ASSESING THE DETERMINANTTS OF FIRMS’ COMPETITIVENESS IN GREECE: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING ANALYSYS

• Main Authors: Theodore METAXAS, Athina ECONOMOU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2016-11-01
• Series: Review of Economic and Business Studies
• Subjects: inflation; uncertainty; firms’ competitiveness; territorial features/assets; Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis
• Online Access: http://www.rebs.ro/articles/pdfs/202.pdf

The paper investigates the importance of territorial features/assets (i.e. agglomeration economies, urban infrastructure, factors of labour and cost, development policies, qualitative factors, inter alia) on small and medium-sized firms’ competitiveness. The analysis uses primary data from 204 small and medium-sized firms located in Thessaloniki (Greece). These firms operate in the industry, commerce and services sectors. Through the use of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, the importance of particular factors for the competitiveness of firms has been analysed, reaching valuable conclusions not only for the firms and the city of Thessaloniki, but also for the firms and areas with similar characteristics in Greece and the wider area of the Balkans.