APPLICABILITY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES IN SMEs: EVIDENCE FROM GREECE

ABSTRACT. Greek Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) are an important factor for the socio-economic development of the country. This fact is mirroring in the participation of SMEs in the Greek GDP, but also in terms of employment. The extended relevant literature provides also the significant importance for the sector. The accession of Greece in European Union and the so called phenomenon of globalization create both opportunities and treatments for the local entrepreneurships. Many multi-level transformations were needed, so they are able to adapt in the new era. In most cases these transformations had several difficulties to be accepted by SMEs. This paper focuses on organizational and managerial issues that SMEs faced by the evaluation of the factors, which affect Greek enterprises in applying PM methodologies and tools in their operational procedures. Specifically it examines the level of applicability of project management techniques and tools by the enterprises. Empirical data were selected through a questionnaire-based research involving over 100 enterprises, most of them located in the Thessaly region of Greece. The paper presents an assessment of the gathered results, which, in turn, provides a portrayal of the current situation in applying project management methods in Greece. The paper addresses questions like: in which of the enterprises the application of project management is more appropriate? In cases where project management seems to be appropriate is it actually applied? What are the factors that affect enterprises in using or not project management techniques? Are these factors qualitative or quantitative? The main body of questions is answered by the use of descriptive statistics, while principal components are determined by applying multivariate statistical techniques