2. Target Market Companies in
the United States
• Carapelli
• Colavita
• Star
• Bertolli
• Pompeian
3. Background Information of
Greece
• Political: The political structure of Greece is one of a
Parliamentary Republic, which is “a system of
government having the real executive power vested in
a cabinet composed of members of the legislature who
are individually and collectively responsible to the
legislature” (Parliamentary government, n.d.) There
are three main powers of the government which are
legislative, executive and judicial.
• Economic: The region of Greece has an unfavorable
“debt to GDP ratio of 170 percent, and has an
unemployment rate above twenty seven percent”
(Polychroniou, 2014). The introduction of the Euro
affected the economy drastically.
4. Background Information of
Greece
• Social: Greek society is based on close family bonds.
• Cultural: Traditions, religious practices, music, food
• Human Resource Availability: 51% of the working-age
population aged 15 to 64 has a paid job (“Greece-how’s
life?”)
• Skills: Lack of skills needed for many skilled positions
• Transportation: Buses, Ferries and Boats, Taxis,
Airplanes, Car/Moped Rental
5. Background Information of
Greece
• Telecommunications: Modern and adequate
• Banking and other commercial support services :
Bank of Greece, European Central Bank, 33
commercial banks, Alpha Credit, Argo, and The
Athens Stock Exchange ("Banking and securities,"
2014)
6. Greece and US Trade
• Current level of trade with the US: ("Trade in
goods," 2014)
7. Greece
• Currency: Euro
• Exchange Rate trends over the past three
years:("Yearly average currency," 2014)
• 2013-0.783
• 2012-0.809
• 2011-0.748
• 2010-0.785
8. Greece’s Olive Oil
Industry
• Current Level of Industry: More than 300,000 tons
produced annually
• Product Capacity: 120 million olive trees ("Enterprise
greece invest," 2009)
• Export Sales Volume: up to 135,000 tons per year,
largest exporter of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the world,
totaling 58.08 million euros in 2012 ("Greek exports
to," 2014)
• Importers of Greek Olive Oil: EU is the largest importer
(90 %) with exporting the most (60%) to Italy @ €2.1
per kilo (Vasilopoulos, 2012)
9. Greece’s Olive Oil
Industry
• Current Trade Policy: Part of EU trade bloc, trade
within the trade bloc is tariff free
• Ethical Issues or Other Risk Factors: Economy is
struggling and still in stages of recovery, large
amount of debt, which could affect countries who
conduct business with Greece
10. Greece’s Olive Oil
Industry
• Benefits of Conducting Business with Greece:
• Help improve state of Greece’s economy
• The value of Greek olive exports came to 58.08
million euros in 2012 ("Greek exports to," 2014)
• Importers receive the highest quality of olive oil
Although there is olive oil produced in the US by US companies, that is not enough to supply the demand for olive oil to meet the needs of the population. The US alone “consumes about 1 liter per person per year, or roughly 9% of global olive oil production” ("Consumption,”). By appealing to companies in the US to import the oil from Greece, these companies can import for cheaper than buying US produced oil, and in larger quantities.
“An estimated 69% of all store-bought extra virgin olive oils in the US are probably fake, according to tests by the University of California” (Pinola, 2013)
The president is also know as the head of state and is elected to position by government and serves for a five year term, while exercising control over the government ("The political system," 2014) and is currently filled by Karolos Papoulias since 2005. The prime minister is also a position in the government who acts as the Head of Government and is currently the position of Antonis Samaras who was appointed prime minister in 2012. “Legislative power is exercised by Parliament and the President, Executive power is exercised by the President and the government, and judicial power is vested in the courts of law” ("Government and politics," 2014). When the Euro became introduced and its value was high against Greece’s former currency, Greece borrowed a large amount of funds which has created the huge amount of the region’s debt. Along with the accumulated debt, the higher currency raised the prices related to importing and exporting and Greece’s economy suffered to adapt to the price difference. With the economic decline, “many government jobs were cut” leading to a high rate of unemployment and affected not only the unemployment rate but also the economic state as a whole by “causing a chain reaction affect” (Sanati, 2014).
In the Greek culture, family is very important and is the base of everyday living. It is also very important that Greek women get married to a Greek man, and there is a lot of emphasize put on this happening by not only family but other members of society as well. Women are considered to be very important and have the same resources available to them as men including education.
Greek’s have a history of many different traditions throughout time dating back to ancient Greece and the idols/gods they worshiped. Religion is very important to the culture as well, but would not hinder social relationships. However, a difference in religion could put pressure on a pending marriage if both parties had a different religious background. Food and music are also a large part of the Greek culture, mealtimes are a time of gathering with family and friends and bonding while discussing life ("Greece culture and," 2014).
As you can see half of the working age population in Greece has a paid job, but that still leaves 49% of people who are able to work without a job. The higher the education in Greece, the better paid job a person has. Women are typically paid less than men in the same position and have a more difficult tIme in the workforce, because it has been the role of women in Greece to stay at home and care for their families for so long. Young Greeks between the ages of 15 and 24 also have a difficult time finding a job and their unemployment rate is 55.3% ("Greece-how's life?”). There are many people still available to work that do not have work.
“The main problems regarding the Greek workforce include a lack of necessary skills (42%), a lack of hard skills (29%), a shortfall of soft skills (19%) and a lack of available candidates (18%) Greek employers have had difficulties covering professional sales job positions, followed by difficulties in covering top executive jobs and skilled technicians, workers and machinery operators (Newsroom, 2014).
You can travel anywhere in the mainland of Greece by bus, and offers multiple departures per day to and from Athens and routes to other cities are offered but not as frequently. Ferries, boats, and airplanes are used to travel to the Greek islands, but ferries are the best for island closest to the mainland area. Greece has 16 international airports that have small connecting flights to and from Athens and Thessaloniki, which are the two airports that only have flights coming inbound from abroad. Renting a car or moped is relatively inexpensive and easy to do. Taxis are hard to flag down, and carry multiple passengers with multiple destinations and the fare is based on the distance required by each individual passenger ("Transportation in greece," 2014).
Main telephone and cellular lines reach all areas. Most calls are carried by microwave radio relay. And calls to the Greek islands are transmitted using underwater cables. Computers are also very popular and available with at least 23 different internet service providers ("Greece - infrastructure,," 2014).
The Bank of Greece is the central bank and bank of issue, and the European Central Bank is in charge of all monetary policies, The 33 commercial banks “are dominated by two massive, state-controlled banking groups, the National Bank and the Commercial Bank. Nineteen of the commercial banks are foreign, including three American banks” ("Banking and securities," 2014).
Alpha Credit and Argo are private banks and are in the top five banks which hold the most assets in the banking sector of Greece.
Greece is part of the European Union and the official currency is the Euro. The exchange rate of the Euro to the US dollar has varied over the past 3 years but there have been no significant fluctuations except in 2011 when the exchange rate dropped to 0.748 Euro per 1 USD.
Greece produces more than 300,000 tons of olive oils annually, and it the third largest exporter of olive oil in the world. Greece has 120 million olive trees which equals to be more than 12 olive trees per citizen. “Since up to 70% of Greece’s olive oil is Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the highest standard available, Greece is the world’s leading exporter of Extra Virgin Olive Oil” ("Enterprise greece invest," 2009)
60% of Greek olive oil is sold to Italy @ €2.1 per kilo and then Italy turns around and marks up the price to €3.1 per kilo and sells as standardized oil, which leaves a deficit for Greece on the profits of their product being sold in Italy (Vasilopoulos, 2012) . The largest importer of olive oil from Greece is exported throughout the European Union
Greece is part of the European trade bloc which is the largest trade bloc in the world. ”, by being associated with the EU trade bloc, each country is given the benefit to specialize in a good or service they can specialize in also known as comparative advantage (“Trading blocs,” 2014). Any trade that is made within the bloc of the EU is tariff free and is intended to promote trade within the EU to promote better economic conditions for the region. Trade is allowed outside of the EU as well but there are tariffs that are involved and there are more costs incurred with non-trade bloc transactions. While Greece is free to export olive oil to wherever they want, their main trade partners are in the EU and three quarters of Greece’s total exports including olive oil are exported to Italy (“Olive oil production,” 2011). While Greece has the ability to export oilve oil to anywhere n the world it makes sense to trade mostly within the tariff free area of the EU to keep the costs associated with exporting low.
Greece’s economy took a sever hit when their currency was converted to the Euro in 2001. After being subject to accumulating large amounts of debt in the 1980’s and a corruption scandal involving Andreas Papandreou ("Financial challenges expose," 2011). Greece is faced with paying back numerous bailouts that they do not have the funds to repay, and a banking source notes that new Prime Minister Papademos “lacks essential political skills and the depression in Greece is sufficiently severe- and will get much, much worse. So I am afraid political turmoil is at hand.” ("Financial challenges expose," 2011). There is much to risk with doing business with an in debt country such as Greece. There is no guarantee that debts will be repaid which could have ramifications for countries who are associated with business transactions with Greece
Nineteen Greek olive oils earned a coveted spot as ‘one of the world’s best’ at this year’s New York International Olive Oil Competition. “Greek producers need to position themselves and target the right customers based on the quality of their product rather than price since other olive oil producing countries have, in many cases, lower production costs.” (Tejada, 2014).
Although much of the exporting of olive oil produced in Greece is exported to countries in the EU, exporting to the US has increased significantly to meet the demands of US consumers for olives and olive oil from Greece. Greek exports to the US growing beyond feta, olive oil and yogurt
“Since up to 70% of Greece’s olive oil is Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the highest standard available,
