Businesses shifting to growth
The majority of enterprises are now focused on their development and quality upgrading
Μore than half of Greek businesses are now seeking or anticipating their development, leaving behind the effort to simply survive in the successive crises that have hit the Greek and global economy.
On the other hand, a critical percentage, almost one in three, are still trying to restructure; in essence they are just trying to survive, a difficult task, as they lag behind in investment and the road to financing is full of difficulties. In the middle there is another category of businesses on solid ground, but significantly dependent on conditions.
How did Greece get to the point where growth-focused businesses now make up almost 51% of companies, up from 42% in 2021 and just 14.2% in 2019, according to the annual survey by the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) titled “The Pulse of Business”?
Beyond the improvement in the economy after the 10-year crisis, the shift of businesses to this category, of growth, is now coming through the maturity of strategic partnerships, the expansion of product portfolios, investment in digital and green transformation, and innovation. These features yield economic benefits and make it easier for businesses to respond to increased demand. They also add a qualitative change compared to the past, when contemporary factors dominated.
The reforms of recent years, such as the digitization of the state, the changes in the tax regime and the acceleration of the implementation of the EU-supported growth plan also play a decisive role in the shift of businesses toward a development perspective.
Unfortunately, though, this is not enough, especially as the chronic pathologies remain, such as the slow delivery of justice, the absence of integrated spatial planning, the lack of special spatial frameworks for a number of areas of economic activity, and the functioning – or rather malfunctioning – of local authorities, which in many cases have remained in the old outdated model of bureaucratic organization with only a few bright examples of digital transformation.