Abstract
Crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic lasted much longer than many people previously anticipated, with new waves of coronavirus leading to repeated lockdowns of the economy. Therefore, many governments have decided to help enterprises survive this hard time, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which do not have as many sources of financing as large firms. However, there are differences in aid, both in terms of scale and tools, between countries, even if they belong to the European Union (EU). The aim of the paper is to compare support schemes for SMEs in Greece and Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to describe the effects of the schemes, the article juxtaposes publicly available data on unemployment and evolution of SMEs. The results show that unemployment was controlled in both countries, while the balance between newly created companies and companies that closed during the pandemic was not negative. A significant difference appeared in the evolution of deposits, most likely because of contrast in taking advantage of the Recovery and Resilience Fund. The paper contributes to widening the knowledge of economic crises and public policy, and the results could be interesting for policymakers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Figures in Greece incorporate the effect of the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, which came into force in 2021.
- 2.
The left axis concerns unemployment in Greece, while the right axis concerns unemployment in Poland.
- 3.
Companies on specific dates are a/ Businesses set up, b/ Companies under liquidation, Conciliation procedure, deletion.
- 4.
The left axis concerns Greece, while the right axis concerns Poland.
- 5.
The left axis concerns deposits in Greece, while the right axis concerns deposits in Poland.
References
Bank of Greece (2022) Bank deposits. https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/statistics/monetary-and-banking-statistics/deposits
Bardach E (2019) A practical guide for policy analysis: the eightfold path to more effective problem solving, 6th edn. CQ Press
Businessinsider (2022) Bank deposits in Poland. https://businessinsider.com.pl. 5 April 2022
Council of the EU (2020a) Council Regulation (EU) 2020/672 of 19 May 2020 on the establishment of a European instrument for temporary support to mitigate unemployment risks in an emergency (SURE) following the COVID-19 outbreak. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?qid=1589957881511&uri=CELEX:32020R0672
Council of the EU (2020b) Eurogroup statement on the pandemic crisis support. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/05/08/eurogroup-statement-on-the-pandemic-crisis-support/
Council of the EU (2020c) COVID-19 - Council adopts measures for immediate release of funds. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/03/30/covid-19-council-adopts-measures-for-immediate-release-of-funds/
Council of the EU (2022) COVID-19: the EU’s response to the economic fallout. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/coronavirus/covid-19-economy/
European Commission (2020) State aid: commission adopts temporary framework to enable member states to further support the economy in the COVID-19 outbreak. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_496
European Investment Bank (2020) Coronavirus outbreak: EIB Group’s response. https://www.eib.org/en/about/initiatives/covid-19-response/index.htm
Flanagan K, Uyarra E (2016) Four dangers in innovation policy studies—and how to avoid them. Ind Innov 23(2):177–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2016.1146126
Galbraith JK (1957) Market structure and stabilization policy. Rev Econ Stat 124–133
General Electronic Commercial Registry (2022) Businesses report. http://backoffice.businessportal.gr/stats/publicity/opening
Górniak J, Krupnik S, Koniewski M (2022) Public policy responses to the pandemic. A comparative perspective. In: Kossowska M, Letki N, Zaleśkiewicz T et al (eds) Human behaviour in pandemics, 1st edn. Routledge, London, UK
Gourinchas P-O, Kalemli-Özcan Ṣ, Penciakova V et al (2020) COVID-19 and SME failures. http://mpoc.org.my/malaysian-palm-oil-industry/.
Hellenic Development Bank (2022) Guarantee fund COVID-19. https://hdb.gr/tameio-egguodosia-covid/
Hellenic Statistical Authority (2022a) Gross domestic product. https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SEL84/
Hellenic Statistical Authority (2022b) Employment status and unemployment rate. https://www.statistics.gr/en/statistics/-/publication/SJO02/
Juergensen J, Guimón J, Narula R (2020) European SMEs amidst the COVID-19 crisis: assessing impact and policy responses. J Indus Bus Econ 47(3):499–510. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-020-00169-4
Karafolas S (2019) Crisis consequences on the structure of the Greek banking system. Financ Stud 23(4):1–20
Karafolas S, Woźniak M (2020) The development of small enterprises during and after crisis: comparative analysis of Greece and Poland. Int J Bus Econ Sci Appl Res 13(2):30–38
Kaufmann D, Kraay A, Mastruzzi M (2010) The worldwide governance indicators: methodology and analytical issues. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5430. https://ssrn.com/abstract=1682130
Lazonick W, Mazzucato M (2013) The risk-reward nexus in the innovation-inequality relationship: who takes the risks? Who gets the rewards? Ind Corp Chang 22(4):1093–1128. https://doi.org/10.1093/ICC/DTT019
Le HBH, Nguyen TL, Ngo CT et al (2020) Policy related factors affecting the survival and development of SMEs in the context of Covid 19 pandemic. Manag Sci Lett 10(15):3683–3692. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2020.6.025
Loayza N, Pennings SM (2020) Macroeconomic policy in the time of COVID-19: a primer for developing countries. World Bank Research and Policy Briefs, p 147291
Mazzucato M (2016) From market fixing to market-creating: a new framework for innovation policy. Ind Innov 23(2):140–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2016.1146124
Ministry of Development and Investment (2020) Inclusion of the act “Measures to support society due to the suspension of operations to reduce the risk of dispersal of COVID-19/Special Purpose Compensation” with OPS Code 5069407 in the Operational Program “Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014–2020”
Ministry of Development and Investment (2022) Partnership agreement for the development framework, entrepreneurship support due to the COVID-19 disease pandemic. https://www.espa.gr/el/Pages/espa_covid.aspx
Oche E (2021) Entrepreneuship and COVID-19: challenges and opportunities. Academia Lett
Odendahl C, Springford J (2020) Three ways COVID-19 will cause economic divergence in Europe. CER Policy Paper
Pedauga L, Sáez F, Delgado-Márquez BL (2022) Macroeconomic lockdown and SMEs: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. Small Bus Econ 58(2):665–688. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00476-7
Polish Central Statistical Office (2022a) Unemployment in Poland. https://stat.gov.pl. 5 April 2022
Polish Central Statistical Office (2022b) Enterprises in Poland. https://stat.gov.pl. 30 April 2022
Pozhidaev D (2022) COVID-19 and inequality in developing economies: what do we know? Academia Lett
Shang-Jin W (2020) Ten keys to beating back COVID-19 and the associated economic pandemic. In: Baldwin R, di Mauro BW (eds) Mitigating the COVID economic crisis: act fast and do whatever it takes. CEPR Press, London, pp 71–76
Soman D (2017) The last mile. Creating social and economic value from behavioral insights. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada
Stiglitz JE, Weiss A (1981) Credit rationing in markets with imperfect information. Am Econ Rev 71(3):393–410
Szczygielski K, Grabowski W, Pamukcu MT et al (2017) Does government support for private innovation matter? Firm-level evidence from two catching-up countries. Res Policy 46(1):219–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2016.10.009
Wang SS, Goh JR, Sornette D et al (2021) Government support for SMEs in response to COVID-19: theoretical model using Wang transform. China Financ Rev Int 11(3):406–433. https://doi.org/10.1108/CFRI-05-2021-0088
Acknowledgements
The research on the Polish example was financially supported by the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków (grant for maintaining research potential). The contribution of one of the authors (Seweryn Krupnik) was financed by the Polish National Science Center (Project 2019/35/B/HS5/04238).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Woźniak, M., Karafolas, S., Krupnik, S. (2023). Support for SMEs in Greece and Poland During COVID-19. In: Persiani, N., Vannini, I.E., Romiti, A., Karasavvoglou, A., Polychronidou, P. (eds) Challenges of Healthcare Systems in the Era of COVID-19. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43114-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43114-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-43113-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-43114-2
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)