Attracting Combined Investments in the Arvand Free Trade Zone (Presenting a Paradigmatic Model)

Abstract

Objective: This research aims to design a model for attracting mixed investments to promote business prosperity and economic growth in free trade zones, with a case study of the Arvand Free Trade Zone.  Methodology: The research method was qualitative. Accordingly, data were collected through interviews with 14 university professors, experts, and managers from the Arvand Free Trade Zone. The sample size was determined using the snowball method, and the criterion for concluding the interviews was the rule of theoretical saturation. The data in the qualitative section were analyzed using the grounded theory method. In the first stage, 296 open codes were extracted, which, after methodological adjustments, were reduced to 182 open codes or concepts.  Findings: These codes and concepts, in the next level of abstraction, were categorized into 46 sub-categories, which were ultimately condensed into 19 main categories.  Conclusion: Finally, these concepts were identified in six sections: factors influencing mixed investment attraction (causal conditions), the structure of mixed investment attraction (central phenomenon), contextual factors affecting mixed investment attraction (contextual conditions), intervening factors influencing mixed investment attraction (intervening conditions), strategies for mixed investment attraction (strategies), and outcomes of mixed investment attraction (consequences). These concepts formed the research model.