explanation of policy-making for smes export promotion with using grounded theory strategy

a large part of the country's industrial and manufacturing units are small and medium enterprises, but these firms have not been able to play an important contribution to achieving the export development goals. given the importance of export promotion as the engine of the economy and low export share of smes, the purpose of this study is explanation the policy of export promotion for this group of firms and identifying factors and conditions that must be considered in policymaking. the method used in the study is grounded theory. data collection was done by depth interviews with 23 managers and experts from the trade promotion organization of iran. data analysis was performed in three stages: open coding, axial coding and selective coding. the results show that in export promotion policymaking, empowerment and enhance export capabilities of smes (as the main strategy), creation a favorable environment for export promotion (as context conditions), provide incentives and stimulate businesses to start and sustain export promotion and development of export infrastructure (as the intervention conditions), should be considered by policymakers.