Identifying and ranking the factors of the foreign investment in the development of Iran’s free trade zones using MCDM approach

Considering the position of free zones in the country’s commercial development, the present study identifies and ranks the factors affecting the attraction of domestic and foreign investments in the development of Iran’s free trade zones and is customized in Amirabad port free zone. The present study is in the group of descriptive-survey research in terms of applied purpose and data collection method, which used statistical tests and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach. In this regard, the statistical population of the study includes all actual and potential investors and managers of economic units located in the Amirabad Behshahr Free Zone, of which 385 people were analyzed using a questionnaire. The results obtained in the present study at the second level show that the first and the most important criteria is the management issues, followed by strategic planning, infrastructure, economic policies, laws and regulations, and finally location. Next, the most important factor is related to facilities and infrastructure, followed by the existence of natural resources and public budget allocation.