Business Networks and Performance: A Spatial Approach



performance in entrepreneurship research up to the mid 90’s. Financial performance is
at the core of the organizational effectiveness domain (Chakravarthy, 1986) while
operational performance measures concepts such as product quality and market share
and defines a broader conceptualization of organizational performance by focusing on
factors that ultimately lead to financial performance (Hofer, 1987; Kaplan, 1983).

Measuring performance in SMEs in lagging and peripheral regions presents some very
acute difficulties in practical terms. Basic performance may be measured by physical
quantities (employment, quantities of inputs or outputs, etc.) or by basic financial
measures of performance (e.g. Returns on Assets), profitability (e.g. profit margins,
etc.), growth (of sales, assets, etc.) or of leverage (liquidity measures etc.). Data may be
derived either from published data that are drawn from a firm’s book values or directly
from questionnaires conducted with businesses. Both sources involve serious concerns
about data validity, referring either to the firm’s disclosure policy or to intentionally
misleading answers in questionnaires. Another problem related to data derived from
book values is that only data related to the firms’ financial performance may be derived
while all other dimensions of performance such as strategic and/or organizational may
not be approximated. Especially when SMEs are considered, financial performance data
are not easily derived from book values because most firms are not legally obliged to
publish book value data or make them available to interested parties. It is not thus
surprising why in most studies examining dimensions of performance of SMEs in rural
and peripheral areas data are derived from questionnaires.

4. Case Study, Data and Methods

4.1 Case Study Areas

The area of Kalavryta is a mountainous region in the prefecture of Achaia, just one a
half hours driving from Athens. Kalavryta is assumed to be a peripheral area but
situated relatively closer to major markets than other disadvantaged areas of the
country. The economic activity in this study area is based on the operation of a ski
resort that is the second largest of the country and religious and cultural tourism.
Alongside tourism, certain food processing businesses produce local quality food, with
feta cheese being the most famous product of the region. On the other hand, the
prefecture of Evrytania, the second study area of the project is located in Central Greece

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