Trade with Greece
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realization of ideas and, most importantly, their
introduction to the market, or the creation of prof-
itable ventures. Some ventures became a suc-
cess in Greece (although most of them led to the
creation of small and medium sized enterprises,
with turnovers of a few thousand euros). For
example, Eshop.gr had a very good start, as an
innovative e-commerce idea, with its three lead-
ers also setting up a major network of physical
outlets. TAXIBEAT followed a similar path, and
soon it expanded abroad, in Norway, France and
Brazil; there were also a series of other success-
ful ventures that, based on information technolo-
gy, changed the scheme of things, such as
Farmers’ Republic, etc.
Many people rushed to welcome the “spring” of
Greek startups. A new entrepreneurial wave,
based on a typical Greek trait: ingenuity. Pretty
soon, though, this trend was reversed, because
of the banking system’s inability to finance such
efforts, as well as a series of inherent difficulties.
Many ventures never made the leap from aspira-
tion to action, while quite a few filed for bankrupt-
cy. But even larger enterprises that tried to invest in
innovation and, in particular, in e-commerce, have
nothing to show of it. Today, the number of Greek
companies whose turnover is actually based on
online sales, is very small. E-commerce accounts
for a mere 0.5% of supermarket sales, while the sit-
uation is no better in a series of other sectors, such
as electrical and electronic equipment.
At the same time, corporate total expenditure on
innovation, as well as state subsidies are high,
albeit without improving the country’s position in
innovation rankings. Many people may pay lip
service to innovation; however, participation in
tertiary education is low, along with the availabili-
ty of the necessary scientific personnel, while
there was even talk about scrubbing IT courses
from Greek schools as part of the drive to reduce
public expenditure. Apparently, Greece’s perform-
ance is high in regard to the promotion of new-to-
the-company products, as well as internal busi-
ness innovation (organizational etc.).
