Managing Innovation and Digital Transformation in Greek SMEs. Facts and Trends

The aim of this chapter is to shed light on specific characteristics that determine Greek SMEs’ capability to manage innovation and digital transformation. For the purposes of this analysis, we examine facts and figures on the performance of SMEs in these two areas that constitute the main scope of the text. On this basis, the article presents the ‘mega trends’ as far as innovation and digital transformation are concerned, laying emphasis on comparative analysis among EU member states. According to data derived from the CIS survey, Greek enterprises achieve high performance in all types of innovation, both overall, as well as in all different enterprises’ size classes, including SMEs. Despite that, Greek enterprises’ performance in R&D and digital transformation are in full contrast to the dynamism evident in innovation. Thus, from the perspective of innovation, Greece is closer to technologically advanced countries, but at the same time, from the perspective of R&D and digital transformation, Greece stays behind, along with countries with similar national productive structure, constituting a rather interesting paradox. Therefore, the hypothesis of “imaginative innovator” is put forward to qualify innovation in the Greek case, building on theories that value resources such as creativity, personal intuition aspirations or passion. Rather than the result of expert research, innovation in Greek SMEs can thus be understood as bridging disconnected, fragmented knowledge through ideas for products and services.