Abstract
This article, briefly, presents the difficulties and the obstacles for the development of the social cooperative enterprises in Greece, from their formation until today, according to the Greek legislative framework for the Social Economy. Specifically, this article analyses and focuses on the barriers for the operation and the growth of the social cooperative enterprises in Greece which are mainly related to the lack of a specific, comprehensive and stable institutional framework for social enterprises; their weak financial position due to lack of investors and non-activation of state funding tools; the lack of evaluation and measurement of their social impact by institutional entities; the high levels of existing administrative bureaucracy of the involved public authorities; the limited information of the public servants and the employees of the private sector for the Social Entrepreneurship; the lack of available training for the staff of social cooperative enterprises that deals with administrative tasks; the low level of sensitisation of the local societies for the Social Economy Sector, etc. The article leads to some conclusions and suggestions for the improvement of the effectiveness of the national legislative framework and also to some prerequisites in order to boost the growth of the social cooperative enterprises in Greece.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adam, S. (2012). Social economy, labour integration and social exclusion: The experience of KoiSPE in Greece. PhD thesis, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini.
CICOPA. (2013). Promoting cooperatives and the social economy in Greece. How to promote the social economy in Greece through social cooperatives, worker cooperatives, and cooperatives of artisans and of SMEs. International Organisation of Industrial, Artisanal and Service Producers’ Cooperatives (CICOPA), Final report to the ILO. Brussels. Accessed March 1, 2016, from http://www.cecop.coop/IMG/pdf/promoting_cooperatives_and_the_social_economy_in_greece.pdf
CIRIEC. (2012). The social economy in the European Union. Summary of the Report drawn up for the European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels. Accessed March 1, 2016, from http://www.eesc.europa.eu/resources/docs/qe-31-12-784-en-c.pdf
European Commission. (2010). Communication from the commission: Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Brussels. Accessed March 2, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/pdf/COMPLET%20EN%20BARROSO%20%20%20007%20%20Europe%202020%20-%20EN%20version.pdf
European Commission. (2013). Social economy and social entrepreneurship, Social Europe guide (Vol. 4). Brussels. Accessed March 2, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738 &langId=en&pubId=7523
European Commission. (2014a). A map of social enterprises and their eco-systems in Europe. Country report: Greece. Brussels. Accessed March 2, 2016, from http://ec.europa.eu/social/key Documents.jsp?pager.offset=10&langId=en&mode=advancedSubmit&advSearchKey=socentcntryrepts
European Commission. (2014b). Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts. Brussels. Accessed March 3, 2016, from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EL/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014L0023%20&from=EN
European Commission. (2014c). Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 26 February 2014 on Public Procurement and Repealing Directive 2004/18/EC. Brussels. Accessed March 3, 2016, from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EL/TXT/PDF/?uri=%20CELEX:%2032014%20L0024&from=EN
Geormas, K. (2013). Social economy in Europe. Definitions, experience and perspectives. Ιn: K. Geormas (Εd.), Social economy. Theory, experience and perspectives (pp. 13–44). Athens: Enallaktikes Ekdoseis.
Kassavetis, D. (2013). Social entrepreneurship in Greece. Ιn: K. Geormas (Εd.), Social economy. Theory, experience and perspectives (pp. 45–82). Athens: Enallaktikes Ekdoseis.
Kostas, A. (2013). Social economy organizations and social enterprises in Greece. Ιn: K. Geormas (Εd.), Social economy. Theory, experience and perspectives (pp. 83–100). Athens: Enallaktikes Ekdoseis.
Kostas, A., Tsoukalidis, I., & Chainas, I. E. (2015a). Social cooperative enterprises in Greece. Vision, philosophy, practices and obstacles. In Paper for the 5th Regular Conference of the Hellenic Sociology Association “The Greek society in the cross-road of crisis – six years after”. Athens: Hellenic Sociology Association.
Kostas, A., Tsoukalidis, I., & Chainas, I. E. (2015b). The social economy and the social entrepreneurship as an engine for the development of entrepreneurship and the employment integration of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Tools and techniques for the development of social entrepreneurship skills and the professional career support. In Paper for the 5th Regular Conference of the Hellenic Sociology Association “The Greek society in the cross-road of crisis – six years after”. Athens: Hellenic Sociology Association.
Ministry of Health and Welfare. (1999). Law 2716/1999 “Development and modernization of the mental health services and other provisions”. Accessed March 1, 2016, from http://www.psychargos.gov.gr/Documents2/%CE%9D.%202716_1999_%CE%A6%CE%95%CE%9A%20%CE%91%2096.pdf
Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance. (2011). Law 4019/2011 “Social economy and social entrepreneurship and other provisions”. Accessed March 1, 2016, from http://www.ypakp.gr
Nasioulas, I. (2012). Social cooperatives in Greece. Introducing new forms of social economy and entrepreneurship. International Review of Social Research, 2(2), 141–161.
Sakellaropoulos, T., & Economou, H. (2007). Aimed studies for development of social entrepreneurship. In Developmental consortium “Social entrepreneurship”, EU Initiative EQUAL, 2nd round. Athens: Research Center of Economic and Social Researches, Panteion University.
Sakellaropoulos, Th., Trantas, N., & Zannis, P. (2005). NGO’s and local development: The double deficit of the Greek Civil Society. In Paper for the International Conference of Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) and Sabanci University “The Role of the Third Sector in Local Development”. Istanbul: Istanbul Policy Center (IPC), Sabanci University & The Turkish Third Sector Foundation (TUSEV).
Triantafyllopoulou, A., & Spiliopoulos, O. (2015). Institution of social economy: Sectors of cooperation in the coumtries of southern Europe. In: A. G. Karasavvoglou, D. Kyrkilis, & P. Polychronidou (Eds.), The economies of Balkan and Eastern Europe countries in the changed world. EBEEC 2015. Procedia Economics and Finance, 33, 181–187.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kostas, A., Tsoukalidis, I., Karasavvoglou, A., Polychronidou, P., Tsourgiannis, L. (2018). The Barriers for the Development of the Social Cooperative Enterprises in Greece. In: Karasavvoglou, A., Goić, S., Polychronidou, P., Delias, P. (eds) Economy, Finance and Business in Southeastern and Central Europe. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70377-0_35
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70377-0_35
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70376-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70377-0
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)