Loyalty in Crisis: Evidence from Greece

This chapter examines customer loyalty across the supply chain during the economic crisis in Greece. Financial crisis started in Greece in 2008 and has resulted in severe recession. In 2011 Greece's total economic output was 16% below the pre-crisis peak. Government deficit and government debt in 2010 reached −10.6 and 144.9% of Gross Domestic Product, respectively (Eurostat, 2013). The current economic climate in Greece and elsewhere in Europe means that firms have to deal with high uncertainty and difficulties into remaining within competition. Hence, it is vital for firms to keep their customers since economic crisis means that it is not easy to invest into the acquisition of new customers. The importance of this study lies to the fact that no sufficient literature exists relating to the impact of the current financial crisis on customer loyalty across the supply chain. This gap of knowledge in the existing literature should be addressed as companies and academics would be interested in the results of our research since it could enlighten them regarding the marketplace and the customer needs, while it can help them to better manage, formulate and implement a customer driven marketing strategy.