Many say that the Greek Crisis problem is a problem of external and internal trade balance. Greeks consume more than they produce. In this framework, yesterday I attended the Greek Marketing Academy Conference, where interesting people gave speeches about the "made in Greece" concept, as an opportunity to exit the crisis.
In the conference there were presented many approached from real active Greeks, and in this blogpost I try to show the most important points.
First it was professors' time, so we learned that 9 out of 11 businesses sharing their success beyond borders are family businesses. Also, Professor Janavaras from Minesota State University told that unless Greek citizens change mentality Greece will never change! Greek citizens also must learn to consume and give value to domestic products and market. There is also a need, according to professor for the Greek company owners to attend a university session on International Marketing for a few months. Education is a very important factor for international marketing.
Iit was made clear that after 1974 Greece was importing goods and money and forgot to produce. So the public and private debt was made due to huge consumption of expensive clothes, cars, alcohol etc.
Production is a key element about everything: society, technology, culture. So, when you produce goods, you have to export them. In order to be extrovert, competitiveness is the key. That means an entrepreneurial vision, product quality, right pricing, planning flexibility, finding opportunities, educated human factor and last, funding.
Made in Greece
"Made in Greece" is also up to now for internal use only. Even if we advertise Greek products with Made in Greece, this is not good enough, if your consumers don't know, can't value it & can't find it? Distribution is very important, so is promotion. What we need is strong Greeks symbol, not folklore or cliche.
Especially in sales what we need to know and understand is the cultural differences among nations, eg how will you dinner with the Japanese, speak with the North American, and know that the German thinks that you are small. So it is very important for success that the entrepreneur must have the mentality of going out of his Greek village and make his managers feel the same.
There are many positive things about this crisis. Greece has actually defaulted but her people are healthy and they have to use their brains to feel and do better.
Finally, for the made in Greece concept, it was noted down, that the "made in Greece" should be approved as a strategy and be implemented, it is useless.
In the conference there were presented many approached from real active Greeks, and in this blogpost I try to show the most important points.
First it was professors' time, so we learned that 9 out of 11 businesses sharing their success beyond borders are family businesses. Also, Professor Janavaras from Minesota State University told that unless Greek citizens change mentality Greece will never change! Greek citizens also must learn to consume and give value to domestic products and market. There is also a need, according to professor for the Greek company owners to attend a university session on International Marketing for a few months. Education is a very important factor for international marketing.
Iit was made clear that after 1974 Greece was importing goods and money and forgot to produce. So the public and private debt was made due to huge consumption of expensive clothes, cars, alcohol etc.
Production is a key element about everything: society, technology, culture. So, when you produce goods, you have to export them. In order to be extrovert, competitiveness is the key. That means an entrepreneurial vision, product quality, right pricing, planning flexibility, finding opportunities, educated human factor and last, funding.
Made in Greece
"Made in Greece" is also up to now for internal use only. Even if we advertise Greek products with Made in Greece, this is not good enough, if your consumers don't know, can't value it & can't find it? Distribution is very important, so is promotion. What we need is strong Greeks symbol, not folklore or cliche.
Especially in sales what we need to know and understand is the cultural differences among nations, eg how will you dinner with the Japanese, speak with the North American, and know that the German thinks that you are small. So it is very important for success that the entrepreneur must have the mentality of going out of his Greek village and make his managers feel the same.
There are many positive things about this crisis. Greece has actually defaulted but her people are healthy and they have to use their brains to feel and do better.
Finally, for the made in Greece concept, it was noted down, that the "made in Greece" should be approved as a strategy and be implemented, it is useless.
Themistocles Papadimopoulos
