ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES
IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES: A
CASE STUDY APPROACH
Αιμιλία Πρωτόγερου
Εργαστήριο Ενεργειακής και Βιομηχανικής
Οικονομίας, ΕΜΠ
ΟΠΑ, 21/10/2015
Research funded by the EU FP7 under grant
agreement CRE8TV.EU–320203
WHAT ARE THE CREATIVE AND
CULTURAL INDUSTRIES (CCIS)

Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs) are at
the crossroads of arts, culture, business and
technology and can be defined as those economic
activities that strongly rely on individual
creativity, skills and talent and in principal
produce intellectual property in contrast to
material goods or immediately consumable
services (UNCTAD, 2008).
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TWO MAJOR CHALLENGES
Developing an agreed or harmonized
understanding of what these activities or
industries are; and
 Obtaining statistical data to understand their
size, shape, dynamics, and inter-relations with
other sectors and activities.

3
CCIS INCLUDE A WIDE RANGE OF ACTIVITIES
Architecture
 Specialized design
 Fashion
 Advertising
 Publishing
 Software
 Video games
 Film and video

Photography
 Music
 Television and Radio
 Performing arts
 Libraries and
Museums
 Visual and graphic art
 Crafts

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THE CONTRIBUTION OF CCIS (I)
CCIs in the EU-27 created a total value of 558 billion €,
representing approximately 4.4% of total European GDP
and 8.3 million full-time jobs (Terra Consultants, 2014).

CCIs firms contribute to industrial innovation in two
ways:

They possess strong innovation potentials themselves

They operate as an important catalyst for innovations
and knowledge-based growth in numerous other
economic fields. They act as a cross-cutting sector,
affecting value added chains both horizontally and
vertically as suppliers and customers.
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THE CONTRIBUTION OF CCIS (IΙ)




Europe’s CCIs are global leaders and competitive
exporters in a wide range of fields.
CCIs are significant generators of intellectual
property, in particular copyrights.
CCIs are the heart of creating Europe’s culture
and identity, and central to promoting Europe’s
identity around the world.
Regions with high concentrations of creative and
cultural industries have Europe’s highest
prosperity levels.(Inner London, Stockholm,
Prague, Bratislava, Oxford, Hamburg)
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CCIS IN GREECE
A recent study based on Eurostat data (in 10
CCIs) (Avdikos, 2014) shows that total
employment reaches 110,000 people and accounts
for 3% of total employment in Greece (Avdikos,
2014).
 Between 2008 and 2013 there is a significant
30% decrease in employment while in the EU-27
total employment in CCIs remained invariant.

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IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS WITH CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURS IN
GREECE
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IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS WITH CREATIVE
ENTREPRENEURS IN GREECE
The study was undertaken in the context of the
EU-funded FP7 project Cre8tv.eu- Unveiling
Creativity for Innovation in Europe (20122015)
 11 partners all over Europe:
University of Manchester, University of Brighton,
Bocconi University, Copenhagen Business School,
Eindhoven University, Politechico di Milano,
Technical University of Munich, University of
Gothenburg, ZEW, National Technical of Athens,
Corvinus University of Budapest

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RESEARCH AIM (1)
Relatively little is known about entrepreneurship
in the creative industries (notable exceptions are Henry,
2007; Henry and de Bruin, 2011) because:
the creative sector comprises a large number of
heterogeneous sub-sectors and industries;
 further definitional and policy coherence needed on
what constitutes CIs;
 ‘creative entrepreneurship’ entails the combination of
two different worlds.

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RESEARCH AIM (2)
This work aims at providing empirical evidence on
the characteristics of founders in the creative
industries, the challenges they come across and the
obstacles they have to face in their entrepreneurial
endeavours.
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INTERVIEWED FIRMS PER SECTOR
Industry
code
Specific activities
# interviews
74.40
Branding, packaging design,
communication design
6
74.10
Fashion & product design
4
71.11
Building design & drafting
5
58.21
Development of video games &
relevant frameworks
4
59.11
Video production, motion picture
& animation
2
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IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS : AN OVERVIEW


Focus on young entrepreneurs
 Interview with the whole founding team or at
least 1 of the founders
 19 face-to-face interviews, 2 Skype-calls (when
personal interviews were not possible due to
distance)
Average interview length: 90 minutes
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IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS: MAIN PARTS OF
THE INTERVIEW PROTOCOL




General information about the firm
Creativity and skills of employees
Detailed information on all founders (founding
motivations, educational background,
experience and knowledge, entrepreneurial
skills, personal career)
Information on firm growth, barriers to entry
and growth, innovation performance and
intellectual property protection methods
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Selected findings
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AGE AND SIZE OF FIRMS

Average firm age: 6 years (established
between 2004-2012)


Micro firms employing 2-15 people



Approx. 1/3 of the firms (6 out of 19) have been
established during the crisis (2011-2012)
Approx. 50% of the firms (10 out of 19) do not
have employees besides the founders (esp. in
architecture and product design)
In their majority collaborate with a network of
freelancers, suppliers etc. on a project basis
Some of them use interns on a regular basis
(esp. architecture, graphic design, fashion and
product design)
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THE CREATIVE TALENT AND HUMAN
CAPITAL OF EMPLOYEES
Interaction of founders with employees is an
inspiring process leading to the realization of
their ideas
 In general, full-time employees are encouraged to
pursue their own projects and develop their own
ideas
 Core activities are mainly undertaken in house

e.g. design activities are internal to fashion design and
80% of software development and engineering are
internal to video games development

Significant contribution of freelancers/external
collaborators to the companies’ creative potential
and final outcome
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THE FOUNDERS: MOTIVATIONS FOR
SETTING UP A BUSINESS
Founding teams of mainly 2 members (in 13 out
of 21 firms), while the rest are composed of 3 and
only one of 4 people
 Male dominated, aged between 35-45
 Founding motivations were fuelled primarily by
the need to realize

their own ideas
 to express and use their own creative and artistic
skills
 even reinforce the artistic and creative culture within
their community or region and,
 not to make money

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FOUNDERS: IMPACT OF EDUCATION,
EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS ON FIRM SURVIVAL
AND GROWTH (I)

Well-educated founders with major field of
studies directly related to their firm’s activities


it appears that artistic, creative and technical skills
acquired through formal education have been
decisive in the creation and survival of their firms
In their majority have acquired significant
professional experience in their sector and some
of them also have entrepreneurial experience

professional experience has helped founders to gain
significant knowledge and expertise on their sectors,
markets, clients and the organization and
management of their companies
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FOUNDERS: IMPACT OF EDUCATION,
EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS ON FIRM SURVIVAL
AND GROWTH (II)
Founding teams combining artistic with market
and managerial expertise achieve better firm
performance outcomes
 The export vision of certain founding teams
appears to be crucial for ensuring their firms’
growth prospects (some firms are born global)
 All founders pursue firm growth in a controlled
and manageable way since they primarily wish to
retain their creative/company identity and the
quality of their work

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THE FOUNDERS: ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS
Entrepreneurial skills –communication,
problem solving, leadership, networking,
creative thinking international export
vision, administrative/financial skills – are
highly important to their firms’ success and
growth
 Such skills have not been gained through formal
education or training but mainly through
learning-by-doing and informal personal
networks

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SELECTED FINDINGS: THE MARKET
Firms related to video games and fashion design
have a strong export orientation
 The firms constantly look for new markets
 Some of them pursue the expansion of their
activities to international markets, while others
are trying to serve new market niches
 The firms have a diverse client base from
different industries e.g. media, publishing and
advertising companies, the tourism industry,
museums, galleries, education institutions, the
agricultural industry, governmental
organizations etc.

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SELECTED FINDINGS: INNOVATION
Most of the firms implement new or significantly
transformed business strategies.
 Some of the firms

have changed the way they manage their company
 have launched new or significantly improved services
 have improved the way they produce and supply
products.


In general, they cannot easily patent their
products and only some of them have applied for
patents, registered designs and trademarks
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FIRM GROWTH PROSPECTS
Financial crisis had an impact on some of the
firms resulting on decrease in the number of
employees or sales volume.
 In their majority, firms exhibit a certain
resilience to economic crisis esp. those with a
strong market orientation (video games, fashion
design)
 The firms constantly look for new markets:


Some pursue the expansion of their activities to
international markets, while others are trying to
serve new market niches
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BARRIERS TO FIRM GROWTH
Some important barriers across sectors
 Government regulation i.e. heavy taxation,
bureaucracy, limited support to newcomers)
 Current economic climate
 Limited access to external finance
 Increased competition in their markets
 The market is not ready for their ideas
 Gaps in the skills of workforce (esp. in video
games)
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CONCLUSIONS
The creative economy can be a lever of
development also for Greece.
 Greece, however, is yet to take full advantage of
the CCIs significant opportunities
 An active and continuous dialogue on these
issues could assist in realizing

a) the actual creative capital available in the country
 b) policy action (both at the local and national level),
to establish an appropriate business environment to
support and empower Creativity as an essential
factor for development.

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SOME MORE DETAILS ON THREE SELECTED
FIRMS
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ANCIENT GREEK SANDALS







Ancient Greek Sandals, was founded in 2011.
Founders: very well educated in the US and UK,
complementary skills
Their idea was to make and launch a collections of
leather sandals (in ancient Greek style) with original
designs and many colours
They debuted in 2011 with 13 designs. Now, more
than 150 different designs are available
4 million euros turnover in 2014
They now sell more than 80,000 sandals a year
through 500 outlets around the world
The sandals are manufactured by Greek craftsmen in
a factory in Athens. AGS is now planning to
expanding production to two more factories in Athens.
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ZEUS+DIONE
The company was founded in 2012
 Founders: very well educated in UK and the US
 They wanted to create a Greek brand name, by
reviving Greek tradition and the long forgotten
Greek fashion industry
 They have decided to target the international
market right from the beginning
 They now sell their clothes in 50 outlets all over
the world and in internationally renowned eshops such as net-a-porter and matchesfashion

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ABZORBA GAMES
AbZorba Games was founded in 2011 by a
talented international team determined to create
the best mobile multiplayer casino titles
 The name, AbZorba, was chosen to reflect both
their Greek origin and their gaming intent
 They started with 6-7 people and they now
employ 15, they are profitable and they are
rapidly growing
 It has been recently acquired by Greentube, a
leading developer and supplier of Gaming
solutions for the Internet and mobile devices

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Thank you for your attention!
www.liee.ntua.gr
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