For an investment to be attractive, individuals and businesses must receive the right incentives. Government has a significant role in creating these incentives, especially in developing countries. The willingness of companies to invest depends on the business environment, i.e. the extent to which laws, regulations and infrastructure support business activities. Governments create certainty and transparency in international affairs and also reduce risks through laws and regulations, enforceable property and land rights, adequate infrastructure and functioning tax systems. In Bangladesh, for example, the Department for International Development has helped streamline the business registration process from 35 days to just one day and the process. According to mercantilism theory, it is in “a country's best interest to maintain a trade surplus” (Hill, 2015) because the accumulation of wealth would substantially increase a country's power. Mercantilists therefore advocated policies that maximized exports and minimized imports through barriers such as tariffs and quotas. Mercantilism ultimately reduces the openness of an economy since the underlying idea is that “exports enrich a country, while imports impoverish it” (Rankin, 2011). Trade can promote growth through a number of channels such as; “technology transfers, economies of scale and comparative advantage” (Yanikkaya, 2002). Many countries over the past decade have adopted mercantilist innovation policies to support domestic businesses. However, these policies have the potential to distort economic systems. Examples of inadequate mercantilist policies in 2015 include; Canada has abused intellectual property law to undermine pharmaceutical patents, China has used its semiconductor industrial policy to unfairly support domestic companies while discriminating against foreign companies, and India has introduced local content requirements in solar energy projects (ITIF). Mercantilism artificially promotes exports and downgrades imports, leading to distortions and causing countries to miss out on the benefits that accrue from bilateral openness. Iran is the world's largest producer and exporter of saffron mainly because it has a competitive advantage in both production and export. To have a competitive advantage, a firm must create “superior value for buyers by offering lower prices than competitors for equivalent services or by providing unique services that a buyer is willing to pay at a premium” (Enz, 2010). Due to lack of proper marketing, proper packaging and manufacturer shenanigans; “Iranian saffron export has decreased (Aghdaie, Fathollah, Seidi & Riasi, 2012). Through a series of hypothesis tests, each of Porter's factors was used to determine its importance for Iranian saffron export. The only unsupported hypothesis was found to be the factorial conditions. Governments therefore represent a major obstacle to the export of Iranian saffron to international markets. Although Iran has the capabilities, its government increases the costs of international action