Creative Commons

Entrepreneurship is a phenomenon which has attracted a lot of attention worldwide and has been given multiple definitions. Its performance is affected by many different variables and its effects on the economy are multiple. The link between the driving factors of entrepreneurship and the effects it has on economic life is an issue that has preoccupied academics, businessmen and policy makers. This dissertation provides a review of the literature on entrepreneurship, innovation and the linkage of entrepreneurship to economic performance in order to clarify some basic meanings and achieve a better understanding of the data. Measurement of entrepreneurship is another important issue and is also addressed in this paper. The present research focused on assessing entrepreneurship in Greece. Attention has been given on how indicators relatively to entrepreneurship, innovation and the general entrepreneurial environment have been evolved the last years, due to the debt crisis the country goes through. In order to identify the key changes of entrepreneurship determinants and the crisis impact on them there have been employed different sources of data. The secondary data used from GEM, IOBE and WEF showed the quantitative change of indicators, while the primary data obtained from interviews with local entrepreneurs allowed to have a more qualitative approach to the situation and shape a more comprehensive view. The results from data analysis have been compared and led to some main findings which can be quite useful to provide an insight on how the situation is shaped in Greece relatively to entrepreneurship. The main problems and trends of entrepreneurship are addressed at that point. Based on the findings of the data analysis there have been made some general recommendations and proposals for further action from policy makers, for instance the elimination of bureaucracy, the stabilization of taxation scheme or the facilitation of access to finance for entrepreneurs. All recommendations aim to improve the business environment, promote the entrepreneurial activity and help high growth enterprises to develop.