Sector In Greece Research Articles

A Family of Differential Input Demand Systems with Application to Greek Agriculture

This paper develops a family of input demand systems via alternative parametrisations of Theil's differential model. Each member of this family is as flexible as any other locally flexible functional form. More importantly, selection among the competing family members is possible via simple parameter restrictions. The family of differential input demand systems is applied to the agricultural sector in Greece for the period 1961–96. Formal tests suggest that the model with the CBS-type effects dominates the alternative models. Divisia and price elasticities are calculated from the selected model and a decomposition of changes in the demand for inputs into technical change, total input volume, substitution, and residual effects is performed. The empirical results are quite reasonable. Overall, the analysis in this paper indicates that, in certain cases, the differential approach may provide an attractive alternative to the dual approach in modelling production behaviour.

Evolving Over Moving Ground: Absorbing Introduced Regulatory Risk - Case Study

In this paper we examine the unique in Europe case of WIND Hellas (at that time known as TIM Hellas) & Q-Telecom, 3rd and 4th - in market share - mobile telecom operators in Greece and the impact that had on them a specific regulatory intervention by NTPC (Greek NRA for the telecom sector). Both, WIND Hellas, parent company and sole shareholder of Q-Telecom and the latter, were regulated on 2006 according to the procedure provided under article 7 of the EC Framework Directive for voice call termination into their respective networks. The base for the aforementioned regulatory intervention and remedies imposed was the NTPC's finding - during a market analysis/public consultation - that WIND Hellas & Q-Telecom jointly held Significant Market Power (SMP) in market 16 (voice call termination in mobile networks) of the EC Recommendation on telecom markets that must be ex ante regulated. The legal base for such a finding was the European Commission's final decision that cleared the buy out of Q-Telecom by private equity funds that were controlling at that time WIND Hellas, as well. According to the decision the buy out of Q-Telecom constituted a concentration under article 3(1)(b) of the EU Merger Regulation. Following this evaluation, NTPC decided to treat both companies as a single company and awarded them joint SMP in the relevant market. This conclusion was followed by the imposition on them of the same regulatory remedies, considering them as a single network. The aforementioned regulatory intervention that followed the concentration of the two companies, in relation with the remedies imposed to the remaining other two operating mobile networks and the high level of competition in the mobile telecom sector in Greece, which was already at that time a mature one, introduced market wide a significant regulatory risk, which mostly effected the concentrated companies. Moreover the lack of an effective appeal mechanism in Greece where NTPC's decision could be confronted made it inevitable for the two companies to proceed with the implementation of the remedies imposed. This compliance exercise was evaluated as having a major impact on certain business assumptions and plans that had been laid down. As a response WIND Hellas fine-tuned its strategy. A year after, all indicators showed that the strategy was correct and ultimately the turnaround was complete.

Evaluation of the implementation of best available techniques in IPPC context: an environmental performance indicators approach

In this paper an integrated methodological approach is presented for the evaluation of the implementation of the Best Available Techniques (BAT) in facilities operated under Integrated Prevention Pollution and Control (IPPC) Directive, based on the development and application of a set of sub-indices. An aggregated form of sub-indices that could be used as a composite IPPC facility index is proposed. A sector specific index can be derived from facilities composite indices. This approach uses environmental performance data from European Polluting Emissions Register (EPER) reports, environmental permits and BAT Reference Documents, and gives a coherent and interesting picture of the degree of BAT implementation and an indication of IPPC obligations fulfilment. A specific application is demonstrated concerning the paper manufacturing sector in Greece. It is concluded for this sector that there is a measurable discrepancy from the BAT fulfilment obligations and that the most problematic sub-indices are the “Releases to Water” and “Releases to Air”.

Work motivation in the Hellenic extended public sector: an empirical investigation

Individual differences and work-context characteristics may lead to differences in employees' motivation, job satisfaction and performance. In an era when public organizations seek to attract and retain highly qualified employees, managers and designers of motivation systems should carefully scrutinize and evaluate the reward preferences of their personnel. Using descriptive statistics and ordered probit regression models on data from a unique questionnaire-based survey, we explore how individuals' demographic characteristics and organizational work environments influence work motivation in the extended public sector of Greece. Literature on work motivation has long been focused into two major approaches: the organizational economic approach – focusing on extrinsic rewards; and the organizational behaviour approach – emphasizing intrinsic motivation. Accordingly, the motivators addressed in this study are presented in the form of extrinsic and intrinsic incentives. Our findings show that the expected work outcome of public employees is directly influenced by a multifaceted context of motivators; however extrinsic rewards seem to exert stronger influence on employees' preferences than intrinsic motives, including those related to public and altruistic service. In addition, econometric results indicate that individual characteristics comprise a more decisive set of factors in determining the motivation patterns of public employees compared to work-related influences.

The effect of inventory management on firm performance

PurposeLean management is getting more and more attention in today's highly competitive environment. In this context, the aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that efficient (lean) inventory management leads to an improvement in a firm's financial performance.Design/methodology/approachData for the analysis came from the ICAP database, which contains financial information on all medium to large Greek firms. The sample period extended from 2000 to 2002. For each year all manufacturing firms with the corporate form of societés anonyms operating in any one of the three representative industrial sectors in Greece: food, textiles and chemicals were selected.FindingsPreliminary results, obtained by cross‐section linear regressions, reveal that the higher the level of inventories preserved (departing from lean operations) by a firm, the lower its rate of returns. Findings are additionally tested by the use of pseudo‐likelihood ratio test which constitutes a more reliable tool, thus verifying the robustness of the linearity of the relationship.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the great number of the possible determinants of performance it is difficult to isolate the effect of inventories even by using large samples and advanced methodologies.Originality/valueSince the results from other empirical studies on the microeconomic determinants and consequences of inventories are somewhat contradictory, this study sheds more light to this issue by employing more sophisticated statistical tests applied to a large and recent sample of Greek manufacturers across different industries.

Typology for e-business activities in the agricultural sector

The internet constitutes an effective business resource as it provides a persistent communication infrastructure as well as huge business opportunities and information capital worldwide. The aim of this paper is to create a typology for e-business activities in the agricultural sector. The methodology concerns the study of the principles of e-business and its practice in the agricultural sector, the examination of the existing e-business models on the internet and, furthermore, the study of the websites promoting e-business in agriculture, their classification under the existing models and their evaluation through a multicriteria method. As a case study to apply the methodology described, the agricultural business sector in Greece is selected. Regarding classification, enterprises in the e-agricultural sector are classified according to the stage of the 'interaction', where beyond mere presence on the internet, there is a possibility for the user to navigate through the website and collect numerous information.

An evaluation of employee motivation in the extended public sector in Greece

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of the relationship between work motivation and organisational performance in the extended public sector, by testing empirically common elements of existing theoretical frameworks.Design/methodology/approachA unique questionnaire‐based survey was carried out in three organisations/corporations where the state is the major stakeholder. Of the 1,000 questionnaires distributed, 454 were returned and included in the analysis. By using descriptive statistics the provision of extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motives in the extended public sector of Greece was identified.FindingsFindings show that the public sector in Greece is more likely to provide extrinsic than intrinsic rewards, however the latter seems to be related to better organisational outcomes. Both individuals' ability and demographic characteristics are core determinants of employees' motivational preferences.Research limitations/implicationsThe core of this paper tests empirically the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation with performance in a country of EU “periphery”. Caution should be exercised in generalizing the results for more advanced economies.Practical implicationsOrganisational leaders and public management in Greece need to conceive work motivation as a complex system and recognize the importance of intrinsic incentives. Originality/value – There is currently limited evidence on the impact of motivation in the performance of the extended public sector. This research is one of the very few that has been made from the perspective of employees. To the extent of the author's knowledge, this is the first time that a detailed public sector level analysis on work motivation has been presented for Greece.

Current State of Greek E-Government Initiatives

This paper presents an overview of e-government efforts in Greece. Its aim is to point out the necessity of designing and implementing efficient e-government applications in order to improve public sector quality. In this framework, firstly we discuss e-government basic issues. Then we present the structure of public sector in Greece and try to categorise used information systems. We continue with a review of best Greek e-government practices and we compare the progress of Greece against EU countries. We examine the potentials and barriers of the area and finally we demonstrate the arising opportunities and the key challenges regarding e-government in Greece.

An empirical examination of the pricing policies and their antecedents in the services sector

PurposeThe purpose of this research paper is to investigate the pricing policies that service companies adopt in order to set their prices along with the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that influence these policies. Moreover, the extent to which these policies and characteristics are varied across different service industries is also examined.Design/methodology/approachIn order to achieve the research objectives, data were collected from 170 companies operating in six different service sectors in Greece through personal interviews. Moreover, a qualitative research through 38 in‐depth interviews was also conducted.FindingsThe study found that the pricing policies tend to be influenced by a number of different service, organizational and environmental characteristics, while different patterns of pricing behavior were clearly identified across different service industries.Research limitations/implicationsThe practical implications of the findings refer to the fact that there does not seem to be a “one and only” recipe for pricing decisions, which can be applied to all circumstances and service contexts. Formulating the pricing strategy seems to be a “situation specific” business activity. The significance of these findings notwithstanding, the context of the study (Greece) is the most important caveat, since it limits the ability to generalize the results to other countries.Originality/valueThe contribution of the paper lies in the fact that it presents the first attempt to empirically examine the potential impact of the aforementioned characteristics on the pricing policies used especially across different service contexts.

Environmental accounting as a tool of qualitative improvement of banks' services: the case of Greece

Recently, in the banking sector, consideration of corporate environmental information has been increasingly incorporated into the decision-making process. This trend is a result of the relationship between environmental and credit risk and the growing demand from banks for this information. Information of this kind is, as a rule, disclosed to the sector through ad hoc environmental accounting methods. Lately, the banking sector in Greece has been adopting this practice. The scope of this paper is to highlight the main variables, the consideration of which is significant in the form of the decision-making practices of the contemporary Greek banking sector.

An Empirical Evaluation of Greek Ports Financial Performance

The paper examines the financial statements and accounts of the twelve major Greek ports and proceeds to an empirical evaluation of the port entities' financial performance over a time span that corresponds to the sector's reorganization. Since the late 1990s the port sector in Greece has changed its management model through the conversion of twelve ports of national interest from public law undertakings to government-owned port corporations. At a latter stage, the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki were listed at the Athens Stock Exchange and since then the State's stake has been on the order of 75%. These reforms attempt to facilitate the adjustment of the sector to contemporary trends and to overcome deficiencies of the earlier port structures. The analysis suggests that certain rigidities are still present and further steps of modernisation and restructuring are essential, if the Greek ports are meant to play a more active role in the international arena. Despite profitable financial results for most Greek ports, the examination of their financial accounts raises considerable doubts as to the efficiency of their organisational structures, currently at a transitory phase. These results are in line with the conclusions of other studies suggesting that port governance in Greece does not respond yet to a potential matching framework configuration of their structures and strategies that might advance port competitiveness.

Literacy Practices in the Workplace: Evidence from the Secondary Sector in Greece

Literacy Practices in the Workplace: Evidence from the Secondary Sector in Greece

Planning practices in the Greek ocean shipping industry

PurposeTo investigate and portray the nature and use of formal strategic planning in the Greek ocean shipping industry.Design/methodology/approachStudies carried out in well‐developed industrialised countries, predominantly in the manufacturing sector, have contributed significantly to a better understanding and development of the strategic planning field. Nevertheless, there is lack of research based on countries and sectors/industries that are less conventional in nature. The study attempts to shed some light on how shipping management companies (SMC) carried out strategic planning, through a cross‐sectional study based on a random sample of 34 Greek shipping organisations.FindingsThe main findings of the study concern the main planning dimensions: planning completeness, formality, internal and external orientation, CEO's involvement, planning horizons and revision frequencies.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides a benchmark for the measurement of the development of strategic planning in an important service sector in Greece. In addition, it highlights the extent to which indigenous companies operating in a highly uncertain business environment adopt formal, structured and sophisticated planning approaches.Practical implicationsIt has been suggested that, if Greek shipping management companies are to obtain the full benefits of planning, systems should be developed which can accommodate advanced financial and scenario planning as well as other strategic tools and techniques. In addition the comprehensive education of the middle level management may contribute significantly to the deeper and timely understanding of the increasingly unpredictable external contingencies.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the existing voluminous literature on planning diffusion by discussing the adoption of planning practices in organisations that operate in a highly uncertain international environment.

Plus ça Change: Health Sector Reforms in Greece

Changes in the health care sector in Greece since the pathbreaking introduction of the National Health System (NHS) in 1983 have been sluggish. Twenty years after its inception and a series of attempts to reform it, the NHS remains centralized, fragmented in terms of coverage, and quite far removed from its principles of equity and efficiency. Being part of an idiosyncratic welfare state, the health care system is bound to reflect the particularities of Greek society and economy, namely, clientelism, a weak formal-and a thriving informal-economy, the lack of a strong administrative class, a weak labor movement, and strong organized interests. As a result, several ambitious reform plans have failed repeatedly owing to an array of interrelated economic, political, and social factors that channel potential changes toward the trodden path. This constellation creates unfavorable conditions for the introduction and implementation of major reforms.

The lignite electricity-generating sector in Greece: Current status and future prospects

Lignite plays an important role in Greece's energy sector as it satisfies over 70% of country's needs in electric power. The extraction of lignite takes place mainly in three regions of Greece, namely Ptolemais-Amyndeon, Megalopolis and Florina. The annual production of lignite is around 60 million tons, out of which 48 million tons derive from the coal fields of northern Greece (Ptolemais-Amyndeon and Florina). Almost the entire lignite production is consumed for electricity generation, while small amounts of lignite are used for briquettes and other applications. The Greek coal-fired power plants, which are about 4500 MW, use conventional technology and they are old (an average of 30 years). In the coming years new coal fields will be exploited in Florina—another 2.5 million tons of coal—in order to satisfy the currently under construction 365 MW plant located at Meliti, Florina, Northern Greece. Even though the lignite reserves are widespread in Greece and other areas such as Elassona and Drama could possibly host power plants, it is expected that the Florina power plant will be the last coal-fired plant to be build in the country. Lignite has to compete with natural gas—the construction of the main gas pipeline network has been completed—imported oil and renewable energy sources. The new EU regulations on power plant emissions raise obstacles for the firing of lignite, although it is low in sulphur. It must be shown that lignite produces low cost electricity in a environmentally friendly manner. The utilization of fly ash and land reclamation can improve the situation in lignite mining. In particular, specific attention was paid to further research and potential use of fly ash in road construction, the production of bricks and concrete, and the production of zeolites from lignitic fly ash. The use of clean coal technologies in power plants can solve many emission problems. Specific measures to increase the efficiency of lignite-fired power units might include: identification of the loss sources of every unit, improvement of the cold end of the steam turbines, optimization of the beater wheel mills operation, and the combination of natural gas-fired turbines with the existing boilers. The liberalization of the electricity market needs to be considered seriously from the lignite industry, since the potential electricity producers can freely choose from all kinds of fuels, such as imported coal, oil, gas and renewables. However, Greek lignite meets the requirements for the security of supply, as indicated in the EU's Green Paper. It needs only to be competitive in the new energy sector by improving mining and combustion conditions. Further research on these topics, through the European Commission's ECSC and Framework Programmes, as well as the national programmes, is required. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sector modeling for the prediction and evaluation of Cretan olive oil

Greece is a major international olive oil producer. Olive oil varieties constitute the major crops for Greek farmers growing certain oriental olive oil varieties. Currently, the olive oil sector in Greece is undergoing substantial changes and the response of farmers and consumers to this will be a vital factor in its success. Throughout the application of the common agriculture policy (CAP), mechanisms, such as production aid, subsidies and marketing orders, were employed to support both producers and consumers. A possible reform of CAP aimed at eliminating or reducing production aid or any kind of subsidies could have a considerable effect on producer and consumer marketing behaviour. In this study a formulated mathematical problem for the olive oil sector on the island of Crete based on the welfare concept and the simulation of the olive oil market equilibrium, subject to specified policy interventions and circumstances was adopted. According to the results obtained, it was concluded that future olive oil policies should not impinge on mechanisms that influence olive oil farmers and consumer behaviour but should emphasize the greater cost effectiveness of production and marketing policies.

The ship owners’ stance on third party ship management: an empirical study

The last four decades have seen the rise of third-party ship management and its evolution into an industry in its own right. Specifically, the present study reviews independent ship management with a view to identifying those contemporary parameters, relating to several environmental forces that can be considered to be conducive to the employment of professional ship managers. The focus of the investigation is on the comparison of two traditional maritime centres, Greece and the UK, which have been chosen after a thorough selection process and found to serve in the best possible way our research objectives. An analytical examination of the ship management sector in Greece and the UK is undertaken looking into the ship owners’ viewpoint on a number of key issues. The analysed data yielded some very interesting results.

The Determinants of Small Firm Growth in the Greek Manufacturing Sector

The aim of this paper is twofold; first, to identify the variables that mostly affect rapid sales growth in Greek manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs); second, to examine the potential influence upon business growth and performance outcomes of those variables representing enterprise and financial management characteristics of the Greek SMEs. The study utilizes panel data of a random sample of 143 firms from the manufacturing SMEs sector in Greece. Regression analysis is used to determine the explanatory factors of rapid sales growth. This paper is firstly addressing the Greek case and our results are in line with the findings of other empirical studies in the European Union (EU), thus, supporting the convergence hypothesis among member states in EU. Indeed, factors found to influence significantly manufacturing SMEs growth in Greece are profitability, liquidity, reliance on long-term debt, employee productivity, fixed assets turnover and restricted sales credit terms. Moreover, our findings also suggest that SMEs located in big cities behave differently from firms located in the periphery with regard to factors related to growth. The same holds true for firms in different industry subgroups. Our findings give rise to several policy implications that are crucial for the competitiveness of the sector, especially in view of the changes induced by the European Monetary Union, as well as, by other undergoing economic changes in the country such as the Olympic Games 2004. Policies such as low cost financing, lower tax burdens, incentives for investments in new technology, continuous personnel training, promotion of ecommerce and cooperation with foreign firms might induce fast growth in Greek SMEs.

Developing and Benchmarking Internet Marketing Strategies in the Hotel Sector in Greece

Despite the exponential growth of e-commerce on the Internet, little is still known on how the new medium is transforming marketing concepts/practices and their effectiveness. This empirical study aims to fill in this gap. This article first analyzes the Internet's capabilities and features as well as the new virtual market space that Internet advances have fostered. After reviewing models and strategies for Internet marketing, an Internet marketing mix is proposed based on the Internet strategies of hotels in Greece that were investigated. Using a nonparametric technique, the data envelopment analysis (DEA), Internet strategies were also benchmarked to identify best practices and provide suggestions on the development of effective Internet marketing strategies.

MNE subsidiaries versus domestic enterprises: an analysis of their ownership and location-specific advantages

This paper compares the ownership advantages of multinational enterprises' (MNEs) subsidiaries and domestic enterprises (DMEs) in Greece. Previous studies have tested the hypothesis that ownership-specific advantages (Oa) are a major source of firm differences. This study analyses the processed food sector (SIC=20) - the leading industrial sector in Greece with the highest inward and outward internationalization degree - using a panel data set of 75 firms and 5 years. The findings of a probabilistic regression analysis indicate that there are significant differences between the two groups of firms in the degree of possession of observed ownership advantages. MNE subsidiaries have higher market shares, use multiplant operations and have higher advertising and R&D to sales ratios compared to DMEs. DMEs use their well-established position (knowledge of domestic and regional market conditions, and size economies) in order to compete effectively with MNE subsidiaries. It is inferred that pursuit of domestic market development is an important motivation in such subsidiaries, in an attempt to build on (rather than substitute for) the strong and distinctive established product base of Greek food industry companies. By assimilating Greek food knowledge alongside their own the MNEs developed export-orientation into their subsidiaries in Greece, which eventually have played a notable role in the regional market (Balkans).