Iran equally benefits from its large market size (20th), which enables businesses to reap economies of scale in the domestic market; this advantage could be further strengthened by removing barriers to trade, which shield the country from foreign competition

Lower tariffs (135th) and more foreign ownership (139th) would also raise the efficiency of markets for goods and services (98th)

Other priorities for reform include labor markets, which are among the most restrictively regulated worldwide (135th), reflecting high brain drain (109th) and incentive structures that are not based only on meritocracy (121st for reliance on professional management and 111th  in terms of the link between pay and productivity)
 
Female participation in the labor market (126th) need to be improved; this will help reduce Iran’s high unemployment rate especially among the youth
It will also be important to foster a more trustworthy and efficient financial sector (120th)

The limited access to finance (129th) across different financial products as well as low confidence in the banking sector (114th) significantly limits private-sector growth in the country

Improvements in productivity could also be achieved by leveraging the latest technologies available from abroad

Presently, the capacity of Iranian firms to absorb new technologies is very low (116th) and access to these technologies is limited (123rd); progress could be achieved by fostering the use of mobile telephony (95th) and access to broadband (101st)

Iran’s intellectual property rights needs further legal strengthening in order to foster  innovation, confidence in registering patents (80th) as well as protect companies interested in transferring technology to the country

Improvements should be made in Iran’s education sector. While Iran’s education system demonstrates high quality in the math and sciences (41st), the quality of overall education (108th) in other areas need attention

More modern technology and access to internet need to be made available to students (114th)