about 4 hours driving from Athens and Thessaloniki. Evrytania is by far less accessible
than Kalavryta and day trips to the area from major urban centers are not possible. The
economic activity in Evrytania is more diversified than the one in Kalavryta and, despite
the existence of a ski resort, tourism is mostly scattered over a large number of villages
(more than 80) and a large number of activities and is not dominated by skiing as is the
case in Kalavryta. Thus, the economic base of the area is more diversified and the
development of tourism is softer. In Evrytania, manufacturing industry is mostly
concentrated on food processing activities and more specifically meat processing, while
remoteness has developed a sustainable trade sector (wholesale and retail) and many
support services.
In both areas there is a degree of economic growth, which, if measured in terms of per
capita income is higher in Evrytania, despite remoteness. Other indicators of economic
development are also showing that Evrytania achieves a more sustainable growth due to
the diversification of economic activities and the participation of a large part of the
population in the development process while in Kalavryta, growth is concentrated in the
town of the area and around the ski resort and benefits a limited number of the
population.
4.2 Data
It was decided (due to cost limitations) to sample 50 businesses from each of the two
case study areas. A two-stage, (quota, then representative stratified) sampling procedure
has been devised. The total of 50 businesses is first divided into two sub-samples (25
each), to be drawn from the manufacturing and service sectors (as defined by the NACE
Divisions). Each sub-sample, is to be proportionately stratified so that it is
representative of the distribution of micro, small, medium and large firms in the two
case study area. An exhaustive list of enterprises in the two case study areas was drawn
up and, due to the fairly limited number of businesses in the manufacturing sector, all
businesses in manufacturing were included in the sample. After conducting a pilot
survey, certain minor adjustments were made to the questionnaire, and personal
interviews conducted by trained personnel started in the second half of April 2002 and
ended in mid August of the same year. The survey yielded 100 fully completed and
usable questionnaires. These enterprises dealt with food processing operations (olive oil
refineries, cheese making, etc.), other manufacturing activities, wholesale and retail,
11