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Many previous studies have indicated that by acting collectively, agrifood SMEs can improve performance and enhance their contribution to local areas. Although collective action between agrifood SMEs proliferates in many southern European countries, relatively few successful cases appear to exist in Greece. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons for this, by relating the theoretical conditions of successful collective action to evidence from existing studies on the Greek situation.

Drawing from the literature on small firm networks, and previous empirical studies of agrifood SMEs in Europe, the paper identifies six conditions that underpin successful collective action: three contextual (type of market, social cohesiveness, institutional involvement) and three behavioural (market orientation, co‐operative spirit, existence of an initiator).

Relating these conditions to existing evidence on Greek agrifood SMEs, the analysis suggests that socio‐cultural factors and institutional involvement are often barriers to successful collective action. However, the presence of at least some examples of strong agrifood SME networks in Greece indicates that such barriers can be overcome. The paper concludes by identifying the research questions to be tackled by future empirical study of Greek agrifood SMEs.

The paper explores the important phenomenon of small firm networks in the under‐researched country of Greece. In addition, the paper also presents an original synthesis of key conditions under which collective action thrives, drawn from many previous studies of networks and collective action in the agrifood sector throughout Europe.

Networks are increasingly recognised as being important to successful marketing amongst small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this study is to investigate the structure and content of network relations amongst SME clusters, and explore the link to marketing performance.

Following a review of the literature on SME networks and marketing performance, case study analysis is performed on four SME clusters in the Greek agrifood sector.

Analysis finds that the configuration of horizontal relationships between producer SMEs has little bearing on marketing performance, unless also accompanied by strong vertical connections between key members of the SME cluster and other actors in the supply chain. The disposition of these key members towards information‐seeking and contact building outside their SME clusters is also identified as important.

To improve marketing performance, leaders in SME clusters should focus on building strong vertical relationships in the supply chain, and encourage knowledge gathering from external market contacts.

Unlike many studies of SMEs, networks and marketing performance, this research investigates the networking phenomenon at the level of whole SME clusters, rather than at the level of individual SME owner‐managers.