Navigating the Entrepreneurial Transition in Post-Sanction Iran Strategic Imperatives for a New Era

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify and empirically validate the strategic imperatives enabling Iranian entrepreneurs to successfully navigate economic transition and achieve competitiveness in the post-sanction environment. This study employed a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design conducted among entrepreneurs, startup founders, SME executives, and innovation managers operating in Tehran. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted using purposive sampling to explore entrepreneurial experiences shaped by sanction conditions and emerging post-sanction opportunities. The qualitative findings informed the development of a structured survey instrument used in the quantitative phase to test the proposed conceptual framework. Data collection focused on strategic agility, institutional adaptation, innovation capability, digital transformation orientation, entrepreneurial resilience, and internationalization readiness. Statistical analyses included reliability assessment, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling to examine relationships among constructs and evaluate predictive validity of the entrepreneurial transition model. Structural modeling results indicated that institutional adaptation, innovation capability, digital transformation orientation, and entrepreneurial resilience significantly and positively predicted strategic agility among Iranian entrepreneurs. Strategic agility emerged as the central mediating capability linking organizational adaptation to internationalization readiness and entrepreneurial performance outcomes. Innovation capability demonstrated the strongest effect on agility, while institutional navigation capacity significantly enhanced firms’ ability to respond to environmental uncertainty. Digital transformation orientation reinforced competitive responsiveness and market expansion potential. The model explained substantial variance in both internationalization readiness and entrepreneurial performance, confirming that successful post-sanction transition depends on interconnected strategic capabilities rather than isolated organizational resources. The findings demonstrate that post-sanction entrepreneurship in Iran represents a strategic transformation process in which accumulated resilience from sanction periods evolves into opportunity-driven competitiveness. Entrepreneurial success increasingly depends on the integration of institutional learning, innovation development, digitalization, and adaptive strategic management. The study contributes to entrepreneurship and transition economy literature by proposing an empirically supported framework explaining how firms convert constraint-based experience into sustainable competitive advantage in emerging post-sanction environments.