The International Expansion of Greece's Largest Banks

Greek banks represent one of the most sophisticated
and modern sectors of the Greek economy, with several
of the biggest among them adopting international
expansion as a way to enhance profitability. In their
international process context, there has been a
request for a greater understanding of the entry
modes and organisational forms they employ, and the
factors related and reasons associated on their
decision-making. All these issues constitute the
objects and focus of this work. Research results
identified that Greek banks, adopt foreign direct
investment entry mode and organisational forms such
as branches, representative offices (internal
growth), and subsidiaries and affiliates (external
growth). It also was found that Greek banks combine
the two types of growth in their foreign markets
entry. This research identified that the balance of
combination is dependent upon a number of reasons and
factors. Based on the results of the analysis, this
work proposes a modelling approach, the Greek Banks
Foreign Entry Combination Process, which outlines the
different stages to be undertaken by Greek banks,
towards identifying the balance of combination of the
types of growth.

Autorentext
Labros Vasiliadis is Head Manager at the Educational Centre for Adults of Evia (Greek Ministry of Education), Chalkida-GREECE, as well as a Teaching Fellow for TEI of Chalkida, in Marketing & Management subjects. He is also a member of the Research Centre "CIRCLE" at Leeds Metropolitan University and on the editorial board of the Journal "WJRBM".

Klappentext
Greek banks represent one of the most sophisticated and modern sectors of the Greek economy, with several of the biggest among them adopting international expansion as a way to enhance profitability. In their international process context, there has been a request for a greater understanding of the entry modes and organisational forms they employ, and the factors related and reasons associated on their decision-making. All these issues constitute the objects and focus of this work. Research results identified that Greek banks, adopt foreign direct investment entry mode and organisational forms such as branches, representative offices (internal growth), and subsidiaries and affiliates (external growth). It also was found that Greek banks combine the two types of growth in their foreign markets entry. This research identified that the balance of combination is dependent upon a number of reasons and factors. Based on the results of the analysis, this work proposes a modelling approach, the Greek Banks' Foreign Entry Combination Process, which outlines the different stages to be undertaken by Greek banks, towards identifying the balance of combination of the types of growth.