Abstract

Extensive literature has been presented on the knowledge-based economy and economic complexity, but no comprehensive pattern has been presented so far on the effective strategies for the realization of economic complexity and the relationships between them. In this research, in the first stage, by conducting a deep interview with 18 experts, and using the grounded theory method, nine effective strategies were identified in the realization of economic complexity. In the next stage, the relationships between the strategies and their leveling were analyzed in an integrated approach using an analytical methodology known as interpretive structural modeling (ISM). The ISM approach enables people and groups to draw the complex relationships between a large number of elements in a complex situation, and functions as a tool for regulation and orientation of the complexity in the relationships among variables. The strategies were classified at four levels using the ISM technique and a questionnaire. Based on the research results, future studies and foresight based on economic complexity smartly targeted modeling, and spatial planning of development capacities were the strategies placed in the roots of the layer.