European Journal of Sustainable Development

Venture Financing as Support for the Sustainable Model of Post-War Rebuilding in Ukraine

Iuliia Gernego — 2023-06-01

Currently, the Ukrainian economy faces a measure of challenges, caused by damages, losses and qualitative impacts. The primary ideas of post-war rebuilding have been conducted and presented at an international conference in Lugano, Switzerland. At this conference, the main primary areas for post-war rebuilding have been divided to be realized within the post-war rebuilding plan for the following ten years. The primary goal of the plan is to provide a unique chance not only to compensate for damage caused by the war but also to accelerate economic growth and improve quality of life in Ukraine. Thereby, there is an urgent need to describe a wide range of possible financial resources to support post-war rebuilding, based on innovative development and criteria of sustainable growth. The current research problem lays in the innovative forms of financial support following key principles of sustainable post-war rebuilding in Ukraine, namely stages of stability, restoration and modernization. The functional directions of post-war rebuilding are defined within the Ukraine recovery conference as of 2022 that are provided as continuation of the previous Ukraine reform conferences. The current research aims to represent the division of functional direction within the stages of stability, restoration and modernization, defining the necessary amounts of resources to be attracted for these stages. The capacity of venture financing is analyzed in the context of sustainable transformations within the post-war rebuilding process. As a result, the business angels are defined as an attractive source of financial support for the stability stage of post-war rebuilding in Ukraine, aiming to overcome the main part of damages and loss, caused by the full-scale war. The restoring stage is connected with long-term support of innovative projects within a sustainable restoring strategy. Venture funds and international organizations are important actors to conduct sustainable financing at micro- and macro-level. The venture capital divisions of specialized corporations and investment banks tend to provide financial and consulting support at the modernization stage of the post-war rebuilding process.

Keywords: innovative development, financial support, sustainable development, venture financing.

An Assessment of China’s Power Expansion in Asia Through the Lens of the Belt and Road Initiative

Naima Dmini — 2023-06-01

In the age of globalization, interdependence and trade cooperation between nations is at an all-time peak. The Belt and Road Initiative by China is one of the most significant projects undertaken by a nation toward infrastructural development in the world and sees growth in about 70 countries and organizations. While the project's scope strictly emphasizes strategic infrastructural development for global purposes, separating China's foreign policy and diplomatic ambitions from this project is challenging. In the presented report, the case of the Belt and Road Initiative has been examined comprehensively, with a high degree of attention on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects for the impact of China’s rise in Asia and implications for the geopolitical balance of the region. Using a comprehensive literature survey, this study finds that while China indeed achieves the objective of economic growth through the project, it is also a cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy in the region. This threatens the security and sovereignty of other nearby nations already facing adversarial relations with China, including Tibet, Taiwan, and India. China’s oppression and disregard for their sovereignty will likely increase for these nations as the Chinese government gets more diplomatic leverage in its international relations through the Belt and Road Initiative.

Keywords: Asia, Belt and Road Initiative, BRI and CPEC, China foreign policy, Chinese diplomacy, superpower.

Light Pollution and Sea Turtles Nest-Site Selection. Is it Possible a Practical Management of the Problem?

Davide Di Bari — 2023-06-01

Artificial light at night (ALAN) pollution is a topic of growing concern globally, in particular along coasts where the number of cities is increasing. The problem is both economic and environmental, as in the case of the selection of the nesting site by the Caretta caretta sea turtles. In fact, even in a poorly lit municipality like Castiglione della Pescaia (Tuscany, Italy), 140 light sources have been identified near the beaches with different types of shielding and intensity. The localization and characterization of these night lighting sources was achieved through both field and satellite measurements. In this paper we propose a practical management of both the general and the specific problem of the case study with an approximate estimate of the costs involved in replacing the lamps with the greatest impact on the conservation of sea turtles.

Keywords: conservation; Italy; light pollution; nest-site selection; sea turtles; Tuscany

Knowledge Ecosystem: A Sustainable Theoretical Approach

Ana Iolanda VODĂ — 2023-06-01

A Knowledge Ecosystem (KE) refers to a system of interconnected components that work together to create, share, and use knowledge. It includes the processes, tools, and platforms that support the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge. A knowledge ecosystem’s main attribute is to generate new knowledge and valuable open-ended solutions for the participating actors that drive innovation, improve decision-making, and support learning and growth. This paper provides an overview of the knowledge ecosystem concept, which gain traction in recent research, with a focus on how the knowledge ecosystem is organised and the relationship between components. This paper contributes to research on knowledge ecosystems by describing not only knowledge ecosystem forms of organisation, but also the main methodological approaches used in the evaluation of the concept.

Keywords: Knowledge Ecosystem, Prefigurative Organisation, Partial Organisation, Methodological Approaches

Barriers to Product Innovations: A Theoretical Knowledge and Research Framework

Katerina Kozludzhova — 2023-06-01

The essential role of product innovations for company’s sustainability and growth leads researchers to explore the scientific literature and provide knowledge that helps the conduction of empirical researches on this topic. The paper brings light to the critical points of the product innovation process that can create obstacles to development of successful innovations. The main purpose of the paper is to investigate, summarize and establish an understanding of the barriers to product innovations. The paper applies “systematic literature review” as a research method to explore theoretical findings of other authors. The systematic literature review collects multiple literature sources and summarizes them to answer the defined in the paper specific research questions. Investigating the research questions, the author of the current paper introduces two groups of barriers to product innovations – general barriers and specific barriers. The paper provides an original and a new aspect of researching the barriers to product innovations. It gives new directions for investigating the barriers to product innovations – exploring the different stages of the product innovation process and seeking for obstacles within them that companies struggle with. The presented systematic literature review supports the construction of specific empirical indicators and variables, also defined in the paper, which researchers can use for conduction of studies in the field of product innovations. The paper also suggests measurement definitions and sample questions to navigate the researchers to formulate proper questionnaires that provide adequate answers.

Keywords: barriers to product innovations, obstacles, product innovations, empirical indicators, variables, innovation studies, sample questions

Using Materiality Analysis to Determine Actual and Potential Company Impacts on Sustainable Development

Tamara Menichini — 2023-06-01

To contribute to sustainable development companies are called to identify and manage their impacts in a transparent and reliable manner. Materiality Analysis in sustainability reporting helps companies determine the threshold at which sustainability topics become sufficiently important to be included in the report, according to significant organisation’s impacts and to stakeholder’s interests and concerns. To deliver the highest level of transparency for organisational impacts on the economy, environment, and people, the latest version of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, the “Universal Standard 2021”, propose to identify and assess both actual and potential material impacts. In light of this suggestion, the present paper proposes the Materiality Cube as a practical and structured approach for supporting the analysis of organisation’s impacts. The proposed tool allows to evaluate the materiality of impacts considering the company’s strategy, sustainability performance and stakeholder expectations. By comparing the positioning of sustainability topics under the three assessment dimensions, companies can improve the overall process of determining materiality and the accountability towards stakeholders: they can act to address and account for the most material impacts and identify those that could become material over time since they result much more significant from one perspective than the others. An illustrative application of the proposed Materiality Cube completes the paper.

Keywords: Materiality Analysis, Sustainability Reporting, Sustainability Impacts, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines, Stakeholder engagement

The Role of the Virtual Economy in Advancing Sustainable Development: Exploring Network Semantics, Cyber Risks, and Digitalization

Svitlana Khrypko — 2023-06-01

This study explores the role of the virtual economy in advancing sustainable development through an examination of network semantics, cyber risks, and digitalization. The article emphasizes the need for professionals to adapt to new innovations and conditions in order to thrive in the virtual economy. The article aims to highlight the new vectors of language culture and virtual economic semantics and demonstrate the importance of developing foreign language professional information and communication competencies among individuals involved in the digitalization of various aspects of life. The virtual economic environment is analyzed in the context of sustainable development, focusing on cyberspace’s primary risks and challenges, and other factors that contribute to the need for a new language paradigm of virtual competence are examined. The study concludes that to succeed in the virtual economy, it is crucial to prioritize professional foreign language training and develop a new type of specialist who can work in the virtual global economy.

In addition, the article analyzes the virtualization process of the global economic system, its development and deployment in various sectors, and identifies the relationship between the development and deployment of the virtualization process and the information technology market. The study notes that the digitization of processes in various spheres of economic activity is one of the main global trends in the development of modern society, and the definition of the term “digital economy” is analyzed. Finally, the study considers the main types of information and communication technologies and tools used in modern technologies of digitalization of the economy, and their potential for advancing sustainable development.

Keywords: digitalization, sustainable development, information society, postmodern language competence, network semantics, foreign language professional information and communication competence, virtual economy, virtual communities.

Oil Price Fluctuation, Business and Economic Growth Effect: Evidence from Nigeria

Ben Etim Udoh — 2023-06-01

Nigeria’s economic and business climate vulnerabilities are largely instigated by oil price fluctuation through oil market and production alterations. The study scrutinises oil price fluctuation symmetric effect on the business climate, economic growth and macroeconomic indicators using daily data from 2012–2022. To accomplish this goal, the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methodologies were adopted and incorporated to examine the long- short-run symmetric effect using realised volatility as an indicator of oil price fluctuation. Findings revealed long-short run persistent oil price shock effect on macroeconomic indicators, economic growth and business climate. To reduce the oil demand-supply chain risk exposure and disruption. Economic diversification and investments in trade and non-trade sectors are recommended. A significant nexus between oil prices and macroeconomic indicators was observed using the SVAR model when there is shocks in oil price.

Keywords: oil price; exchange rate; symmetric; SVAR, ARDL, economic growth, macroeconomic indicators

Sustainability assessment of the main cereals market in Morocco: Evaluating production and import

Mohamed Belmahi — 2023-06-01

Agriculture is a fundamental pillar of Morocco's economy, contributing an average of 12,5% of GDP over the period 2000-2020 and helping to fight the rural exodus. Cereal crops play a major role in national agriculture, in which the main cereals, particularly wheat, occupying an important place in the dietary habits of rural and urban populations, although barley has a predominant place in animal feed. Moreover, food security in Morocco is based on cereal crops. This study aims to evaluate the evolution of the area under crop, the yield, and grain production in Morocco between 1930 and 2020, and the imports of main grains, based on the statistical approach in order to deduce the food security in the cereal sector.

The results obtained show that the area cultivated to the main cereals has almost doubled between the decade 1930-1940 and the decade 2010-2020. Soft wheat is the type of cereal that has increased significantly compared to durum wheat and barley. As for cereal production, it is subject to strong fluctuations due to the drought, with a coefficient of variation of 46%. The favorable agro-ecological zone produces 44% of the main cereals in Morocco. Moreover, grain imports multiplied by 917%, particularly bread, a basic element of the diet, where each Moroccan consumes an average of 255 kg per year of wheat, almost fourfold the world average. In addition, Morocco moved from self-sufficiency to dependence on food grain imports after independence, where the import dependency ratio (IDR) reached 39,8% compared to 60,2% for food self-sufficiency (SRR). This indicates the failure of the agricultural policy in the cereal sector. Also, in this study, the requirement of food-grain (R) has been calculated in the time horizon to 2030 and 2050, especially for wheat.

Keywords: Main cereals, Yield, Import Dependency Ratio, Food security, Morocco

Age of Economic Alliances - How SMEs Win the Market Using Alliances in Turbulent Times

Genoveva Da Costa LUPÉDIA — 2023-06-01

The years of the pandemic meant more than a test to prove the maturity of the states - it was a good exercise for the business community around the world, to prove that it can survive extremely harsh conditions. Over the two years of the pandemic, SMEs have learned that the only way to survive is to work together, within strategic alliances, for a common goal - to make enough profit to survive.

This strategy of alliances in the field of SMEs was a response of the Romanian entrepreneurship to the competitive fight on the market, where the big companies, in order to obtain huge profits even if there was a cataclysm going on, did not "play" honestly and “attacked’’ the few clients the SMEs had. On the other hand, small businesses have learned that "working together" is synonymous with "surviving." The synergy relationship achieved between small companies, transposed into economic alliances, are true examples of business.

Through our research, we wanted to see how these companies acted so we have created a model by which new entrants can develop these strategic alliances to grow quickly, gain customers, and cope with the turbulent environment in which they operate daily. For this, we performed a statistical and econometric analysis, using as a tool a questionnaire applied to a number of 156 SMEs in Bucharest-Ilfov and Giurgiu, as well as the output provided by the SPSS for Windows application. Preliminary results have shown us the existence of strategic alliances, which we later studied in order to create a model called the Survival Alliance in Modern Era (SAME). This model can be used as an important element of any strategy, a starting point in the rapid, sustainable, and efficient development of an SME, that is at the beginning of the road and wants to have a word in the market in which it operates.

Key Words: Strategic alliances SMEs, Business strategy

Sustainability Aspects of the Construction Industry and Entrepreneurship: Challenges and Opportunities

Linda Kauškale — 2023-06-01

The relevance of the research and its significance are being determined by the fact that changes in economic and environmental development could affect the tendencies of the development of the real estate market and construction industry, and entrepreneurship within these sectors, and vice versa. As time passes, the participants of real estate sectors face numerous challenges, and it could be useful to find the possible improvement opportunities for economic analysis and management. The aim of the research is to analyse the factors affecting the real estate market, construction industry and related entrepreneurship in changing environment in the context of sustainable economic and environmental development, paying particular attention to the tendencies within these sectors. The literature, historical, comparative analysis and logical access methods have been used in the research. The conducted analysis could help in the improvement of the entrepreneurial activities for the sustainable development of the real estate market and construction industry.

Keywords: changing environment, economic sustainability, entrepreneurial aspects, real estate development, real estate entrepreneurship, real estate market, sustainable construction

Resilient Strategies of International Marketing Segmentation

Alona Tanasiichuk — 2023-06-01

In the new realities, Ukrainian businesses faced many challenges. A significant number of companies suffered material losses as a result of hostilities on the territory of their operations, and many companies were forced to leave their permanent location and resume their business activities in a new place.

Entering the international markets of Ukrainian enterprises has become a new prospect for their recovery.

The study improves the methodology of international marketing segmentation by grouping it by parameters. With the help of this methodology and certain parameters that are relevant for the domestic agro-industrial business, the markets of foreign countries with indicators as close as possible to the Ukrainian economy were identified, and the assessment result allowed to draw conclusions about the entry of domestic enterprises offering milk and dairy products to new international markets.

To segment more than 160 international markets, the following indicators were chosen as parameters: "Share of agricultural products in total GDP", "Average distance between partner countries with all importers", "Distance between the partner market and the Ukrainian market", "Difference between the average permissible distance for the international market and the Ukrainian market, km", "Average tariff (estimated) for exports applied by the relevant market", "Assessment of favorable business conditions", "Trade balance". The study identified the demand for the product group "04 Milk and dairy products" in 160 international markets and recommended that Ukrainian producers of milk and dairy products make marketing decisions to enter the markets of the European Union: Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, France, and Finland, which are divergent markets for the export of milk and dairy products from Ukraine.

Keywords: resilient strategies, international marketing segmentation, barriers, and risks of entering international markets, innovative approaches to forming a strategy international markets segmentation, grouping by parameters, strategy for entering new markets, markets are convergent for the export,

Local Development Evaluation - A Methodological Proposal

Marco Domingues — 2023-06-01

The absence of the evaluation of local development in academic literature reflects the lack of debate at present, but also the need for analysis of evaluation proposals and models. This article aims to present the results of recent research work in this field, seeking to contribute to the debate around the evaluation of local development. Through exploratory interviews with 20 key informants with links to Animar - Portuguese Association for Local Development as the representative entity of Social Economy in Portugal, its analysis resulted in a "political-administrative space" of evaluation and the local development evaluation, a methodological proposal of an evaluation proposal with 7 dimensions of analysis and 37 indicators. It is concluded that the evaluation of local development based on the proposed model generates a set of possibilities, by contributing to a local diagnosis through the auscultation of the entities of the social economy sector.

Key Words: Local Development; Social Economy; Evaluation

Measuring Satisfaction of Customer and Quality of E -Services Using a Mediated Moderation Analysis

Asma Zaheer — 2023-06-01

E-commerce has grown in acceptance over the past few years in India. Recent studies have demonstrated and generally acknowledged that customer loyalty and satisfaction levels for online transactions are lower than those for more conventional methods of buying. A problem for online businesses is how to keep and improve online client’s loyalty and satisfaction. This article aims to comprehend the service quality factors that influence client’s loyalty and satisfaction. Parasuraman's E-S-QUAL four determinants i.e. efficiency, requirement fulfilment, system accessibility, and privacy, are used to construct model for assessing e service quality, consumer satisfaction and online purchases loyalty measures. Data from a sample of 400 respondents was then analysed using a PLS estimation and mediated moderation analysis. 164 online buyers participated from a wide and varied range of backgrounds on the basis of goods purchased. The findings show a positive relationship between efficiency, fulfilment, privacy and consumer loyalty. Customer satisfaction also has a favourable impact from all e service quality measures. The paper examines service quality from many angles, the study concludes that all the factors has a favourable impact on customer loyalty and satisfaction except system accessibility. This paper attempts to explain these results because they are somewhat at odds with earlier research findings.

Keywords: E- commerce, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty , SERVQUAL

Linking Institutional Factors with the Financial Soundness of Banks. Evidence from the CEE Region

Viktorija Šipilova — 2023-06-01

Sustainable financial sector needs the sound banking system. The soundness of the banking system is the subject for effects from institutional factors representing the areas of economy, society, public sector, legislation, technologies, and climate change. Although, studies rarely pay attention to the complex approach, where all areas are analysed simultaneously within the study. Design of the present study aims to analyse institutional factors of interdisciplinary nature, which demonstrate potential significance for the sound banking system. The authors focus on the cases that differ by the level of the soundness of banks. The approach provides the novelty of research. Method. During the research, the authors identify and characterise linkages between the factors of institutional environment and the soundness of banks. For the aim, monographic method and correlation analysis are applied. Analysis. The analysis is organised by using two cases that differ by the level of the soundness of banks – the region of Central and Eastern Europe and ten countries with the highest level of the soundness of banks in the world according to the data on Global Competitiveness Report. Results. For the cases that differ by the level of the soundness of banks, the research results demonstrate similarity by the linkages with indicators representing depth of financial system and corporate governance. Differences between the cases appear by the linkages with indicators representing public sector performance and stability of financial system. Conclusions. For the case with lower level of the soundness of banks, overall trends that are necessary for functioning of the sound banking system are observed. Although, several indicators that by their sense are significant for the sound banking system demonstrate negative direction or weak relationship with the soundness of banks what has to be improved in the future and appear as a result of the peculiarities of the banking sector in the region.

Keywords: banks, financial soundness, institutions, factors, correlation.

The Role of Bioenergy Utilization of Wastewater in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals for Ukraine

Inna Honcharuk — 2023-06-01

The article is devoted to the issues of Ukraine’s achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 6. Clean water and sanitation and 7. Affordable and clean energy through bioenergy recycling of wastewater. The purpose of the study was to analyze the current state of wastewater management on the example of Ukraine, as well as to investigate a successful case of bioenergy recycling by a food industry enterprise. The study was based on the principles of sustainable development, circular economy, and scientific research methods: abstract and logical, monographic, graphic and tabular, analysis and synthesis, abstraction, and generalization. The results obtained show that Ukraine has a problem with the safety and quality of drinking water, and wastewater of various origins is a significant pollutant. Among the industrial enterprises of Ukraine, one of the largest consumers of water is the food industry and utilities that belong to the sphere of housing and household services, mainly water utilities. The state of drinking water safety and quality due to pollution remains unsatisfactory. As a result of the study, the authors suggested using bioenergy recycling of wastewater. The authors illustrate a successful case of a particular food industry enterprise in Vinnytsia region, Ukraine, where this practice solved the following problems: 1) pollution of the river by untreated wastewater of the enterprise; 2) energy supply of the enterprise due to biogas from wastewater of its own production, and also additional products - organic fertilizers, which are in great demand in the market.

Keywords: recycling, bioenergy recycling, wastewater, sewage sludge, drinking water, biogas, Sustainable Development Goals.

Security Dimension of Financial Support for the Sustainable Development of Ukrainian Regions

Olha Liakhovych — 2023-06-01

The purpose of the article is to present the results of determining the security level of financial support of the regions of Ukraine in the conditions of the concept of sustainable development implementation. The research substantiates a set of indicators that monitor the level of financial support for the development of the region from the following sources: the financial market, the corporate sector, and public finance. The proposed indicators and their security levels include the following aspects: the sustainability of public finances, the level of entrepreneurial activity, the investment climate, the development of the banking sector and the standard of living of the population. The level of financial security of Ukraine’s regions was assessed on the basis of an integrated approach. Systemic interrelationships between the resulting indicator of the financial security of the regions and the factors affecting its level were also revealed. The obtained results provided an answer to the questions regarding the existing problems of financial support for the sustainable development of the regions of Ukraine. Based on the results of the research, the priority directions for ensuring the financial security of the region are substantiated. The recommendations are developed on the basis of the study of the impact of the security factors of the financial market, the corporate sector, and public finances on the achievement of sustainable development goals.

Keywords: financial security of the region, indicator analysis, sustainable development, decentralization

Ecotourism in North Cyprus: Fostering Traditional Architecture in Accommodation Buildings for Sustainable Tourism

Zihni Turkan — 2023-06-01

Tourism, which is defined as the exchange of culture in its general aspect, is categorised based on its intended purposes. Ecotourism has been introduced and become worldwide popular in the last quarter century with familiarising and experiencing local cultures through travels to the naturally and ecologically unspoilt parts of countries. Accommodation buildings that are significant elements of tourism activities are vital in ecotourism practices and sustainability due to the provision of cultural exchange for their visitors. Cyprus is an important tourism centre with its significant location in the world, cultural heritage with rich historical background and advantages from the Mediterranean climate. With the advantage of being an island, Cyprus still maintains the traditional living culture and ecological spaces, both of which create a huge demand for ecotourism. The residential buildings constructed and restored with traditional architectural characteristics are used as accommodation buildings at the ecotourism villages of North Cyprus. With architectural characteristics, authentic features and their service approach with local products, such buildings have vital role in sustainable ecotourism through introduction and promotion of traditional cultural richness to their visitors. Our research explains the definitions of tourism and ecotourism and their types by presenting our research on the tourism and ecotourism activities in North Cyprus. Then as the main dimension of our study, the accommodation buildings with traditional architectural characteristics were selected from the North Cyprus ecotourism villages as examples, and their common architectural characteristics were presented which were identified through a detailed field study. The findings and assessment on the architectural details about lodging structures were concluded the role and significance of lodging structures for ecotourism.

Keywords: Tourism, Ecotourism, North Cyprus, Accommodation, Architecture.

Does presence on the UNESCO World Heritage List Support Sustainable Development? A Market-Driven Exploratory Approach

Călin Veghes — 2023-06-01

Noting the increasing threats at the address to the cultural and natural heritage and considering their deterioration or disappearing a harmful impoverishment of all the nations, UNESCO adopted fifty years ago, at its 17th General Conference held in Paris, the Convention concerning the protection of the cultural and natural heritage aiming to safeguard it as part of the world's heritage of mankind as a whole.

One of its provisions, the inscription on the World Heritage List, has rapidly evolved from recognizing the outstanding universal value to supporting the promotion and capitalization of the heritage sites and their areas by attracting domestic and international visitors interested to discover, explore, enjoy, and engage the cultural heritage, generating the financial resources and creating workplaces to support the social and economic growth.

Discussing the impact of presence on the World Heritage List of cultural sites and acknowledging the key role of cultural tourism in the capitalization of cultural heritage, the paper assesses the relationships between the inscription on the List and the sustainable development in terms of the number of incoming tourists, revenues generated from tourism, and the number of the workplaces created in the travel and tourism industry for a group of selected countries.

Keywords: Cultural heritage, World heritage list, UNESCO, Cultural marketing, Sustainable development