There are different possible explanations for these changes in the representation of firms in the sample by location, and to a lesser degree size. For example, telephone communications outside of Damascus may be less reliable than within Damascus. The level of effort that enumerators exerted to reach firms may have varied by location. Or, the effects of the conflict had a nonuniform effect on firms in different parts of the country. The disproportionately small representation of Aleppo firms in the 2017 sample is consistent with reported widespread damage to the city and nearby industrial zones – remote sensing data collected for the Syria Economic and Social Impact Assessment show over four out of five of the industrial zones outside Aleppo had over 67% damage. There simply may be fewer firms in Aleppo to survey now, or perhaps they are just harder to reach by phone. The reduced representation of large firms may indicate that larger firms face greater challenges maintaining their operations in conflict, perhaps due to more extensive and complex supply chain relationships, or it could simply be sample variation. In the absence of a recent census it is not possible to know for certain. However, at the very least, the survey is still of interest for what it is: a survey of 160 firms in Syria in 2017.

# Greatest challenges facing surviving firms in Syria

Across the country, service interruptions, loss of employees, and breakdown of supply chains are the greatest challenges facing Syrian firms (Figure 1). Firms were asked to rank the extent to which certain factors constitute a constraint or problem for this business – from not at all to severe – from among factors in a range of categories.<sup>6</sup> They were also asked to cite the single greatest category of obstacle facing them at this time. The results are summarized below.

The intermittent supply of electricity and fuel generally constitute the greatest challenges for Syrian firms, with 67.5 percent of firms citing electricity and 56.0 percent fuel supply interruptions as major or severe problems, the highest of all reported problems across all categories. In the 2009 Enterprise Survey 57.5 percent of firms rated electricity as a major or very serious constraint so while this problem was even larger in 2017 it was already a major issue in Syria and was exacerbated by the crisis. Water and gas supply were also frequently reported, with around one‐third of firms citing these as major problems. Water was cited as a major or very serious constraint in 2009 by 19.3 percent of firms in Syria so this has increased significantly. Finally, in 2017 telecommunications and waste collection were not frequently reported (16 percent and 8 percent respectively).

Reflecting the tragic human cost of the conflict, firms frequently report a loss of employees, with nearly half of all firms reporting the loss of skilled workers as a major or severe problem. In addition to the 48.4 percent of firms citing loss of skilled workers, 37.7 percent also cited loss of managers as major or severe problem while loss of unskilled workers was cited by 28.2 percent of firms. These were 6<sup>th</sup> and 10<sup>th</sup> respectively of a list of 25 potential

> 6 The categories are: service interruptions (electricity, fuel, water, etc.), physical damage and insecurity (damage to premises, insecurity in our around premises, etc.), transport problems (damage to intra‐city or inter‐city roads, inaccessibility due to checkpoints, closures), loss of customers or suppliers, loss of employees, finance problems, business service problems (customs, permits, corruption), or other. See Annex B for details in the questionnaire.

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