Creative Commons

Since 2010 the Greek economy is following an unsustainable path. This situation is pushing the search for new ways to return to the sustainable growth paths. Start-ups are a new model of entrepreneurship in Greece, which has a feature of innovation and rapid growth. Start-up made their appearance in Greece in 2010-2012, probably due to the global financial recession. The establishment of start-up enterprises in the Greece country is showing an upward trend, pointing out that the start-up business model is presenting a steady increase, in spite of the Greek economic recession. The purpose of this study is to show the importance of sustainability for the start up enterprises and analyze on the sustainability issues that a start-up enterprise has to deal with in order to achieve sustainability. Furthermore, the study aims to compare the different sustainability issues which Greek startup enterprises face, with the Dutch start-up enterprises. Two questionnaires surveys have been designed and have been forwarded to the start-up enterprises and business consultants, in order to extract the main sustainability issues and if start-ups and consultants are aware of sustainability. The outcomes of this research and their interpretation of them aim to contribute to the better understanding of the sustainability issues for Greek start-up companies. This study could prove to be the paving stone towards the resolution of the sustainability issues, as comprehending them is the basis to their solution.