Country Culture Study of Greece Denali Products is a company with a range of products and it is planning on opening up its business in Greece. In this report the current economic, political and cultural scenario of Greece has been discussed and it seems that even though the country is facing economic recession, Denali products have a good chance of conducting successful business in the country. The reasons behind this probable success are the business laws of the country which promote foreign investments and businesses to operate within the country. However, the company will have to make a few adjustments especially in their approach of selling the products since the consumers in the country are more focused on buying products that are on deals or discount in order to save money. Therefore, the company will have to come up with deals and other promotional strategies in order to increase their business.

Table of Contents

Page Number

Introduction

Section 1

Country Demographics and Key Statistics

Section 2

Business Characteristics and Suitability

Section 3

Cultural Factors

Summary and Conclusions

References

Introduction

This report has been prepared for the Denali Products and their decision to whether launch their products in Greece or not on the basis of the present economic, political and cultural scenario of the country. Information has been taken from various surveys and reports to see how well the country is doing and what are the chances of success for Denali in a country like Greece.

Section 1 Country Demographics and Key Statistics

Greece is a modern country that is located in the European region. It has a developing economy and a very powerful democratic government. It is on the Balkan Peninsula's southern end (Haemus peninsula), at the southeastern region of Europe that this country is located. There is meeting point of 3 continents where Greece lies; these continents are Asia, Africa and Europe ("Country Information: Greece," 2014)

Country Geography:

Greece covers an area of around 131,957 sq. km. Athens is the capital of Greece. The population of Greater Athens is 3,566,060 while 772,072 is the population of municipality of Athens. Thessaloniki has a population of 824,633 while the province of Thessaloniki has a population of 1,057,825. Piraeus has a population of 182,671 while the total population of province of Piraeus is 880,529. The total population of Patras is 170,452, Iraklion is 132,117 and in Larissa the population is 113,090. The country has more than 1,400 islands and contains many mountains and coastal plains. The climate of the country is hot and dry in the summers while the winters are wet and mild ("Country Briefs: Greece," 2014)

The People:

According to the calculations done in 2013, the population of Greece was 11.1 million ("Greek Business Cutlure," 2014). From among these 11.1 million people61.4% lived in the urban areas. The official language in the country is Greece while the primary religion is Christianity. Greek Orthodox Church is followed by 97% of the total population while rest of the 3% of population is Muslims, Catholics and Jews. 95% of the population is of Greek origin, while 4% are Albanian and the remaining 1% of other origins ("Greek Business Cutlure," 2014).

The literacy rate in Greece is 97.5% ("Country Information: Greece," 2014). 79.08 years is the total life expectancy of the people. 12% of the people in Greece get their livelihood from agriculture, 68% from services and 20% from the industry ("Greece," 2005).

The Government:

It was in 1974 that with the removal of monarchy, Greece became parliamentary republic. It was soon after that in 1975 that the constitution was approved. In Greece president is the chief of state and he/she is elected by the parliament. He can be elected for 2 five-year terms at most. Although, if a majority isn't won by the candidate then general election take place. Prime minister is chosen by the President. It is then the Prime minister who heads the parliament. There are 300 deputies who make up the parliament (Vouli), these deputies are elected for a four-year term with the help of popular vote.

When it comes to judiciary in Greece, there are a Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court; the Auditors Court; the Appeals Courts; and the First Instance Courts. The Supreme Court judges are appointed by the president for life (Tahir, Nagy, & Eastman, 2013).

Corruption is still a big problem in Greece. It was in October of 2009 that the Prime Minister George Papandreou after just assuming his office declared Greece to be "the most corrupt nation in Europe." The Transparency International's...

It was from 1950s to 1970s that a lot of social and economic growth was experienced by the country. This growth was the highest in the whole world at that time after Japan. However, the already struggling Greek economy suffered a lot from the Great Recession in 2009; the matters were made worse by the debt crisis of the Greek government as well.
The national debt of the country increased a lot from the mid to late 2000s, however the debt has stabilized a lot since 2012. This stabilization has mainly been due to the many debt restructuring deals along with the stimulus packages which came from other countries present inside Europe. Financial aid was offered to Greece from a lot of countries located inside EU so that the country wouldn't become dysfunctional; however, these aids were provided to such an extent that Greece won't be able to pay the debts back.

Within the service sector the economy of Greece is doing really well. The tourist industry plays a big part in the economy. However, struggles within the country are increasing due to the deteriorating tourist industry and the improper management of imports and exports. There is an immediate need for new structural reforms as well as cutting the costs so that the economy of Greece could be brought back to its stable form (Statista, 2014)

GDP -- makeup, by market segments (Estimates from 2013): 3.5% of the GDP comes from agriculture, 16% from industry and 80.5% from services. The major agricultural products grown in Greece are corn, sugar beets, barley, wheat, wine, tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, dairy products, beef etc.

Strong industries within Greece are the tourism industry, textiles, food and tobacco processing industry chemical, mining, petroleum and metal products ("Greece," 2005)

Exports - commodities: major export commodities are manufactured goods, chemicals, food and beverages, petroleum products, textiles.

Exports - partners: 11.6% of the exports from Greece are sent to Turkey, 9.9% to Italy, 6.5% to Germany while 4.9% to Bulgaria (2013 EST.)

Imports - commodities: significant imports are of machinery, fuels, transport equipment and chemicals.

Imports - partners: 13.8% of the imports that come to Greece are from Russia, 9.5% from Germany, 7.8% from Iraq, 7.9% from Italy, 4.5% from France, 4.7% from Netherlands while 4.5% from China ("Greece," 2005)

Greece has a weak manufacturing sector. Mostly there is only the manufacturing of processed foods, cement and textiles done in the country (Greece, 2014)

Legal Environment:

The civil legal system in Greece is based on the judiciary divided into civil administrative and criminal courts, and the codified Roman law. The Greek constitution came into being in 1975 and it is that constitution that the current legal system of the country is based upon. Since the time of the formation of this constitution it has been revised twice, once in 1986 and then again in 2001. The French and German legal systems have a lot of influence on the Greek legal system. Greek law, for the most part is codified.

It is with the law of merchants that the commercial law in Greece actually starts and this law is influenced strongly by the French law. The role that is played by the merchants forms the underlying framework which basically means that the people who are a part of the commercial transactions and who basically have a job in commerce. Protection is provided by the Greek law for the industrial property since it is the Paris International Convention of 1883 that the nation is a signatory of when it comes to the Protection of Industrial Property.

Laws are present which cover the copyrights, patents as well as trademarks which have to be followed by all of the commercial organizations. There are many kinds of particular Prohibitions which are listed by the act that governs the unfair competition; these Prohibitions are there to avoid the discriminating and unjust competitive practices. There is a general prohibition present in it according to which in agricultural, commercial and industrial transactions any act which opposes that morality is forbidden. Laws are present so that commercial papers like promissory notes and exchange bills, lading bills, warehouse receipts as well as commercial money orders can be regulated. There are also laws present to govern the monopoly power and it is the government that has the power to set a ceiling price on products. Hellenic Competition Commission has to be told about the cartels as…