Institutional reform and FDI decision in transition economies: a qualitative study of Syria

The article considers the impact of institutional reform on the decision of foreign enterprises and foreign entrepreneurs
to directly invest in the transition economy of Syria. It responds to the calls for more open research design that can go
beyond the borders of the quantitative findings of previous econometric research by adopting a qualitative research
strategy. The results reveal that institutional reforms enhanced Syria’s attractiveness to foreign direct investment.
Institutional barriers proved to be less daunting to foreign investors whose backgrounds were culturally similar to that
of Syria and/or already had experience in Syria or in a similar type of economy. The impact of background similarity and
previous experience in similar contexts appeared to be less important when the foreign investor was a multinational
enterprise than for individual entrepreneur. Moreover, these factors also appeared to be less important for large
enterprises compared to small enterprises.