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The purpose of this paper is to explore the viability of the ecological furniture niche markets in Greece and Cyprus. More specifically, the authors investigate the current demand on ecological furniture, business strategy and planning in introducing eco-furniture products in Greek and Cypriot market. Finally, particular emphasis lays on the analysis of the barriers regarding decision making of Greek and Cypriot enterprises in order to incorporate ecological furniture into their current activities.

Based on three distinguished hypotheses, the study seeks to draw attention to the critical factors which will impact decision making on such products development within the severe crisis. Using a prototype questionnaire, specifically structured for the aim of the research, the authors collected data from 36 Greek furniture enterprises, 25 Cypriot ones and 24 sectoral experts and relevant institutes in Greece and Cyprus. The questionnaires were selected in 2012, which were further elaborated and statistically analyzed with SPSS ver 17.0 after they were tested for their content and construct validity, managing to verify the hypotheses.

The study reveals an increasing sensitivity for environmental issues and an effort to combine it with the emergent green markets. Green strategies can lead to significant competitive advantages for Greek and Cypriot furniture firms, especially after the recovery of the long-lasting recession. Furniture manufacturers believe that environmental issues are tightly related to consumer behaviors and social image, expose a real interest for the environment and consider green strategies as a major way to differentiate. The firms of the sample focus on raw material and processes adapted to suit environmental requirements. On the other hand, these issues constitute major barriers to apply such strategies together with business risk and the lack of knowledge regarding the requirements of environmental sustainability.

The research bears certain limitations such as the sample size and the fact that results are based mainly on perceptions of entrepreneurs/managers. Thus, there are certain questions on objectivity and generalizability. Furthermore, the market aspect is examined through the lens of the entrepreneurs and experts and not the consumers themselves.

The present research explores the why and how furniture companies turn green constituting a useful basis to encourage close collaborations of companies to academia, design and research centers introducing eco-friendly practices and relevant innovations. It contributes to the field of sustainable entrepreneurship and the micro-level understanding of micro- and small companies’ reaction to this phenomenon focussing on the furniture industry. It can act as a catalyst toward the development of extensive networking among the furniture sector in both countries, which assists the diffusion of information as well as of a pertinent culture on eco-products and the development of new business models in the sector.

A major contribution is that it can constitute a useful basis for policy makers at governmental and institutional level in both Greece and Cyprus to propose solutions to critical issues such as sector survival, crisis – survival, unemployment, along with environmental care and awareness. It can further encourage close collaborations of companies to academia, design and research centers for the sustainable development of the sector through eco-friendly practices and relevant innovations.

The research is the first to question the significance of eco-conscious strategies for furniture firms at national level in Greece and Cyprus. It seems that it has indirectly contributed to eco-furniture culture development, since it has caused a fruitful brainstorming among sectoral entrepreneurs and offers solutions to the existing “cul-de-sac.”

This paper aims to discuss some of the findings of an ongoing “Green & Smart Furniture” (GSF) research project. It actually focuses on third-age consumers’ behavior and interest in purchasing smart and eco-friendly wooden furniture, providing some critical implications for the successful design and production of GSF products in the framework of innovation and differentiation.

The methodology is based on empirical data gathered from consumer research across Greece. The target group for “smart and eco furniture”, under the context of the present research, has to do with the third age, following the claims of many researchers that market orientation is essential for innovation success.

The present research promotes the development of innovation for furniture manufacturing industries, opening a new pathway in confronting the difficulties and strong competition. Firms should redesign their strategy, focusing on differentiation by including innovative products in their portfolio with high added value.

The present research is a prototype for the Greek and European furniture market, one designed to answer certain relevant questions regarding the drivers of innovation for the specific sector and the specific target group.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how conflict/war and its political economic and socio-cultural reflections influenced Turkish-Cypriot advertisements. It provides an analysis of the Turkish-Cypriot advertisements during 1940–1974, which was characterised by intermittent inter-ethnic armed conflict, to illuminate how they are related to the commercial, political, economic and socio-cultural unravelling of the era.

Compositional interpretation and social semiotic analysis (Rose, 2016) with a critical lens have been adopted as research design. Social, cultural, economic and political conditions of the time were also used in the analysis.

Firstly, this paper shows that the advertisements increased in complexity although very incrementally through the studied period, especially in comparison to the advertising of the countries that directly influenced the commercial sphere in Cyprus such as Britain, Greece and Turkey. Secondly, this paper shows that the advertisement messages were directly shaped by key events in the socio-political realm. Especially during the 1940s (British rule) and the bicommunal Republic of Cyprus era, the Turkish-Cypriot community newspapers featured a cosmopolitan range of advertisements paid for by Greek-Cypriot, Armenian-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot businesses. After 1963, when the armed conflict began and the communities retreated to separate parts of the capital city, the featured advertisements mostly reverted back to the 1950s political economic agenda: firstly, they intended to build ethno-community consciousness by transforming Turkish-Cypriots who were scattered around in different towns, villages and cities into a public/community; secondly, they were used in developing the burgeoning Turkish-Cypriot business enterprises and the making of a consumer class.

As no such study was conducted so far, this paper shows, through the continued and increasing existence and variety of the advertisements printed in Turkish-Cypriot newspapers, the trajectory with which the Turkish-Cypriots met the consumption codes of the era under armed conflict. Secondly, the authors observe the “state” authority (in this case, the community administration) directly and indirectly influences both the business agenda and the building of community consciousness. Thirdly, the authors show that the Turkish-Cypriot community had normalised commerce under armed-conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to study the possibility of promoting certified timber coming from sustainable managed forests, in order to support Greek enterprises and the institutions of the Greek timber sector involved to apply effective green marketing methods and policies.

Based on a prototype questionnaire, specifically structured for the aim of the research, 55 responses were collected from Greek timber enterprises in April 2009. The questionnaires were processed and analyzed with the statistical program SPSS of ver17.0, using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The main purpose was the investigation of knowledge, use and promotion of certified timber that emanates from forests under sustainable management, thus planning the green marketing.

The Greek enterprises of the timber sector expressed a great interest in the protection of forests all over the world, ranging from illegal loggings to their rational management. At the same time, in their overwhelming majority, they strongly support the certification of the sustainable management of Greek forests. These enterprises believe that the movement of green buildings has also reached Greece, albeit at a slow pace, and forecast that green consumers are prone to offer an additional percentage of about 6 per cent on price, in order to buy certified timber products. Companies trust to a high degree most institutions of higher education (universities and technological institutions) for the promotion of certified timber products and propose their publicity through newspapers and magazines, as well as through internet portals of close contact. Finally, the paper discusses reflections and forecasts on the growth of this new market of timber.

The results offer precious knowledge on the market of certified timber and its future developments in the following five years, which can assist both enterprises and the institutions involved in strategy forming and decision making, in order to gain an important share of the market of green consumers. The paper also proposes effective green marketing applications.

This is the first research on green marketing and the promotion of certified products of timber in the Greek market, while similar work is very limited even at an international level.

The purpose of this study is to attempt a brief presentation of book exchange practices, as these are unfolding around the world. Then, the authors focus on free exchange libraries and analyse different aspects of the phenomenon. Finally, the authors are presenting the first hesitant steps of the phenomenon in Greece, linking it with the crisis that has lately been plaguing the Greek society.

The widespread and constantly surging movement of exchange libraries has attracted thousands of fans around the world; also, it is multifaceted and constantly transforming. In this paper, the authors are attempting to charter the phenomenon generally and specifically in Greece through relevant sources and on-the-spot observation.

The authors believe that free exchange libraries will continue to multiply both globally and in Greece, and that, through this movement, the audience gives an answer to the economic crisis and the crisis of values, making yet another step in the course towards satisfying the demand for a better world.

This paper is one of the few attempts to reflect-charter the phenomenon and probably one of the first to be accomplished under a sociological spectrum.

This paper aims to systematically review and evaluate extant literature on knowledge acquisition and transfer in international small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and to identify the requisite types of knowledge acquired and transferred in this context. The research further determines the mechanisms enabling SMEs to process this knowledge, unpacks the benefits of both knowledge acquisition and transfer for international SMEs and links them to the market success.

The research has conducted a comprehensive systematic review of existing literature on market knowledge acquisition and its transfer, in the context of international SMEs, utilizing peer-reviewed articles published in top tier journals without any custom range of time.

The search strategy resulted in 37 reviewed academic articles, whose analysis identifies and elucidates on the best practices of knowledge acquisition and transfer in the context of international SMEs; the type of the knowledge acquired and transferred; the form and mechanism of the intersection of these processes; and the benefits gained. The findings, crucially, also identify and illuminate extant research gaps and insufficiencies and develop a comprehensive research agenda for the way forward.

The present study offers a uniquely comprehensive perspective on a topic of diachronic and, currently, rising significance to scholars and practitioners alike. Transcending its descriptive value, though, it further identifies extant knowledge deficiencies, it distils and consolidates critical knowledge and prescribes avenues for research towards the growth and development of international SMEs and born globals.

This paper explores the regionalisation of the European Union’s supply chains and the impact of enlargement by looking at trends in trade in intermediate products between 1995‐2007. The findings show that enlargement has not significantly impacted overall levels of regionalization although it has led to quite major changes in the division of labor within the EU. In addition, the impacts have been very varied depending on the sector involved. There has been a greater consolidation of the EU supply chain in medium‐tech and up‐market goods while in low‐market and high‐tech goods, market share has been ceded to non‐EU sources.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and contrast the levels of focus on competitive priorities (CPs) between service and manufacturing firms in Greece during an economic crisis and the influence of those CPs on business performance.

Empirical data were collected from 298 company representatives of Greek firms with an approximately equal proportion of the firms being from the manufacturing (n=157) and service (n=141) industries. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the proposed first-order latent constructs as well as to determine the second-order latent construct (CPs). The CPs were employed to represent the hypothetical structural relationship of business performance. The fit and predictive accuracy of the model was estimated using AMOS software.

The proposed CPs model consists of five latent constructs: quality, delivery, cost, innovation, and customer focus. It was also verified regardless of industry (manufacturing or service) that the same set of CPs was used. However, these two sectors differed on the emphasis they paid to the selected CPs.

The major contributions of the paper are fourfold. First, this study represents the first empirical investigation, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, into CP issues in the service and manufacturing industries, to determine whether there are differences in CPs between these two sectors. Second, the paper focused on the operations strategy of service enterprises in a field where the empirical evidence remains scarce. Third, the current research is conducted in a developing country with economic problems and political instability, while previous empirical research was mainly conducted in large and highly industrialized countries. Knowing about the Greek economy’s economic crisis and the CPs of different industries within it provides a unique and interesting perspective to this research. Finally, the findings introduced a set of common CPs as being applicable to both sectors (services and manufacturing), as the number and the nature of its dimensions seems to be independent of the type of sector examined.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.