A reputation risk perspective on the Greek crisis

Abstract

The economic crisis of Europe has realigned the notion of a nation's reputation (or its branding) in a prominent way. Using the case of Greece as an example, we interpret the Greek crisis from the fresh perspective of reputation risk management. From this perspective, we show that the Greek crisis, on one hand is deeper and more holistic than the pre-crisis dim macroeconomic outlook would suggest. From the other hand, we suggest that the crisis could have been avoided had reputation risk management been encapsulated as a mechanism for guiding Greece's decision-makers. We infer that, the lack of the equivalent of national-level reputation risk management techniques at the governance echelons is one of the root causes of the crisis and the key catalyst for the rapid escalation of what at first instance appeared to be bad nationwide public financial practices and policy making into a European and nearly global financial event.