Objective: Industrial policymaking is a vital pillar for economic growth, boosting production, and creating employment in countries. The present study aimed to identify and analyze the factors affecting industrial policymaking in Iran and to provide a comprehensive framework of these factors.
Method: This qualitative study employed a thematic analysis approach. Data were collected through semi structured interviews with 17 experts and scholars in the field of industrial policymaking, who were selected using snowball sampling. The data analysis was conducted based on Braun and Clarke's six step framework. To ensure the trustworthiness of the findings, Guba and Lincoln's four criteria were applied.
Findings: The data analysis led to the identification of 26 sub themes, 6 main themes including structural economic, institutional and governance, political and decision making, cultural and behavioral, scientific technological and educational, and international and geopolitical components), and finally five overarching themes: endogenous structural components, endogenous institutional political components, endogenous cultural behavioral components, endogenous knowledge technological components, and exogenous environmental components. The most important factors identified included chronic dependence on oil revenues, a rent seeking state structure, economic instability, & geopolitical pressures and sanctions.
Conclusion: Industrial policymaking in Iran is a multidimensional phenomenon influenced by an interconnected network of endogenous and exogenous factors. Reforming these policies requires a systematic and coordinated approach that simultaneously addresses structural, institutional, political, cultural, knowledge based, and international components. The indigenous framework identified in this study can serve as a basis for designing industrial policy models appropriate to Iranian conditions.