Manufacturing SMEs competitiveness against the crisis: Management characteristics and new perspectives, International Journal of Supply Chain Management, 8 (4) (Forthcoming)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the drivers of competitiveness in sectors of the Greek Manufacturing Industry, both in the pro and post economic crisis era, based on firm level financial/accounting and qualitative data attempting to identify critical issues about Greek SMEs. Although considerable empirical work has been done on this subject, research on the topic is limited and non-existent for Greece. A Competitiveness Index is developed in order to measure competitiveness of SMEs. The novelty of the study is to determine the competitiveness for the Greek manufacturing SMEs using factors associated with knowledge management, innovation, and personnel training in combination with financial/accounting data presenting current trends of competitiveness especially in crisis period.

Keywords: SMEs competitiveness, R&D, Knowledge Management, accounting data, Manufacturing Firms, Crisis periods