LEF_ Liberec Economic Forum
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Browsing LEF_ Liberec Economic Forum by Subject "barriers"
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- ItemCircular Economy Implementation from the Perspective of Benefits and Barriers(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Zemanová, Veronika; Ekonomická fakultaThe circular economy is an economic model focused on reducing waste generation and promoting resource reuse. It has gained popularity as a sustainable solution to the linear economy's negative impact on the planet and socio-economic conditions. Implementing the circular economy involves replacing the concept of "end of life" with reduction, reuse, recycling, and restoring materials at various levels, from micro to macro. To explore the benefits and barriers of implementing the circular economy in the business environment, a literature review was conducted using the Web of Science Core Collection database. Among the 1,510 initial search results, 17 relevant articles were selected for analysis with application of snowball method. These articles represent contributions from various countries, with a majority from outside Europe. The analysis of the selected articles revealed six basic groups of benefits and barriers associated with the circular economy. Benefits include improved public relations, cost savings, competitive advantage, economic growth, environmental restoration, and job creation. However, barriers such as organizational culture, lack of information, financial constraints, inadequate legislation, low awareness, and limited customer interest pose challenges for implementation. While the circular economy offers numerous benefits, its successful implementation starts at the micro level, requiring businesses to overcome internal barriers. Companies must innovate their business models, consider future directions, and navigate financial challenges. Despite obstacles, the circular economy presents an opportunity for cost savings, improved company image, and positive environmental and societal impact. By embracing this model, businesses can contribute to a sustainable and prosperous future.
- ItemWhat Prevents Businesses from Carrying out Eco-Innovation Activities? Empirical Research on Barriers in Slovak SMEs(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, ) Klement, Ladislav; Vinczeová, Miroslava; Klementová, Vladimíra; Ekonomická fakultaEco-innovations seem to be an effective tool of the transformation process towards sustainability where enterprises must play an active role. As small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) are one of the key accelerators of this transition, particular attention should be paid to the main factors that influence eco-innovation activities in this business segment. The paper focuses on the identification and assessment of barriers that limit the more intensive development of eco-innovation activities in Slovak SMEs. It analyses empirical data on barriers to eco-innovations and explores possible relationships between perceived barriers to eco-innovation, size of enterprise, the share of foreign capital in the enterprise's financing and involvement in eco-innovation activities. The research sample contains 487 randomly selected Slovak SMEs. The article presents the results of the examination of the barriers importance in eco-innovation activities in Slovak SMEs assessed by Likert scale values, descriptive statistics, and selected statistical methods including the Shapiro-Wilk test, Spearman correlation, Friedman test and Wilcoxon signed rank tests. The conclusions provide some deeper insights into the perception of barriers to eco-innovation in Slovak SMEs according to their size, share of foreign capital in financing and implementation or non-implementation of eco-innovation, with some results showing similarities with other studies conducted abroad, while others are specific only to Slovak SMEs.