SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to explore business resilience in Libya during political instability. It does so by focusing on businesses in Libya and how they have remained resilient despite institutional weakness and political instability. The institutions in Libya are historically weak due to long term conflict and major cronyism within the Ghadaffi regime. The goal of this study is to provide answers to the following two research questions: 1 How do organizations in Libya remain resilient in political turbulence/instability? 2. What are the institutional and network dynamics associated with these organizational responses? The research of this thesis employs a qualitative approach with the use of in-depth one-on-one interviews with both key informants followed by Libyan business management members in order to collect primary data regarding business resilience in Libya. The data collected was then analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis of the data resulted in 7 themes including 1) Assessing network value 2) Culture web 3) Protection 4) Tribal defense 5) Crony capitalism 6) Translational networks. The 6 themes lead to a final theme 7) which is the 3-way Interaction Effect. These findings, with respect to the research goals, reveal that network and institutional strength, or lack thereof, provide significant factors to the resiliency of businesses in Libya. Furthermore the findings suggest there is a 3-way interaction effect between networks, resilience and institution, particularly as it relates to their underlying theories and the Libyan context. The research of this thesis reveals that businesses in Libya use social networks and Wasta as a means to be resilient when institutions are weak or absent.