This survey of 430 Greek SMEs from 20 sectors examined the challenges and opportunities they face. Key findings include: - SMEs expressed high dissatisfaction with support from public administration, especially regarding starting a new business. - Most SMEs saw significant decreases in revenue and had to lower prices in the last 12 months due to economic challenges. - Strong competition was reported, with over half of SMEs saying it was easy for customers to choose competitors. - Four in ten SMEs said they faced difficulties finding qualified employees despite high unemployment. - Awareness and participation in public training programs was very low among SME representatives. - Most SMEs now

1. GREEK SMEs
Survey conducted by the E-Business Research centre ELTRUN of
Athens University of Economics & Business in cooperation with the online platform Douleutaras.gr

2. 02.03
Survey Description
Public Administration Services Support
Business Revenue / Prices
Competition
Finding employees
Training Programs
Data Retention
Advertising strategies
Online Presence
Technology
Services Evaluation
Success factors
Evolution prospects
Diagrams - Demographic
Conclusions
4
6
10
14
16
20
24
26
28
32
38
40
44
46
50
CONTENTS

3. Survey “Greek SMEs - Challenges & Opportunities” has been
conducted by the E-Business Research centre ELTRUN of
Athens University of Economics & Business in cooperation
with the online platform Douleutaras.gr which provides users
with easy access to the right professional for their needs. 430
SMEs representatives of different categories participated in
the survey.
The survey captures the different problem categories that
different SMEs categories face. Simultaneously, it attempts to
capture technology adaptation level within SMEs daily
operations as well as SMEs willingness to evolve
technologically and exploit technology potentials.
Quantitative method has been used for conducting this survey
using a questionnaire focusing on the following sections:
Capture the as-is SMEs state, SMEs problems, existing
technology use levels, participant’s personal
characteristics (technology personal perception, technology
knowledge, service quality focus), willingness for future
technology evolution and possible future steps towards
technology evolution.
The sample that has been used and chosen to participate in
the survey consisted exclusively by SMEs representatives from
20 different sectors aiming to capture SMEs general feeling
and view regardless the sector. At the same time, sample size
gives the option to isolate the different sectors and study
them individually and in comparison in cases that interesting
differences or similarities appear.
Survey Description
04.05

4. 06.07
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
SERVICES SUPPORT
SMEs collaboration with public
administration services has
been and remains one of the
basic obstacles and constant
difficulty. This survey revealed
that the level of guidance, help
and support provided by the
public administration services
during the phase of starting a
new business is inadequate.
The majority of the participants (8 out of 10), declare that they
are unsatisfied by the guidance level they receive from public
administration services, by the number of alternative sources
of funding provided and by the effort needed to collect all the
necessary documents. Respectively, 7 out of 10 participants,
SMEs representatives, declare their disappointment
concerning the documents submission process and the time
needed to complete all the necessary actions to start a new
business. Finally, satisfaction levels are much higher
concerning the support provided by the public administrator
services in finding their necessary suppliers. More precisely
dissatisfaction levels are considerably smaller compared to
previous indicators. This differentiation is probably due to the
fact that for this particular action, SMEs do not seek for public
sector support to the extend they do in the previous
mentioned actions.
Unsatisfying
Support
from Public
Administration
Services

5. Very
Dissatisfying
Dissatisfying Neutral Satisfying
Very
Satisfying
Very
Dissatisfying
Dissatisfying Neutral Satisfying
Very
Satisfying
Very
Dissatisfying
Dissatisfying Neutral Satisfying
Very
Satisfying
Very
Dissatisfying
Dissatisfying Neutral Satisfying
Very
Satisfying
Public Administration Services Support
08.09
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE LEVEL OF GREEK PUBLIC
SECTOR’S SUPPORT TOWARDS SMES IN THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS
NEEDED TO START A NEW BUSINESS.
Collection of the necessary
documents
Documents Submission Quick Business start
Guidance Alternative Funding sources Basic Obstacles & Difficulties
Very
Dissatisfying
Dissatisfying Neutral Satisfying
Very
Satisfying
38.8%
40.5%
14%
6.2%
0.4%
47%
33.2%
13.8%
5.6%
0.4%
27.4%
44.6%
21.5%
5.9%
0.6%
51.1%
28.6%
16.1%
3.8%
0.4%
40%
30.2%
17.4%
11.7%
0.6%
70.23%
79.34%
79.75%
56.25%
71.97%
Alternative Funding sources
80.17%Guidance
Collection of the
necessary documents
Documents Submission
Quick Business start
Finding Suppliers

6. 10.11
Difficult financial and economic
conditions as a result of the
continuous and long Greek
economic crisis are strongly
depicted in this survey results
since SMEs combine Greek
economy’s “backbone”. Almost
6 out of 10 have faced
significant revenue reduction
during the past 12 months; many of them have faced a
revenue reduction bigger than 50%. On the opposite side,
only 2 out of 10 SMEs declare revenue increase which varies
between 10% and 30%.
This difficult financial condition gets even worst by the fact
that 6 out of 10 SMEs declare that they were forced to reduce
their prices during the past 12 months in order to remain
competitive; absorbing all the new implied taxes (VAT
increases etc.).
BUSINESS
REVENUE / PRICES
Significant
decrease
in revenue
and prices

7. Business Revenue/ Prices
12.13
WHAT CHANGE HAS BEEN MADE IN YOUR BUSINESS REVENUE
AND YOUR PRICES DURING THE LAST 12 MONTHS?
Business Revenue and Prices
23.8%
16.8%
19.3%
15.7%
21.1%
Decreased by >50%
Decreased by 30-50%
Decreased by 10%-30%
Remained stable
Increased by 10%-30%
1.0%Increased by >50%
2.3%
31.9%
18.6%
8.5%
4.6%
35.7%
0.2%
0.4%Increased by 30-50%
Decreased by>50%
Decreased by 30-50%
Decreased by 10%-30%
Remained stable
Increased by 10%-30%
Increased by >50%
Increased by 30-50%
Business Revenue Prices

8. 14.15
The majority of the participating
SMEs identify strong competition
levels within their sector. More
precisely, 34% of the
participating SMEs believe that it
is “Easy” and 22% believe it is
“Very Easy” for their clients to
choose one of their competitors
for the same or similar services
to those they provide.
These facts reveal the need to act in different directions such as
investments in developing new innovative products and
services, adaptation to this continuously changing environment
and technology exploitation in order to survive and face the
strong competition.
COMPETITION Lack of
Competitive
advantage
34.1%
8.8%
1.7%
21.9%
33.5%
Very Difficult
Difficult
Neither Difficult Nor Easy
Easy
Very Easy
How easy is for your clients to choose another business
of your sector for the same product/service?

9. FINDING
EMPLOYEES
16.17
It is highly impressive the fact
that although the
unemployment levels are bigger
than ever before and the
number of individuals that look
for jobs is huge, 4 out of 10
SMEs declare that they face
difficulties in finding the right
qualified employees for their
businesses.
Difficulty
in finding
employees
13.9%
30.5%
12.7%
1.7%
41.3%
Very Difficult
Difficult
Neither Difficult Nor Easy
Easy
Very Easy
How easy is to find right qualified employees
for your business?

10. Finding employees
Technical
services
Web &
Design
Renovations All other
sectors
21.8%
17.1%
14.7%
46.4%
More precisely, 43,2% of the participating SMEs declared that
is “Difficult” or “Very Difficult” to find the right qualified
employees, 21,8% of which operates in the sector of
“Technical services”, 17,1% offer “Web & Design” services
and 14,7% operate in the “Renovations” sector.
Focusing on each sector separately and taking into
consideration the actual number of participants for each
sector, 37 out of 83 (45%) face problems in finding
co-workers in the “Technical Services” sector, 29 out of 56
(52%) in the “Web & Design” sector, 10 out of 20 (50%) in
the “Plumbing” & «Appliances Repair” sector and finally 12
out of 25 (48%) in the “Accounting services” sector.
18.19
Sectors facing the biggest difficulty
finding employees

11. 20.21
TRAINING
PROGRAMS
SMEs representatives’ level of
awareness concerning available
training programs provided by
the public sector appears to be
very low. More precisely, only 2
out of 10 entrepreneurs are
aware of training programs
provided by the government
and only half of them have
participated in one of these programs.
Given the need and the necessity of SMEs for technological
evolution and competitive advantage development, training
programs provided by the public sector may provide great
value and help towards SMEs evolution regardless the sector
of operation.
Targeted promotion in combination with the appropriate
training programs’ curriculum evolution and update according
to the real needs of SMEs could be the case for better
exploitation of these training programs by more SMEs.
Low level
of awareness
for the available
training programs

12. 22.23
Are you aware if there are available training programs
offered by the public sector for SMEs entrepreneurs
in your town?
78.4%
No
21.6%
Yes
Have you ever participated in any training program
offered by the public sector?
89.7%
No
10.3%
Yes
Training Programs

13. Customer Data
24.25
Greek SMEs appear to change
and to evolve by integrating new
technologies in internal
operations management. The
increasing level of integration is
imprinted in the fact that 2 out
of 3 keep their customer data in
digital files. Similar levels of
digital files use have been
declared concerning financial
data.
The cheap and quality services that can be found and used in
this area (CRM, ERP) help towards adoption of improved
operations internal strategies while the unexploited potential
for daily SMES operations improvement remains big.
DATA
RETENTION
Significant
use of
digital files
25.1%
Digital File
7.5%
Do not maintain
Hard Copy
67.4%
Financial Data
33.5%
Digital File
6.7%
Do not maintain
Hard Copy
59.7%

14. 15.43%
25.63%
39.08%
13.25%
19.06%
Web promotion - Facebook use
Web promotion - Google Adwords
Email Campaigns
Affiliate Marketing
Brochure
6.44%Newspaper ads
Which of the following ways
do you use for promoting your business?
26.27
There is a significant SMEs
preference in digital marketing
tools since a great percentage
of the participants declared
that they already exploit their
potentials. More precisely, 39%
use Facebook services and 26%
Google Adwords in order to
promote their products and
services. On the other hand, traditional ways of advertising
like newspaper advertising or brochure distribution seem to
have lost their impact and only 6% and 13% respectively of
the participants declared that are still using them.
ADVERTISING
STRATEGIES
Digital
Marketing Tools
Exploitation

15. 28.29
Fundamental part of a business
technological evolution is with
no doubt to build a strong
online presence.
It is impressive the fact that 4
out of 5 SMEs are online
present while 75% of them
declare high levels of
satisfaction concerning the
effect they have witnessed of their online presence in business
evolution in total.
It is worth mentioning that half of those that have not yet built
their online presence are positive to do so in the near future.
This proves SMEs positive perspective towards online
presence use and innovative solutions and how important the
aforementioned are for their business evolution.
ONLINE
PRESENCE
Online Presence
and Web
Exploitation

16. Online Presence
30.31
Is your business present online? To what extent do you believe
your online presence has helped you?
Online Presence
Interested in
Creating?
Not at all To a Small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
2.3%
22.9%
38.9%
18.9%
17.1%
If you don’t have online presence, to what extent are you
interested in creating in the near future?
Not at all To a small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
8.7%
41.7%
28.2%
8.7%
12.6%
23%
50.5%
not interested
No Yes
77%
Online presence
has been helpful
74.9%
declares it has been
helpful
22.6%
No
77.4%
Yes

17. 32.33
In a more holistic approach towards technology effect in SMEs
daily operations, 68% of the participants declare to be
updated towards technology issues, having good knowledge of
technology use in general and in comparison to other
representatives of the same sector. It is a significant
percentage that could support and help technological
solutions penetration in SMEs infrastructures digitalization
aiming at productivity improvement.
TECHNOLOGY
What do you believe is the level of your technological
Knowledge (PC use, smartphone use etc.)
Not so good
Knowledge
68.09% Good Knowledge
31.91%
The aforementioned has been also
imprinted in the fact that 3 out of 5
representatives recognize the positive
outcomes and the total effects that
technology use has caused.
ICT Technologies
Importance
Identification

18. 37.80%
No
62.20%
Yes
Do you identify
the positive effects
technology use could
offer to your Business?
Technology
34.35
Business Processes
effectiveness
Not at all To a small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
0.7%
6,6%
30.5%
35.8%
26.3%
Provided Services
to the customers
Not at all To a small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
1.1%
9.4%
23.2%
34.7%
31.6%
Business Image
Not at all To a small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
0.4%
3.5%
21.1%
41.0%
33.9%
Competitive advantage
Not at all To a small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
1.3%
6.0%
27.9%
37.9%
26.8%
Acceptance rates are increased when
participants are directly asked towards
potential specific advantages technology
could bring.
Percentages that vary between 89% and
96% imprints that participants’ majority
cannot ignore technology use potentials
and dynamics in any form of use within or
not the context of the business.
The identified advantages of technology use
are related to a variety of processes like
simple process automation, business image
management as well as competitive
advantage acquisition.
TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE THAT THE FOLLOWING
BUSINESS CHARACTERISTICS ARE BEING IMPROVED BY TECHNOLOGY USE?

19. Co-operation with
business partners
Not at all To a small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
2.9%
6.4%
25.3%
37.9%
27.5%
Speedup business processes
Not at all To a small
extent
To some
extent
To a moderate
extent
To a large
extent
0.4%
6.4%
25.3%
38.4%
29.5%
23.78%
No
76.22%
Yes
92.7%
93.1%
96%
90.7%
92.7%
Business Image
Speedup business processes
Business Processes effectiveness
Competitive advantage
Co-operation with business partners
89.5%Provided Services to the customers
Technology use
Τεχνολογία
3 out of 4 participants declare that they will seek
technological evolution for their business in the future and
declare their intention to exploit to the most possible extend
ICT technologies potential.
Do you intend to adopt new ways of technology use for your business
services/products improvement and to exploit the advantages
technology could offer nowadays?
36.37

20. 27.5%
No
72.5%
Yes
38.39
One of the common
characteristics between
successful enterprises is the
constant evaluation of the
provided products and services
and their continuous effort for
improvement. More than 7 out of
10 declared that they already
conduct product and services
quality check and they seek to get their customers confirmation
that they have met their expectations and needs. This
percentage is a positive surprise against public perceptions on
Greek SMEs operational mode.
SERVICES
EVALUATION
Offered Services’
Constant
Evaluation
Do you often confirm that the services /product you provide
meet customers’ expectations and do you evaluate business
processes aiming at business improvement?

21. SUCCESS
FACTORS
40.41
When the participants have
been asked “Which are the main
factors of their business
success”, customer satisfaction
and quality of provided products
and services are the factors that
stood out according to 56% and
54% of the participants
respectively.
Following those 2 factors, we find technological evolution and
even smaller percentage of participants chose finding the
business easily and competitive prices.
Consumer -
oriented Success
Factors

22. Success factors
42.43
TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE THAT THE FUNDAMENTAL
FACTORS OF SUCCESS ARE THE FOLLOWING?
Services/Product quality Competitive Prices Customers’ satisfaction
Easy to find the Business
by the interested potential customers
Technological business
evolution
Success factors
Strongly
disagree
Disagree
Neither agree
nor disagree
Agree
Strongly
agree
Strongly
disagree
Disagree
Neither agree
nor disagree
Agree
Strongly
agree
Strongly
disagree
Disagree
Neither agree
nor disagree
Agree
Strongly
agree
Strongly
disagree
Disagree
Neither agree
nor disagree
Agree
Strongly
agree
1.5%
0,4%
7.5%
36.6%
54.1%
1% 5.8%
19.5%
45.3%
28.3%
0.8%
3.5%
27.8%
47.4%
20.5%
Very
satisfied Satisfied Neither Dissatisfied
Very
dissatisfied
1.5% 2.1%
21.3%
43.3%
31.9%
1% 0.2%
5.4%
36.5%
56.8%
28.3%
54.1%
56.8%
20.5%
31.9%
Customers’ satisfaction
Services/Product quality
Technological business
evolution
Easy to find the Business by the
interested potential customers
Competitive Prices

23. 44.45
High percentages of
participants declare optimistic
towards their business future
despite the continuous
economic crisis and the general
uncertainty for the future. More
precisely 46% declare
“Optimistic” and 11% “Very
optimistic”. Less than 2 out of
10 declare pessimistic for their business future.
EVOLUTION
PROSPECTS
Remaining
Optimistic
45.7%
12.2%
4.7%
11.3%
26.2%
Very Pessimistic
Pessimistic
Neutral
Optimistic
Very Optimistic
How optimistic are you towards your business
future evolution?

24. 46.47
DIAGRAMS -
DEMOGRAPHIC
Business Sector of operations
Technical Services
Renovations
Web & Design
Accounting Services
Electrician services
Appliance Repairs
Plumbing services
Event Planning
Cleaning services
Gardening services
Lessons
Household Transport services
Well Being- Sports
Legal Services
Beauty services
Air-Condition services
Car
Other Services
20.5%
18%
13.8%
6.2%
5.7%
5.4%
4.9%
4.7%
3.7%
3.5%
2.5%
2%
2%
1.5%
1.5%
1.2%
1.0%
2%

25. Diagrams-Demographic
48.49
How long do you operate your business? How many employees
are there in your business?
Which is your position
in the business?
Gender Age
0.5%
6.1%
90.3%
0.2%
2.4%
1-5
6-10
11-30
31-50
51-100
0.5%>100
21.1%
27.6%
1.7%
5.0%
44.6%
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
>55
Education
88.2%
Man
11.8%
Woman
13.0%
16.3%
More than 5 years
3-4 years
1-2
years
70.7%
76.7%
Owner and CEO
17.5%Owner
1.7%CEO
4.1%Other position
29.7%
Secondary
School
18.3%Bachelor
20.0%
University of
Applied sciences
10.6%
Professional
Technical School
4.0%Other
15.8%Master of Science
1.5%PhD

26. CONCLUSIONS
Greek SMEs have realized to a great extent the value of
technology use and seem to be changing towards this
direction. Some of them to a greater extent and some of them
less dependently mainly on the sector they operate.
The basic and most significant obstacles appear to be their
estimation towards the cost of technology use and their
incomplete knowledge towards technology possible ways of
use. Of course, fundamental problems (low public
administrative services support level, difficulties in finding
employees etc.) in addition to economic crisis results (sales
decrease, sector competition increasing pressure etc.) consist
and are the basic obstacles for their business evolution.
Despite the challenges and the existing difficulties in Greek
business ecosystem, SMEs representatives declare optimistic
and willing to evolve. Digitalization opportunities, training
opportunities and competitive advantage acquisition
opportunities are wide and the visionary entrepreneurs have
their chance to take advantage of them for their business and
customers benefit.
50.51