Institutional Determinants of FDI Location Decision in Transition Economies

The Business School’s Strategy and International Business Research Group (SIB) heard Dr Mahmoud Alajaty (pictured above) from University of Huddersfield present his research on “Institutional Determinants of FDI Location Decision in Transition Economies: A Qualitative Study”.

Mahmoud joined the Business School at Huddersfield University in June 2014 as a lecturer in strategy. Previously, he worked as a lecturer and assistant training manager at the National Institute in Damascus, Syria.

The subject area of Mahmoud's PhD research was International Business and Strategic Management. His PhD thesis focused on the locational determinants of foreign direct investment in transition and emerging economies.

Mahmoud says: “The research explores the impact of formal institutional reform on the locational decision of FDI. It responds to the calls for more open research design that can go beyond the boundaries of the quantitative findings of previous econometric research by adopting a qualitative research strategy within which deductive and inductive research approaches are integrated. The research strategy is based on the ‘pattern matching’ technique (Yin, 2009: p.136) to determine the impact of the reform of formal institutions and the development of FDI inducing policies on the location decision of FDI within the transition economy of Syria between 2005 and 2011. The significance of this context stems from the fact that, when the data was collected, Syria had been at the early stages of its transition to a market-based economy which is an ideal period for exploring the impacts of institutions on enterprise strategies (Hoskisson et al., 2000).”

John Anchor, Professor of International Strategy and director of the SIB research group, says  “The novelty of Mahmoud’s research arises primarily from its qualitative methodology. Most research in the field of international business uses econometric techniques which are based on large data sets. Mahmoud’s research has provided interesting insights which would not be available from the more commonly employed approach”.