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The purpose of this paper is standardize and provide a multidimensional measure for assessing human resources competencies (HRCs) scale.

The data collected in this study were 2018 from the 234 people selected from 603 managers and experts in human resources of selected firms existing in the Yazd Industrial Town randomly. Based on the model of HRCs designed by Ulrich et al. (2008), a questionnaire was developed to assess HRCs. Internal consistency and split-half methods were used to obtain the reliability of the instrument. Content validity and construct validity of the instrument were also assessed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

This paper elucidates a key scale for assessing HRCs including three dimensions: knowledge business, functional expertise and managing change. Also, results revealed that two items were then dropped from the questionnaire as they were unreliable, and a final 31 items were extracted to form the scale for assessing HRCs. The coefficients for Cronbach’s α and split-half were 0.963 and 0.947, respectively. In EFA, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test yielded optimal 0.962, and Bartlett’s test was statistically significant. Additionally, three factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 explained 63% of the total variance. Hence, CFA confirmed the results from EFA too. Moreover, the model proved to enjoy a good fit.

The scale is useful for both researchers and practitioners. Also, the scale provides researchers with a sought-after conceptualization of HRCs.

Consequently, considering that the validity and reliability indices of HRCs were estimated to be desirable, the authors believe that the developed questionnaire can be used as an appropriate scale for measuring HRCs in future research.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The paper produced a key scale for assessing HRCs in three dimensions: knowledge business, functional expertise and managing change.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Wind as a major source of renewable energy has received tremendous attentions due to its unique features to reduce carbon emission and also to keep the environment safe. Nevertheless, to use wind energy properly, the environmental circumstances and geographical location related to wind intensity should be considered as a priority. Different factors may affect the selection of a suitable location for developments of wind power plants; thus, these factors should be considered concurrently to identify the optimum location of wind plants.

In this study, first, basic data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used, then dual DEA was used and, finally, Anderson Petersen (AP) model of dual DEA was selected to prioritize cities or decision-making units (DMUs). Numerical Taxonomy (NT) method was also used to assess the validity of AP dual model in DEA. The prescribed approach was applied for five cities in East Azerbaijan province of Iran.

The results indicate that wind power as a renewable energy can be harnessed in few cities, and the ranking by DEA illustrated that the city of Tabriz is the first priority.

Low environmental degradation effects in comparison to other methods and the ability to utilization at a widespread level include the benefits of using wind energy in the generation of electricity. In this regard, the study of relevant potentials and finding suitable locations for the deployment of wind energy utilization equipment are essential. Using DEA method helps us to choose optimal locations according to different criteria.

Wind energy is justifiable in reducing social costs in comparison with fossil fuel plants, which includes negative effects, and its electricity can be used as a sustainable energy in the country's economic, social and cultural development.

For identifying the most proper location for development of wind power plants in Iran, DEA is applied for the first time to prioritize the suitable locations for installations of wind turbines among five different cities in the East Azerbaijan region. A number of crucial factors including land price, distance to power, rate of natural hazards, wind speed and topography are considered for location optimization of wind turbines for the first time. Also, to validate the results of DEA method, NT method is used to assess the validity of AP dual model in DEA.

The inscription of Yazd historical fabric in United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage list has provided the city with the opportunity of international competence and to achieve a global identity. Fahadan is one of the nine historical quarters and the core of formation of the Yazd city. Fahadan is one of the nine historical quarters and the core of formation of Yazd city. The article intends to provide suitable policies for converting it into a sample creative quarter in Yazd historical fabric.

The article benefits from qualitative research and the strategic planning method based on a creative city approach, uses SWOT technique (a technique for finding an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for situation analysis and the Oregon model for visioning.

Two categories of hard and soft factors play a role in transitioning Fahadan quarter into a creative quarter. By expanding the scope of jobs related to jewelry, and creating its supporting activities in the food and leisure sector, a creative economy can be discovered in Fahadan quarter which alongside reinforcement of unique physical features of the area, forms a creative place. Its goal will be viewed as the place where artisans pave their way for reaching a creative quarter with new management.

The research presents policies to realize soft and hard factors required for creativity in the quarter, and shows step by step a small-scale pattern in the context of urban creativity planning, that can be used in historical fabrics with similar situation.

The purpose of this paper it to examine Electronic commerce (e-commerce) practices of Iranian business organizations, as a “traditional” business culture, as it compares to a “developed” business culture such as the one existing in business organizations in the USA.

Executives from a sample of 50 business organizations in Iran were interviewed and asked to complete the research questions pertaining to e-commerce practices in their organizations. A factor analysis procedures with varimax rotations is used to analyze the data collected from these organizations.

Comparing the result of this study with an earlier study on a sample of business organization in the USA shows more similarities than differences. Based on the results of the study, it appears that e-commerce practices and related technology present similar opportunities and challenges to organizations regardless of their business culture. Lack of appropriate technological hardware and software, however, is identified as a hindering factor preventing Iranian business organizations from reaching their e-commerce potentials.

This research provides a rare insight into the Iranian business culture. The collection of data through personal interviews and the empirical nature of the study represent a unique opportunity to validate findings from other business cultures. This allows for a better practical understanding of the opportunities and constraints associated with e-commerce adoption.

In the early 2000s, a wave of new practices concerning the adaptive reuse (AR) of historic buildings into boutique hotels began in Yazd, Iran. This study presents the findings of a postoccupancy evaluation (POE) of adaptively reused historic buildings into boutique hotels. It aims to explore and prioritize the main factors of architecture's physical aspects in the adapted buildings.

In order to carry out a POE, hotel guests' written reviews from online international and national travel platforms were analyzed. According to this preliminary analysis, a questionnaire was designed and randomly distributed among 300 hotel guests. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS software. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce a set of indicators into the main components.

The findings revealed that “preliminary physical feasibility study and evaluation of building's functional potential” is the most important component with a weight of 0.709. Then, “adaptive reuse design” and “quality of building conservation” are placed with a weight of 0.232 and 0.058, respectively. The results show the mere attention of practitioners to architectural restoration rather than adapting historic buildings into boutique hotels in Yazd. Also, the lack of a specific framework for this purpose is felt in Iran.

Future research could evaluate the architectural aspects of historic buildings that have been converted into various functions from the main users' views.

This research's main contribution is to recommend guidelines for more user-friendly boutique hotels. This includes principal components and their sub-indicators that should be considered in the AR process of historic buildings by conservators, investors and hoteliers. Also, the extracted factors can be implemented for boutique hotels' improvements in operation because they determine the order of priority from the users' viewpoint.

This study introduces a new application of POE in the field of conservation of heritage assets and the hospitality industry; it focuses on the evaluation of the users' feedback regarding the architectural aspects of adaptively reused historic buildings into boutique hotels based on original empirical data.

Over the past two decades, in developed countries a trend towards the liberalization and restructuring of the gas market has been observed. Today, restructuring is an ongoing process. In this study, a restructured natural gas market has been considered in which several regional distribution companies have ownership of the network and are competing against each other to gain more benefits. The main purpose of this study is to achieve efficiency and economic rationality in such a market through horizontal cooperation.

A restructured natural gas distribution network is modeled as a cooperative game to estimate the potential cost savings for various collaboration scenarios. In addition, the cost savings’ allocation among collaborating companies is evaluated using the cooperative game theory.

The results reveal validity and efficiency of the solution of the proposed model and capabilities of the cooperative game theory for reduction in gas distribution costs and improvement in the service level.

This study is limited to natural gas in one region of Yazd City in Iran. Moreover, one segment of the natural gas network (i.e. distribution network) is modeled. Moreover, long-term cooperation between companies relies on fair distribution of cooperation benefits to the participants.

For the purpose of comparison and to get an insight into properties of the cost savings game, the real case study of one region of Yazd city in Iran is implemented.

This study contributes to the competitive models in the restructured gas market, particularly, in gas distribution network. The main contribution is to provide potential benefits for the participants via the horizontal cooperation.

Considering that the historic city of Yazd was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and given the necessity of improving the environmental qualities due to the increased number of domestic and foreign tourists, the concept of acoustic comfort seems to be of considerable importance. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate the role of sound space components affecting acoustic comfort in the historic urban spaces of the City of Yazd and its two historic squares named Khan Square and Fahadan Square.

Accordingly, a total of 632 foreign tourists visiting these squares were asked to enumerate different sounds they could hear in the square and identify their relation with acoustic comfort. In terms of the objectives, this is an applied research using survey and correlation methods. In addition, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

The results of this study indicated that motorcycle and automobile noises were considered as the most important sounds disturbing the acoustic comfort, and sounds of children’s play, water, talking and businesses were the most important factors promoting the acoustic comfort in the historic squares.

The paper highlights the soundscape and acoustic conditions that affect the tourisms in the traditional and tourism square in historical context of Yazd city.

Technological entrepreneurship has been a very significant topic in recent decades. It has a crucial role in economic modernization and growth. The need for technological entrepreneurship is because technology-based industries are expanding rapidly and are replacing traditional industries. Therefore, this study aimed at identifying the factors affecting the success of technological entrepreneurship in Iranian nanotechnology businesses.

The research was conducted through mixed method. The participants in the qualitative section included 17 university experts and executive managers in the field of nanotechnology in Iran, and 75 nanotechnology business managers participated in the quantitative section. The interview and questionnaire were used to collect information. In order to measure and fit the models, the confirmatory factor analysis method and PLS3 software were used.

The results indicated that the key factors affecting the success of the technological entrepreneurship process in nanotechnology were classified into five general categories: organizational, environmental, institutional, individual and technology factors. Moreover, it was shown that all these dimensions had a positive and significant effect on technological entrepreneurship. In addition, the organizational dimension has an essential role.

Companies' ability to engage technological entrepreneurship is a vital factor in human resource management and strategic management. However, technological entrepreneurship in Iranian nanotechnology businesses has not been involved integrally in the context of companies.

The main objectives of the current study are to assess the existing situation of historical city centers in Iran and to offer prioritized appropriate regeneration strategies for their sustainable development.

The study is based on a questionnaire-based survey in four historical city centers of Iran: Kashan, Naeen, Ardakan and Yazd. The required data have been collected using multiple tools including questionnaires and interviews with local residents and officials in the aforementioned case studies. Using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) technique, a set of appropriate strategies for the sustainable regeneration of these valuable fabrics has been proposed and the best of them have been prioritized employing quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) matrix.

The results show that the current situation in all the case studies is not in line with sustainability and cultural heritage protection. Their multiple problems are mostly associated with their weaknesses, whilst their strengths, including a considerable potential as a tourism attraction, are scarcely exploited. The experts and residents surveyed for this research have provided basic information to establish the conservative strategies that should take priority when preparing the urban regeneration process of these areas.

Since most of the adopted regeneration strategies in Iran are not supported by empirical studies, the current study largely fulfills this shortcoming by setting up a proper diagnosis of historical city centers in Iran and proposes the most appropriate regeneration strategies based on the findings.