A socioeconomic analysis of Greek entrepreneurs’ migration to Bulgaria before and after the 2007 crisis

PDF (ελληνικά)
Published: Sep 30, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/grsr.21454
Keywords:
Socioeconomic differentiation capitalist variegation entrepreneurial migrations Greece Bulgaria
Nikos Kapitsinis
Cardiff University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3285-9894
Abstract

This paper presents a socioeconomic analysis of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs’ migration, based on the differentiation of the social, economic, and institutional conditions. It examines the relocation of small and medium-sized companies from Greece to Bulgaria, comparing the socioeconomic frameworks in the two countries before and after the 2007 global economic crisis. The author adopts the conceptual framework of variegated capitalism, in order to interpret distinct political economies, analysing business decisions for relocation. The analysis draws upon original data collected from a fieldwork conducted in Bulgaria in 2014.

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
Nikos Kapitsinis, Cardiff University
PhD in Economic Geography. Researcher at Cardiff University
References
Αργείτης, Γ. (2008). Μισθοί, ανεργία και ανταγωνιστικότητα στην Ελλάδα. Στο Α. Γιαννίτσης (επιμ.), Σε αναζήτηση ελληνικού μοντέλου ανάπτυξης (σελ. 284-300). Αθήνα: Παπαζήση.
Βαλυράκης, Σ. (2008). Σύνοψη κυριότερων συμπερασμάτων του Συμποσίου. Στο Α. Γιαννίτσης (επιμ.), Σε αναζήτηση ελληνικού μοντέλου ανάπτυξης (σελ. 337-351). Αθήνα: Παπαζήση.
Βενιέρης, Δ. (2011). Κρίση οικονομίας, απορρύθμιση κοινωνικής πολιτικής : Η νέα «μικροελληνική» καταστροφή 2010-2011. Επιθεώρηση Κοινωνικών Ερευνών, 134-135, σελ. 101-131.
Γιαννίτσης, Α. (2013). Η Ελλάδα στην κρίση. Αθήνα: Πόλις.
Γιαννίτσης, Α. και Ζωγραφάκης, Σ. (2016). Ανισότητες, φτώχεια, οικονομικές ανατροπές στα χρόνια της κρίσης. Αθήνα: Πόλις.
Δρεττάκης, Μ. (2011). Δημοσιονομική κρίση της Ελλάδας και οικονομική πολιτική. Στο Α. Βλάχου, Ν. Θεοχαράκης και Δ. Μυλωνάκης (επιμ.) Οικονομική κρίση και Ελλάδα (σελ. 143-164). Αθήνα: Gutenberg.
Ελληνική Πρεσβεία στη Βουλγαρία (2014). Ετήσια έκθεση διεθνών οικονομικών σχέσεων και ανάπτυξης συνεργασίας. Σόφια: Ελληνική Πρεσβεία.
ΙΜΕ ΓΣΕΒΕΕ (2009). Χρηματοδότηση μικρών και πολύ μικρών επιχειρήσεων. Αθήνα: ΙΜΕ ΓΣΕΒΕΕ.
ΙΟΒΕ (2018α). Εκπαίδευση και αγορά εργασίας στην Ελλάδα: Επιπτώσεις της κρίσης και προκλήσεις. http://iobe.gr/docs/research/RES_05_F_09072018_REP.pdf
(Ημερομηνία πρόσβασης 25.4.2019)
ΙΟΒΕ (2018β). Η φορολογία εισοδήματος στην Ελλάδα. Συγκριτική ανάλυση και προτάσεις αναμόρφωσης. http://iobe.gr/docs/research/RES_29042018_PRE_GR%201.pdf (Ημερομηνία πρόσβασης 18.4.2019)
Λαπαβίτσας, Κ. (2014). Λέξη προς λέξη. Κείμενα για την ελληνική κρίση, 2010-2013. Αθήνα: Τόπος.
Τράπεζα της Ελλάδας (2019). Ηλεκτρονική βάση δεδομένων. http://www.bankofgreece.gr/Pages/el/Statistics/default.aspx (Ημερομηνία πρόσβασης 23.3.2019)
Bathelt, H. and Glückler, J. (2014). Institutional change in Economic Geography. Progress in Human Geography, 38, pp. 340-63.
Bitzenis, A. (2006). Determinants of Greek FDI Outflows in the Balkan Region. Eastern European Economics, 44, pp. 79-96.
Cullenberg, S. (2000). Old institutionalism, new marxism. In R. Pollin (ed.), Capitalism, socialism and radical political economy: Essays in the honor of Howard J. Sherman (pp. 81-102). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Danchev, A. (2005). Social capital influence on sustainability of development. Sustainable Development, 13, pp. 25-37.
Dixon, A. (2011). Variegated capitalism and the geography of finance: Towards a common agenda. Progress in Human Geography, 35, pp. 193-210.
Doing Business (2013). Doing business 2014. Understanding regulations for small and medium-sized enterprises. Washington: World Bank.
Domanski, B. (2003). Industrial change and foreign direct investment in the postsocialist economy: The case of Poland. European Urban and Regional Studies, 10, pp. 99-118.
ERCAS (2015). Public integrity and trust in Europe. European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building. Berlin: ERCAS.
European Commission (2017). Taxation Trends in the European Union. https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/taxation_trends_report_2017.pdf (accessed on 9.4.2019)
Eurostat (2019a). GDP and main components (output, expenditure and income). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database (accessed on 19.3.2019)
Eurostat (2019b). Unemployment by sex and age - annual average. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database (accessed on 19.3.2019)
Forza, C. (2002). Survey research in operations management: a process-based perspective. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 22, pp. 152-194.
Fowler, F. (2008). Survey Research Methods. London: Sage.
Guzik, R. and Micek, G. (2008). The impact of delocalisation on the European software industry. In L. Labrianidis (ed), The Moving Frontier. The Changing Geography of production in labour-intensive industries (pp. 229-251). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Hadjimichalis, C. (2011). Uneven geographical development and socio-spatial justice and solidarity: European regions after the 2009 financial crisis. European Urban and Regional Studies, 18, pp. 254-274.
Harvey, D. (2006). The limits to capital. London: Verso.
Hollingsworth, J. and Boyer, R. (1997). Coordination of economic actors and social systems of production. In J. Hollingsworth and R. Boyer (eds), Contemporary capitalism: the embeddedness of institutions (pp. 1-48). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hudson, R. (2001). Producing places. London: Guildford.
IBA (2019). Invest in Bulgaria Agency. https://www.investbg.government.bg/en/pages/about-82.html (accessed on 15.4.2019)
Jessop, B. (2009). Cultural political economy and critical policy studies. Critical Policy Studies, 3, pp. 336-356.
Johnson, R. and Onwuegbuzie, A. (2004). Mixed methods research: a research paradigm whose time has come. Editorial Researcher, 33, pp. 14-26.
Kaldi-Koulikidou, T. (2007). The family strengths in Greece. Then and now. In J. Defrain and S. Asay (eds), Strong families around the world: Strengths-based research and perspectives (pp. 393-416). New York: Routledge.
Kapitsinis, N. (2019). The impact of economic crisis on firm relocation: Greek SME movement to Bulgaria and its effects on business performance. GeoJournal, 84, pp. 321-343.
Kapitsinis, N. (2017). Firm relocation in times of economic crisis: evidence from Greek small and medium enterprises’ movement to Bulgaria, 2007-2014. European Planning Studies, 25, pp. 703-725.
Kapitsinis, N., Metaxas, T. and Duquenne, M.N. (2013). Exploring the coherence and the meaning of territorial competition: Do national states behave in the same way as firms in case of default? The cases of Greece and Dubai. Applied Econometrics and International Development, 13, pp. 57-72.
Karagianni, S. and Labrianidis, L. (2001). The pros and cons of SMEs Going International. Greek companies in Bulgaria. Eastern European Economics, 39, pp. 5-28.
Kiss, E. (2007). The impacts of relocation on the spatial pattern to Hungarian industry. Geographia Polonica, 80, pp. 43-63.
Maniatis, T. and Passas, C. (2013). Profitability capital accumulation and crisis in the Greek economy 1958-2009: A marxist analysis. Review of Political Economy, 25, pp. 624-649.
Martin, R. (2000). Institutional approaches in Economic Geography. In E. Sheppard and T. Barnes (eds), A companion to Economic Geography (pp. 77-94). Oxford: Blackwell.
Massey, D. (1995). Spatial division of labour, social structures and the Geography of production. London: MacMillan.
Paris, C. (2015). Greek shipowners prepare to weigh anchor on prospect of higher taxes. https://www.wsj.com/articles/greek-shipowners-prepare-to-weigh-anchor-on-prospect-of-higher-taxes-1443520314 (accessed on 15.4.2019)
Peck, J. and Theodore, N. (2007). Variegated capitalism. Progress in Human Geography, 31, pp. 731-772.
Perez, S. and Matsaganis, M. (2018). The Political Economy of austerity in Southern Europe. New Political Economy, 23, pp. 192-207.
Petkov, V. (2014). Advantages and disadvantages of fiscal discipline in Bulgaria in times of crisis. Contemporary Economics, 8, pp. 47-56.
Racoviţă, M. (2011). Europeanization and effective democracy in Romania and Bulgaria. Romanian Journal of Political Science, 11, pp. 28-50.
Sakellaropoulos, S. (2010). The recent economic crisis in Greece and the strategy of capital. Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 28, pp. 321-348.
Sayer, A. (2001). For a critical cultural Political Economy. Antipode, 33, pp. 687-708.
Skaperdas, S. (2015). Seven myths about the Greek debt crisis. Revue d'économie politique, 126, pp. 755-785.
Slaveski, T. and Nedanovski, P. (2002). Foreign direct investment in the Balkans. Eastern European Economics, 40, pp. 83-99.
Smith, N. (2010). Uneven Development. Nature capital and the production of space. London: Verso.
Spendzharova, A. and Vachudova, M. (2012). Catching up? Consolidating liberal democracy in Bulgaria and Romania after EU Accession. West European Politics, 35, pp. 39-58.
Transparency International (2019). http://www.transparency.org/ (accessed on 12.4.2019)
Zhang, J. and Peck, J. (2016). Variegated capitalism, Chinese style: Regional models, multi-scalar constructions. Regional Studies, 50, pp. 52-78.