IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/42794.html

Assessing the determinants of Firms’ Competitiveness in Greece: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Metaxas, Theodore
  • Economou, Athina

Abstract

The paper investigates the importance of territorial characteristics/assets (i.e. agglomeration economies, urban infrastructure, factors of labor 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 sectors of industry, commerce and services. Through the use of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, the importance of particular factors for the competitiveness of firms has been analyzed, coming out in valuable conclusions not only for the firms and the city of Thessaloniki considered but also for firms and areas with similar characteristics in Greece and the wider area of Balkans.

Suggested Citation

  • Metaxas, Theodore & Economou, Athina, 2012. "Assessing the determinants of Firms’ Competitiveness in Greece: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis," MPRA Paper 42794, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:42794
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/42794/1/MPRA_paper_42794.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trofimenko, Natalia, 2010. "Factors affecting location decisions of the economic headliners - exporters and foreign-owned firms - in China," Kiel Working Papers 1645, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
    2. Hong Shangqin & Philip McCann & Les Oxley, 2013. "Innovation in New Zealand: issues of firm size, local market size and economic geography," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 19, pages 459-478, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Michael E. Porter, 2000. "Location, Competition, and Economic Development: Local Clusters in a Global Economy," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 14(1), pages 15-34, February.
    4. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Duranton, Gilles & Gobillon, Laurent, 2008. "Spatial wage disparities: Sorting matters!," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 723-742, March.
    5. Karlsson, Charlie & Johansson, Börje & Stough, Roger, 2008. "Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Functional Regions," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 144, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    6. G. M.P. Swann, 2009. "The Economics of Innovation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13211.
    7. Theodore Metaxas, 2011. "The Entrepreneurial Capacity Of Local Authorities In South-Eastern Europe - An Enterprise Perspective," Romanian Economic Business Review, Romanian-American University, vol. 6(1), pages 18-36, March.
    8. Crozet, Matthieu & Mayer, Thierry & Mucchielli, Jean-Louis, 2004. "How do firms agglomerate? A study of FDI in France," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 27-54, January.
    9. Masahisa Fujita & Jacques‐François Thisse, 2003. "Does Geographical Agglomeration Foster Economic Growth? And Who Gains and Loses from It?," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 121-145, June.
    10. Vickerman, Roger, 1995. "Location, accessibility and regional development: the appraisal of trans-European networks," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 225-234, October.
    11. Rebecca Henderson & Iain Cockburn, 1994. "Measuring Competence? Exploring Firm Effects in Pharmaceutical Research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S1), pages 63-84, December.
    12. Irini Moustaki & Martin Knott, 2000. "Weighting for item non‐response in attitude scales by using latent variable models with covariates," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 163(3), pages 445-459.
    13. Hector Rocha & Rolf Sternberg, 2005. "Entrepreneurship: The Role of Clusters Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence from Germany," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 267-292, February.
    14. Van de Ven, Wynand P. M. M. & Van Der Gaag, Jacques, 1982. "Health as an unobservable : A MIMIC-model of demand for health care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 157-183, August.
    15. Olga Alonso-Villar, 2002. "Urban agglomeration: Knowledge spillovers and product diversity," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 36(4), pages 551-573.
    16. Wheeler, David & Mody, Ashoka, 1992. "International investment location decisions : The case of U.S. firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1-2), pages 57-76, August.
    17. Nachum, Lilach & Keeble, David, 2003. "MNE linkages and localised clusters: foreign and indigenous firms in the media cluster of Central London," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 171-192.
    18. Wei‐ping Wu, 2008. "Dimensions of Social Capital and Firm Competitiveness Improvement: The Mediating Role of Information Sharing," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 122-146, January.
    19. Doeringer, Peter & Evans-Klock, Christine & Terkla, David, 2004. "What attracts high performance factories? Management culture and regional advantage," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 591-618, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Theodore METAXAS & Athina ECONOMOU, 2016. "Assesing The Determinantts Of Firms’ Competitiveness In Greece: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysys," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 17, pages 91-113, June.
    2. Metaxas, Theodore & Duquenne, Marie Noelle, 2015. "Small and Medium Sized Firms’ Competitiveness and Territorial Characteristics by using a MLR approach," MPRA Paper 66848, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Metaxas, Theodore & Kallioras, Dimitris, 2013. "Small and medium-sized firms' competitiveness and territorial characteristics/assets: The cases of Bari, Varna and Thessaloniki," MPRA Paper 52446, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Mayer, T. & Mejean, I. & Nefussi, B., 2010. "The location of domestic and foreign production affiliates by French multinational firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 115-128, September.
    5. Mayer, T. & Mejean, I. & Nefussi, B., 2010. "The location of domestic and foreign production affiliates by French multinational firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 115-128, September.
    6. Brian T. McCann & Timothy B. Folta, 2009. "Demand‐ and Supply‐Side Agglomerations: Distinguishing between Fundamentally Different Manifestations of Geographic Concentration," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 362-392, May.
    7. Grahame Fallon & Mark Cook, 2014. "Explaining Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing Inbound FDI Location in Five UK Regions," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 105(3), pages 331-348, July.
    8. Enrique Claver-Cortés & Bartolome Marco-Lajara & Encarnación Manresa-Marhuenda & F. García-Lillo & Pedro Seva-Larrosa, 2017. "Location Decisions and Agglomeration Economies: Domestic and Foreign Companies," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 39, pages 99-135.
    9. Frank Neffke & Matté Hartog & Ron Boschma & Martin Henning, 2018. "Agents of Structural Change: The Role of Firms and Entrepreneurs in Regional Diversification," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 94(1), pages 23-48, January.
    10. METAXAS, Theodore, 2011. "Territorial Assets And Firms’ Competitiveness In Southern Europe: Industrial Vs Commercial Firms Using Exploratory Factor Analysis," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 11(1).
    11. Li, Jing, 2014. "The influence of state policy and proximity to medical services on health outcomes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 97-109.
    12. Hanna Hottenrott & Bronwyn H. Hall & Dirk Czarnitzki, 2016. "Patents as quality signals? The implications for financing constraints on R&D," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 197-217, April.
    13. Roberto Basile & Luigi Benfratello & Davide Castellani, 2012. "Geoadditive models for regional count data: an application to industrial location," ERSA conference papers ersa12p83, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Tanaka, Kiyoyasu & Hashiguchi, Yoshihiro, 2017. "Agglomeration economies in the formal and informal sectors : a Bayesian spatial approach," IDE Discussion Papers 666, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    15. Hervas-Oliver, Jose-Luis & Sempere-Ripoll, Francisca & Boronat-Moll, Carles, 2012. "Process innovation objectives and management complementarities: patterns, drivers, co-adoption and performance effects," MERIT Working Papers 2012-051, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Sipos-Gug Sebastian & Badulescu Alina-Daciana, 2013. "Entrepreneurial Activity In Romania - A Time Series Clustering Analysis At The Nuts3 Level," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 673-682, July.
    17. Disdier, Anne-Celia & Mayer, Thierry, 2004. "How different is Eastern Europe? Structure and determinants of location choices by French firms in Eastern and Western Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 280-296, June.
    18. Lisa De Propris & Nigel Driffield & Stefano Menghinello, 2005. "local industrial systems and the location of FDI in Italy," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 105-121.
    19. Tania Paola Torres-Gutiérrez & Ronny Correa-Quezada & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama & José Álvarez-García, 2020. "Location Decisions of New Manufacturing Firms in Ecuador. Agglomeration Mechanisms," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-24, August.
    20. Ryo Itoh, 2013. "Regional income disparities in an OLG structure," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 50(1), pages 185-202, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • R50 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - General
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:42794. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.