Sustainable Development, COVID-19 and Small Business in Greece: Small Is Not Beautiful

Abstract

The aim of this article is s to show that contrary to the common parlance and to the widespread belief that treats small business as “the backbone of the economy”, in the sense of being the prime motor of wealth and prosperity, therefore the underlying logic is what is good for small business will also help government achieves overall economic policy goals, the prevailing dominant idea that formulates and drives the Greek economic policy is quite the opposite. Based on textual analysis, from Greece’s Structural Adjustment Programs, to the various assessment reports, till the latest “Development Plan for the Greek Economy”, we attempt to reveal that the prevailing idea that penetrates the abovementioned texts is that “small is not beautiful”. Specifically, after indicating a policy paradox regarding the limited financial support that Greek small businesses received or expected to receive despite their vital importance to the Greek economy, we expose the “structural impediment” idea. According to the latter the existence of a large share of small business in the Greek economy is being considered as a structural impediment for economic growth and prosperity. The implication is a policy dictum that favours a form of an evolutionary natural selection process, whereby only those establishments successful enough to grow will be able to survive, thus the vast bulk of the remaining small firms will exit the market.

The Market Structure Simulation of Heterogenous Firms

“…Allowing for the evolution of the market structure, the model reveals the importance of endowment factors and suggests the crucial role of firms' abilities to compete. In this sense, our study results are in line with Meramveliotakis and Manioudis (2021) findings of small firms not being the backbone of the economy.…”

Sensitivity analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on corporate sustainability and company performance

“…Javed (2020) examined the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak on the Pakistani economy and revival measures and the findings revealed that the pandemic hit the economy hard and that a quick recovery policy from the government is needed. Meramveliotakis and Manioudis (2021) investigated the relationship between Covid-19 and Sustainable Development through SMEs, revealing an inverse relationship between the pandemic and sustainable development because so many SMEs ceased operations during this period. They suggested that countries need to re-strategize, concentrate and centralize capital on economic recovery strategies to facilitate quick recovery and correct every havoc from the pandemic for a formidable sustainable development.…”

“…Many companies ceased because after various governments introduced total lockdowns, at least for the first six months they could not cope with the situation, especially SMEs (Adejare et al 2021;Queiroz et al 2020). Small companies should also look for mini software packages that will be suitable for the size of their companies to remain in business (Meramveliotakis and Manioudis, 2021;Pu et al 2021;Menon, 2021). iii.…”

Travel-Business Stagnation and SME Business Turbulence in the Tourism Sector in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The pandemic has brought economic activity to a near standstill as many countries have imposed very strict restrictions on movement in order to halt the spread of the virus [2]. Furthermore, the pandemic and the resulting economic and social constraints have significantly affected consumer and business confidence [3,4]. This means that less stable economic growth will not only have an impact on increasing development financing but will also affect the strategic-business sector that has been supporting economic growth so far.…”

“…(2) Limbong natural-pool tourism with an object attraction, namely a green natural pool located in Limbong Village; (3) Singki mountain-cross tourism with an object attraction, namely a giant cross located in Laang Tanduk Village, Rantepao District;(4) an Art Center Museum with historical heritage objects, located in Penanian Village, Rantepao District; (5) State Lolai Tourism above the Tongkonan Lempe cloud, with attractive objects, namely Tongkonan(Toraja House) and natural panorama, located in the Kapalapitu District; (6) Palawa tourism with object attractions, namely Tongkonan and traditional weaving craftsmen located in Palawa Village, Sesean District; (7) Bori Kalimbuang tourism with rante and simbuang attractions located in Bori Village, Sesean District; (8) the Batutumonga natural-tourism area, with beautiful natural panorama, restaurants and lodging located in Suloara Village, Sesean Suloara District; (9) Loko mata tourism with the attraction of large stone graves in Landorundun Village, Sesean District, Suloara; (10) agrotourism on the slopes of Mount Sesean with the attractiveness of coffee plantations is located in Suloara Village, Sesean District, Suloara; (11) To Barana tourism with the attraction of traditional weaving centers and panoramic views of the rice fields located in Sadan Malimbong Village, Sadan District; (12) the Ne Gandeng Museum located in Palangi Village, Balusu District; (13) the Nanggala harvesting tourism with the attraction of Tongkonan and rice fields, rante and simbuang as well as patane (graves) and bats, is located in Lili Kira Village, Nanggala District; (14) the tourist area of Sarambu Sikore with a waterfall attraction is located in the Sopai District; (15). Londa tourism, with the attraction of liang loko (cemetery cave), erong, tau-tau, and hanging graves is located in Tadongkon Village, Kesu District; (16) the Kete Kesu tourist area with attractive objects, namely Tongkonan, erong, patane, hanging graves, carving craftsmen, simbuang and a museum located in Pantanakan Lolo Village, Kesu District; (17) the tourist attraction of the Sumalu Desert with the attractiveness of living sand mountains is located in Rantebua Sumalu Village, Rantebua District; (18) the Lolai Negeri tourist area above the To Tombi cloud with natural panorama attractions, lodging and paragliding is located in Kesu District.…”