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The present paper examines the factors influencing the farmers’ uptake of agri‐environmental measures. Empirical evidence from Thessaly, a prefecture in central Greece where the first agri‐environmental measures in Greece were applied, shows that several factors can affect the farmers’ decision to participate. These factors refer mainly to the socio‐economic and farm characteristics of the surveyed farmers. Agricultural education/training of the farmers, the farm’s economic size, participation by neighbors or relatives, age and general education, can influence participation in the agri‐environmental measures, and more precisely in the Nitrate Reduction program. These variables were found also to be the main factors responsible for the extent of participation in terms of land allocation.

The purpose of this research work is to find a methodology for the strategic development of competitive advantage for information technology (IT) companies (Mezger and Violani, 2011). The ultimate aim of this project is to develop a methodological approach on this issue, based on dynamic simulation models (DSM) (Wirahadikusumah and Abraham, 2003). With the aid of DSM, senior managements of organizations will have the opportunity to make decisions of assured success. This success shall be guaranteed by the realization of entrepreneurial activity in a safe and inexpensive computing environment before actual investment.

This paper highlights the advantages of the dynamic modelling of systems aiming at developing competitive advantage for IT companies (Ordóñez de Pablos, 2006). In this research, we have used the science of design and the research methodology for testing the concept of modelling as well as the process of modelling. The models have been completed through a series of alternations and iterations in the design, development, simulation, testing and evaluation.

This paper examines the interface among several dimensions for the development of dynamic models. The validity and usefulness of those models in the process of decision-making has been confirmed by the usage of dynamic models in various sectors.

This paper applies the system and the concepts of dynamic modelling, which are pioneering elements as to their nature and evolution. Although the sector, where the modelling was applied, is an IT company, the concepts and principles investigated, developed and validated can be applied to most enterprises.

This paper seeks to show that capital subsidies are used as instruments of long‐term corporate strategy. Previous research indicates that capital subsidies do not improve firm performance, as this is reflected by measures of productivity growth or by financial measures of profitability and improved capital structure.

The paper shows that a large, publicly available database of firms in the Greek food and beverages, covering a significant time span, is used to evaluate the effects of capital subsidies on strategic performance. Strategic performance is reflected by three novel indicators capturing a firm's orientation towards market power and leadership.

The paper finds that capital subsidies have a positive impact on firms' long‐term strategic orientations such as the firms' net market growth and the optimal scale of operation. The provision of capital subsidies assists firms to overcome the cost disadvantages coming from operation at a sub‐optimal scale of output and fixed capital, and increase their net market share.

The paper shows that more measures of long‐term strategic corporate performance should be employed in order to provide more research evidence that is required to detail the exact impacts of capital subsidies on corporate strategy.

The paper shows that the capital subsidies have an impact on strategic performance and thus their provision should be the outcome of careful design from the point of view of both the individual manager and the policy authorities.

In this paper three new indicators of a firm's strategic orientation are employed and provide the first empirical evidence of the impacts of capital subsidies on corporate strategy.

Capital subsidization is a widespread instrument of regional and industrial policy in Europe. A number of recent works have examined the influence of capital subsidization on the total factor productivity of recipient sectors and firms, and have provided strong evidence of neutral or even negative effects. The present study examines the effect of capital subsidization on four dimensions of the financial performance of firms, that is efficiency, profitability, capital structure, and growth, and provides evidence that capital subsidization affects solely firm growth.

Farmers’ decision to adopt organic cultivation and create niche markets is their response to the changing notions of quality and the gradual abandonment of the productivist logic in agriculture. This decision is analyzed within a multi‐level social ecological context designed to account simultaneously for all facets/parts of the farmer's decision‐making process. Social ecology provides a contextual platform conceptualizing global‐regional‐local relationships within which niche markets for food products are created. Emphasis is placed on farmers’ perception of the “environment” within which they have to decide on their participation in a policy scheme. Elements of the macro (global), meso (national/regional) and micro (farm household) “environmental” levels, affect the farmer's decision to adopt organic cultivation. Accordingly, a decision‐making tree reflecting how farmers perceive that environment and form their decisions is constructed, and statistical models test the impact of factors in the global‐regional‐local levels on this decision‐making process.

Assesses the job creation effects of capital subsidies provided to small and medium enterprises in rural and lagging areas. The proposed methodology takes account of extensive censoring of job creation among assisted rural firms, endogeneity of the capital stock change resultant from capital subsidies, and the extensive part‐time and seasonal job requirements in rural areas. Capital stock change, as a result of grant aid is negatively related to the decision to create new jobs and to the extent of job creation given that some employment is created. Evidence of this work provides the ground for discussing the effectiveness and implications of using capital subsidies as a job creation instrument within rural development policies.

The present work provides an integrated view of rural entrepreneurship and sets the agenda for future research in the area. Rurality defines a territorially specific entrepreneurial milieu with distinct physical, social and economic characteristics. Location, natural resources and the landscape, social capital, rural governance, business and social networks, as well as information and communication technologies, exert dynamic and complex influences on entrepreneurial activity in rural areas. Rurality is viewed as a dynamic entrepreneurial resource that shapes both opportunities and constraints. Rural entrepreneurship is depicted as a three‐stage sequential process highly influenced by specific territorial characteristics. The proposed research agenda addresses issues related to theoretical studies concerning entrepreneurial processes in rural areas and more applied issues concerning the formulation of integrated and competent policies supporting entrepreneurship in such areas.