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Greece's slow recovery from the severe economic depression caused by the great global financial and economic crisis that erupted in late 2000s was interrupted by the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity. This chapter looks into the factors shaping Greece's competitive position and discusses the potential to achieve a V-shaped recovery at the end of the pandemic.

This paper discusses the nominal and real convergence regarding Greece being a country-member of the European Union (EU), and of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). We argued that nominal convergence is relative to Maastricht criteria when real convergence has been investigated through six different axes: (1) the five Maastricht Criteria, (2) the GDP per capita in PPP prices, (3) the real GDP growth rates, (4) the minimum wages, (5) the HDI index development, and (6) the unemployment rates. We concluded for the case of Greece that by utilizing alternative indicators, such as the Maastricht criteria, and the above criteria only nominal convergence exists while real convergence appears to be a long-term target with many obstacles. In particular, Greece has managed to achieve the criteria proposed by the EMU (Maastricht Criteria) for membership, decisively different levels of unemployment, wages, and GDP growth rate/GDP per capita in PPP prices, and different human development indexes appear for the case of Greece.

A report of the International Labour Organization on undeclared work in Greece refers to failures of formal institutions which contribute to the asymmetry between state and civic morality. The particular asymmetry is explored through the context of tax morale, which is one of the major determinants of the shadow economy. Although several papers have been published on the Greek shadow economy, tax morale in Greece has not been adequately explored. This research aims to investigate the effect of the economic downturn on the factors determining the level of tax morale through primary data from a European Union-funded research project on the Greek shadow economy. The findings provide policy orientations toward transferring activities from the shadow to the official economy, a goal which is part of Europe 2020 strategy.

The paper refers to “a theoretical model” created by the author, named Universal Model, in which have been included most of the theories determining foreign direct investment (FDI). What derives from the literature review is that no theory dominates the decision‐making process of FDI. The opportunities a country has to offer change through time, and the different ways in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) evaluate the opportunities led the author to conclude that the concept of globalization is not valid for the theory of FDI. Special attention to the case of Bulgaria has been given. The main reason why the case of Bulgaria is of great interest is the fact that the conditions in the country at the beginning of its transition were some of the worst among the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs). The conclusion is of extreme interest since economists, MNEs and entrepreneurs have a strong interest in countries that open their economies and target their efforts towards stabilizing and liberalizing their macro‐economic environment.

Several empirical studies indicate that the existence of a large informal sector is a major obstacle to firms’ choices of innovation strategies. This paper aims to address this issue and investigates the effect of the informal sector on the innovation of formal firms in Greece.

Using the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey data, the impact of informal competition on formal firms’ innovation in Greece is investigated by testing whether formal firms use innovation as a tool to protect and sustain their competitive advantage vis-à-vis informal firms and whether overall and informal competition has an inverted-U relationship with the innovation of formal firms. The effects of bribing and other variables drawn from the empirical literature are also controlled for.

The findings fill a gap in the literature regarding the effects of the informal sector on formal economic activity in Greece, by indicating that the informal sector puts pressure on formal firms to innovate, in order to differentiate their product or service and enhance their productivity and by offering learnings to help policymakers to promote innovation in Greece.

The originality of this study is that it investigates the impact of informal competition on formal firms’ innovation in Greece, a developed economy with a large informal sector. It does so by focusing on the effects that formal firms’ informal practices have on their competitors’ innovation activities, and the role of informal competition in creating and sustaining a competitive advantage in Greece.

Most large enterprises have “a global view” in the expansion of their activities and, thus, in the creation of their investment projects. They invest in specific countries when they conclude that the countries in question fulfill their goals. It is not enough that an economy of a country has as a target to become a market economy, to open its borders and to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) flows for the economy to become globalized, but it is necessary for this result to be shown by significant foreign participation and huge FDI and trade inflows into the host country. If this never happens, then the country will not benefit from globalization. From one point of view, multinational enterprises (MNEs) “decide” which countries benefit from economic integration and which countries successfully participate in the huge worldwide globalized economic chain. On the other hand, due to the large investment opportunities that a few countries offer to MNEs and due to the large number of host countries, at the end, MNEs invest only in specific countries. Thus, there are a lot of countries that are isolated from the whole system. Moreover, smaller MNEs in economic magnitude often extend their activities mainly to neighboring countries, in order to maximize their profits and minimize their costs. The share of FDI is not the same in all countries and the FDI inflows in less‐developing or poor countries show little growth or no growth at all. Today's FDI orientation is not as global as expected and there is a regional trend in those flows, when at the same time a few countries, especially from specific regions (such as the Balkan region) still live cut off from the world of FDI flows.

The contribution of the Greek transport industry to the country's GDP has been well over the EU average. The industry is of vital importance to the efficient operation of local, national, and international economic transactions and is responsible for almost half of the value added to the Greek economy by its tourism industry. Despite its significant contribution to Greek economy, the industry is facing challenges and has not achieved its full potential. This chapter provides an overview of the transportation and storage industry and examines its general institutional framework and its overall performance, before focusing on specific policy issues for each transport mode, namely air, rail, road, and maritime transport.

To critically evaluate the obstacles and problems encountered by entrepreneurs while doing business in Albania, which is an economy in a transition.

The research methodology incorporates a survey that uses interview and questionnaire techniques. The sample was determined on a stratified basis (probability‐random sampling) involving the random selection of respondents from various strata of the population.

The most important obstacles faced by entrepreneurs in Albania include unfair competition, changes in taxation procedures, lack of financial resources and problems related to public order. Bureaucracy and corruption do not appear to represent significant barriers to entrepreneurship.

Responses from the selected strata were not distributed proportionally among the targeted sample.

Legislative amendments and new legislation which focus specifically upon small business and enterprise development should be implemented by the Albanian government in order to achieve a transparent fiscal reform and create a more favorable business environment.

This research provides a critical evaluation of entrepreneurial activities and the obstacles that entrepreneurs encounter while operating in the Albanian economy in transition.

The Eurozone is characterized by large and persistent social inequalities and economic disparities alongside productive and technological asymmetries between its advanced and peripheral countries. This divergence has been expected from countries that have different social, economic, and political structures. However, without pragmatic interventionist policies, European integration has been very problematic and there can likely be more asymmetries and other difficulties as long as aggregate demand-based development action continues to be neglected.

The paper begins with a discussion of regional and industrial disparities and problems in the context of the European Union (EU) and Eurozone. The next main section evaluates European regional and industrial policies since the Second World War. The final parts conclude with a special reference to Japan and the United States, and a comparison between them and the EU, and offer alternative policy recommendations based on the developmental state line of argument.