International Expansion of Greece's Largest Banks - 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.