Performance factors of Industrial Acceleration Zones in Morocco: Case of the Tanger Automotive City

Abstract

Export processing zones (EPZs) are defined as: "industrial zones offering special advantages, designed to attract foreign investors and in which imported products undergo processing before being exported or re-exported" (ILO, 2014).

For several years, this concept has raised several debates about its interest, its contribution and its regulation. At the WTO level, the debate took place when developing countries demanded that the subsidy measures linked to these zones be maintained as extensions, and also, opinions were divergent as to their role in the economic recovery of countries seeking development.

In order to attract FDI to the established free zones, several countries have put in place attractiveness strategies that have relied on specific benefits and measures. However, although the host country seeks to satisfy the needs of multinational firms through success factors, their attractiveness will depend on the perception of the latter. Indeed, firms located in EPZs evaluate and judge the incentives, hence the interest in highlighting the attractiveness of incentives in EPZs. In this sense, the objective of this article is to carry out an operational study on the incentive framework common to Moroccan industrial acceleration zones (IAZs), which will make it possible to detect the assets that attract foreign investors to these zones, by taking a case of industrial acceleration zones (IAZs).

In particular, we will look at the main factors that make Morocco's Industrial Acceleration Zone Tanger Automotive City attractive (TAC). The study is exploratory in nature, and the results collected will be processed in such a way as to gather the opinions of the companies installed around the main factors of satisfaction. It will allow us to identify them, classify them and consequently, we will try to explain them.

The originality of this work comes from the fact that it can serve as a basis for other exploratory work on the expectations of foreign investors in Moroccan ZAIs.

JEL Classification: R5

Paper type: Empirical research