Development of a Theoretical Model for the Definition Process of the Successful Mega-Program in the Iranian Free Zone

The growing popularity of free zone mega-programs has led to the need to study the success of these mega-programs; a topic that has not received enough attention in project management researches. The purpose of the present study is to develop a theoretical model for the definition process of successful free zone mega-programs in Iran. This study was conducted through an inductive approach and used the grounded theory strategy. For this purpose, data were first collected through semi-structured interviews with twenty-two private and public sector managers related to Iran's free zones. Then, data analysis was performed using coding techniques. The categories related to the definition process of successful free zone mega-programs in Iran were extracted from the interviews and relationships among the categories that were discussed. Based on the process of coding, six propositions were created and the theoretical model for definition process of successful free zone mega-programs was developed. Using the results of this study, the factors influencing the definition of a successful free zone mega-program as well as criteria for evaluating the success of the process of defining the free zone mega-program are presented.