Making garments in Southern Europe: Entrepreneurship and labour in rural Greece

Since the mid-1970s a number of rural areas on the periphery of Southern Europe have undergone rapid economic growth and structural transformation. Unlike the pattern of mainstream industrialisation in more favoured regions which occurred in the third quarter of this century, this ‘second wave’ was led by an expansion of small, family-owned and family-run enterprises. However, almost from the outset, it aroused debates and controversies on the causes, processes and prospects of these enterprises. Our study, which is based upon primary data obtained through extensive fieldwork investigation, focuses upon an area of Macedonia which, we argue, exemplifies rural industrialisation. This was initiated by garment manufacturers in Germany, who began to diffuse parts of their production to lower wage firms outside that country. The local entrepreneurial response to the opportunities stemming from such industrial restructuring is discussed in terms of the sub-contracting arrangements and the recruitment and organisation of a labour force.