of open coding and coding based on sociological structures.Findings: The findings of this study led to the identification of 68 concepts, which were categorized into 12 categories. Finally, the results of the analysis were presented in the form of an analytical model.Conclusion: Green marketing challenges in small and medium-sized enterprises are affected by the nature of activity and activity environment at three levels: Enterprise level challenges (paradigm-informational-communication-standardization-innovation-marketing-functional) industry/market challenges (industry and market balance) And macro-environmental challenges (environmental-legal-consumers) can be divided, which play a role at a level of independent or intertwined effects. Based on the findings, the improvement of the green marketing situation in small and medium businesses depends on the cooperation and coordination of all three levels of the company, industry/market and macro environmental variables.

Small Business'es in majority of developing countries including IRAN play an important role in trading system, GDP and job creation. Adoption of EC in this national economy section results in major and great benefits. Researchers in this paper try to investigate organizational readiness with a different view along with paying attention to market dynamics, EC benefits and risks and position of company in Rogers's innovation model on EC adoption in small business. A 46 items questionnaire was designed and sent to 7 industries. Response rate of research was 0.81 and reliability of research instrument by using Cronbach alpha calculated equal to 0.894. Results indicated 72% of sample have not website and only 2% have transactional website. Path analysis revealed that Organizational readiness, market dynamics, EC benefits and risks and position of company in Rogers's innovation model affect EC adoption in small Business’s. Effects decomposition showed total effect of organizational readiness, EC benefits, market dynamics, and company innovation and EC risks are: 0.457, 0.421, 0.404, 0.334, -0.153.

One of the main goals of using entrepreneurial coaching in small and medium-sized businesses is staff growth and development of the company. The purpose of this study was to identify the outcomes of applying entrepreneurial coaching in the growth and development of small and medium-sized pharmaceutical businesses. The study was a semi-structured interview with a qualitative approach and data collection tool. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 key coaching practitioners and coded by content analysis method. Findings indicate that the benefits of employing entrepreneurial coaching for small and medium-sized businesses include individual benefits such as self-awareness, knowledge and skills, ability, self-esteem, personal development and commitment and responsibility and organizational benefits such as creating new companies, improving and developing. Products and services are the successor to the formation of a climate of knowledge-sharing.

One of the most important financial decisions is the way of financing economic enterprises, which plays a significant role in the continuation and growth of their profitability. The ability of companies to obtain financial resources inside and outside the company in order to invest and implement development plans is one of the main factors in the growth of profitability of companies. Active commercial companies also need financial resources to develop the market, modernize technology, increase product quality, produce new products, and grow their profitability. Also, investors in economic projects will need capital and money to implement their plans. One of the most important financial decisions is the way of financing economic enterprises, which plays a significant role in the continuation and growth of their profitability. The ability of companies to obtain financial resources inside and outside the company in order to invest and implement development plans is considered one of the main factors in the growth of profitability of companies. Companies often when they need new financial resources, take advantage of the company's internal resources, including accumulated profits and reserves, or through receiving loans and credits from banks and financial and credit institutions or issuing shares and other types of debt securities. capital, they meet their needs. Therefore, this research deals with the design of the financing model for small and medium knowledge-based businesses and examines and discusses the theories of experts.