“…First, operating in an emerging economy, Iranian firms have strong motivation to acquire knowledge from external sources, in order to develop their own performance, and gain the capabilities necessary to compete in the global market (Ghazinoory, Riahi, Azar, & Miremadi, 2014). While the funding allocated by the Iranian government has yielded an increase from 82 researchers per million residents to 1500 researchers per million during the past three decades (Soofi & Ghazinoory, 2011), this support has not been enough to change the traditional Iranian economy into a knowledge-based one (Scaringella & Burtschell, 2015). In addition, the Iranian government has put pressure on manufacturers to produce vehicles that meet high environmental standards, in order to increase exports.…”