Export Readiness Assessment of Ten Iranian Pharmaceutical Companies and Comparison with their Export Performance

Background: In the area of exporting, in developing countries, including Iran, the concept of export readiness is unknown to many decision makers and field of activity of Iranian pharmaceutical companies have been limited to the domestic market. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to compare the export performance of ten Iranian pharmaceutical companies with their export readiness. Methods: In order to do this, the top ten of Iranian pharmaceutical companies were selected as the sample. The companies' export readiness was measured, and compared with their export volume as well as their export growth (as two factors for determining the export performance) in five years, to practically check the model and find the strengths and weaknesses of these Iranian pharmaceutical companies in the export factors. Results: Base on the results of the study, the export readiness of these companies does not have significant correlation with companies' export volume in the current circumstances, but it can predict the export growth in the firm's export rate with 95% certainty. Conclusion: The most important thing is that according to the data collected in our study, most of these ten Iranian pharmaceutical companies are not ready to attend in exporting and international markets and only two companies were ready to export. It seems that making improvement in some variables like obtaining international standards, marketing and exporting education, having a transparent and documented plan and having the responsible person for export could increase export readiness of pharmaceutical companies.