Sustainable Financing for the Entrepreneurship Continual Growth: A Gap Analysis on Small and Medium Enterprises in India

Considering the existing funding conditionalities in India, the small and medium enterprises have to face stringent norms as sustainable financing requirements based on Environment, Society and Governance (ESG) disclosures are becoming mandatory for every organization worldwide. The onus still turns to be more intense than ever for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The main purpose of this paper is to warn SMEs of the upcoming sustainable financing conditionalities and develop a clear understanding among the SMEs on why they should adapt sustainable financing norms and be resilient towards sustainable financing and ESG disclosures. This paper also tends to inspire SMEs for entrepreneurial growth by striking a balance between their financial requirements and mandatory obligations to benefit themselves, society and the Indian economy. Moreover, this paper focuses on the conceptual stipulation and early adaption of sustainable finance framework by the SMEs and strives to fathom the gap between the sustainable financing realities and the expected level of SMEs’ exposure to sustainable financing and mandatory ESG disclosures. The research methodology identifies seven such areas interconnecting the sustainable financing and UN sustainable development goals (SDGs); Environment (Climate action & Carbon tax), Society (Sustainable Consumption & Externalities), Business (Sustainable Production) and Governance (Green finance, & ESG disclosures) and investigates to find the gap between the perception and expectation of SMEs about the mandatory requirements for sustainable financing and sustainability adaption in India.

The Organizational and Economic Mechanism of Implementing the Concept of Green Logistics

The article analyses the preconditions for shaping and developing the concept of a green economy. The stages of the evolutionary development of the circular economy are considered: work with waste; environmental performance strategies; maximum conservation in the era of resource depletion. Having analysed the scientific opinions on the emergence of “circular economy”, the paper has found out that this concept is identified with the terms “round economy”, “cyclical economy”, “recovery economy”, “closed-cycle economy”, “green economy”. The approaches of different scientific schools to the category of “circular economy” are analysed and conventionally systematized into 12 groups: closed-cycle economy; renewable resource economy; alternative to traditional linear economy; global economic model; closed-loop economic system based on R-principles; the concept of economic development; sustainable development strategy; a "green" economy instrument; business philosophy; economic activity; use of production waste; recycling of secondary raw materials. There is proposed the authors' formulation of the circular economy as an innovative approach to organizing logistics processes based on the closed movement of resources with their minimum losses in the form of waste and the maximum involvement of secondary resources in production in order to achieve sustainable development of logistics systems. The article identifies the barriers preventing the implementation of the circular economy concept, among them being regulatory, institutional, economic, financial and investment, market, technological, informational, and cultural. The article considers the best practices of effective implementation of circular economy solutions on the example of Finland. The indicators of the development of the green technologies market in the world and the national logistics system of Ukraine under conditions of a circular economy are analysed. It has been established that many conceptual approaches to the definition of the terms “green logistics” and “environmental logistics” are generally accepted and have a broader meaning, without taking into account the functioning specificity of various spheres of economic activity, including transport and logistics. Scientific views on interpreting the essence and content of the concept "green logistics" are generalized. It is proposed to consider the term "green logistics" from three angles: a circular economy instrument; a component of business corporate social responsibility; and a type of economic activity aimed at reducing the negative impact on the ecosystem and the environment. In order to effectively implement the concept of green logistics, an organizational and economic mechanism has been developed, the main elements of which are: diagnostics of the current state, features and trends in the logistics systems' development, taking into account the environmental component; exogenous and endogenous factors affecting the development of logistics systems; risks in organizing the processes of logistics activities; subjects and objects of management, goals, objectives, principles, functions, tools, methods, management tools, information technology, criteria. The priority principles of forming an organizational and economic mechanism include consistency, integration, reliability, dynamism, compliance with the goals of sustainable development, and efficiency. A structural diagram of forming an organizational and economic mechanism for implementing the concept of green logistics is proposed, including the following blocks: management of material resources’ supplies and purchases; products manufacturing; warehousing and stocks; logistic flows; the risks of logistics activities; logistics service processes; recycling of waste; innovation and transformations. Introduction of the proposed organizational and economic mechanism will reduce the cost of managing the movement of logistics flows and increase the level of environmental safety. This is one of the most important requirements for implementing the concept of business corporate social responsibility in a circular economy.

Smart Solutions in Cities during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly swept across the world on an unprecedented scale, having a global and destructive impact on numerous areas of both social and economic life. For the most part, the effects of the current pandemic crisis have been evaluated negatively, although they may also bring about positive future trends, such as accelerated technological advancement or increased financial support for and development of areas such as smart cities. Given the above, the focal point of our deliberations is the concept of smart cities and the exemplification of smart solutions implemented in cities in the context of new environmental challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the article is, on one hand, to identify the key theoretical and research problems that define the framework for smart city development, and on the other, to present selected practical smart projects implemented in different city areas in Poland and around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. As far as the methodology, systematic literature analysis and case study have been opted for. To explain the essence of the smart city concept, Polish and foreign peer-reviewed scientific publications were analysed. To characterize smart solutions that are being implemented in different cities, findings from reports and materials retrieved from websites dedicated to smart initiatives were used. A search was carried out for scientific papers that contain the terms "smart city" and "COVID-19" in the title, abstract or among the keywords. Bibliometric analysis was the research method used to evaluate publications in terms of the smart city concept and the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, research techniques such as trend analysis, citation analysis and word coexistence analysis were applied. In the article, selected issues of the smart cities functioning during a pandemic crisis are analysed. The findings show that cities have been keen on developing and implementing smart solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the latter obviously causing the accelerated development of smart-city systems. The pandemic-driven changes adopted so far by cities in the area of smart solutions are not only futureproof in terms of epidemic safety but also make other goals, such as limiting the use natural resources or increasing the quality of life for residents, more attainable.

Strategic European Integration Scenarios of Ukrainian and Polish Research, Education and Innovation Spaces

A comprehensive study was conducted in the direction of research and institutional support and comparison with the nearest neighbour - Poland, to determine the current state and justify strategic scenarios for Ukraine's integration into the research, educational and innovation spaces of the EU as a source of proactive sustainable innovative development. Analysis of the use of foresight technology to determine the possible future, create the desired image of the future and determine strategies to achieve it using methods developed in various research areas revealed that its application makes sense in determining long-term factors, trends and directions of national economies. That is, in foresighting, in contrast to forecasting, the emphasis is made on qualitative rather than quantitative results, which does not provide the expected targeted policy of the state, because it does not give clear, concrete results of actions - quantitative strategic benchmarks, monitoring which would control the process of these areas' development. The disadvantages of foresighting methods that limit its application are identified. Scientific substantiation of strategic scenarios of European integration of Ukrainian and Polish research, education and innovation spaces is based on the concept of sustainable development, which is grounded on applied systems theory, management theory and economic cybernetics and comprises the stages of identifying and strategizing. Identification is carried out taking into account the definition of the safe existence boundaries and simultaneous norming and integrated convolution of indicators and thresholds of education and innovation. Comparison on one scale of integrated indices of education and innovation makes it possible to carry out the goal-setting stage, identify possible strategic development scenarios and build the desired development trajectories, i.e., to implement the principle of strategizing "the future is determined by the trajectory into future." Thus, knowledge of the desired values of integrated indices in each year makes it possible, through their decomposition by the method of adaptive regulation from the management theory, to justify the values of indicators that provide the desired growth trajectory and achieve certain goals of research, educational and innovative spaces of Ukraine and Poland.

The Impact of Social Networking on Customer Loyalty in an Emerging E-Market Context

The aim of this study was to understand the impact of social networking on customer loyalty from the customers’ perspective in an emerging e-market such as Pakistan, where social media penetration is still at an early stage, but is growing rapidly. The planned sample size is 100 respondents. The primary data were collected by distributing questionnaires among general public in Lahore, Pakistan from December 2016 to January 2017. The data collected were analysed using cross tabs in SPSS. The secondary data collected by analysing literature in the libraries, online journals, and published papers. Seventy four percent of the respondents agreed that website interface was of utmost importance, followed by sixty-seven percent saying that convenience of online shopping and the availability of product information are also of great importance. The findings suggest that social networking does influence the customer loyalty greatly.

How Can the Aviation Sector Survive after COVID-19?

This paper aims to analyse the adaptation of the airline industry after the hit of the coronavirus pandemic. This virus is affecting the global economy by targeting the most profitable industries and making them collapse. By making a qualitative analysis of the topic this research paper examines how the airline industry faces such a challenge. Also, it analyses how several airline companies shut down through the huge debt that they faced and how tourism declined sharply in all countries. This paper also examines the slow comeback which was experienced by the airline industry. Finally, the paper proposes a set of policies to overcome the current crisis and future setbacks.

Failure and Value Creation: A Discriminant Analysis Applied to Moroccan Industrial Companies Listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange

This article purposes to assess the contribution of shareholder value creation as an explanatory variable for the failure of Moroccan industrial companies listed on the Casablanca stock exchange. It also offers a scoring that reflects the probabilities of the financial difficulties to occur. There were used data for 30 Moroccan industrial companies listed on the Casablanca stock exchange during the period of study from 2010 to 2018. Methodologically, a linear discriminant analysis was employed. The empirical results of the discriminant analysis applied during the period of 2010-2018 show that value creation, liquidity and the size of the company are the most determining variables in classifying companies according to the degree of financial difficulties. Thus, the results received make it possible to create a relationship among recurrent scientific knowledge about forecasting the companies’ failure and empirical findings in the context of Moroccan industrial companies listed on the Casablanca stock exchange.

The Relation between Tourism and Economic Growth: A Case of Saudi Arabia as an Emerging Tourism Destination

This paper examines empirically the relation between tourism and economic growth in Saudi Arabia. The authors try to justify how tourism contributes to the economic growth of Saudi Arabia. There are applied descriptive statistics, unit root test, VAR model and Granger Causality test as an econometric methodology to examine the connection between tourism and economic growth in Saudi Arabia for the annual data in the period from 1990 to 2018. The main empirical results of the study find out that tourism affects positively the economic growth in Saudi Arabia. Also, there is found a positive nexus among tourism and economic growth. Furthermore, CO2 emissions and financial development impact positively the tourism sector, while trade openness predicts a negative effect on tourism. Additionally, CO2 emissions, financial development, and trade openness have a positive impact on economic growth in Saudi Arabia. Finally, the Granger causality test provides evidence of bidirectional nexus between tourism and economic growth in Saudi Arabia. This paper contributes to the current research by explaining the causal nexus among tourism and economic growth in Saudi Arabia during the period from 1990 to 2018, applying a vector autoregressive model and Granger Causality.

Global and Ukrainian Labour Markets in the Face of Digitalization Challenges and the Threats of the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the situation of growing global problems and dangers of anthropo-technological, medical-epidemiological, economic, environmental, demographic nature, the demand for identifying transformational changes in global and national labour markets is relevant. The fourth industrial revolution, the threats of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to Society 5.0 (Super Smart Society or Society 5.0) are the challenges that change the nature of the world of work, the man of labour, in every country and in humanity as a whole. They create new dangers, are accompanied by unpredictable consequences, but at the same time, they open new opportunities. Therefore, these processes require in-depth research. The purpose of the article is to study transformations on the global and national labour markets caused by the complex impact of digitalization processes and the COVID-19 pandemic. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study combines modern concepts of sustainable development, decent work, social risk and digital economy. Emphasis is placed on the importance to ensure the complementarity of sustainable, labour and digital development. The authors put forward and confirmed the hypothesis that today the transformations in the labour and employment markets are due to the complex influence of modern megatrends, first of all – the COVID-19 pandemic and the digitalization of the economy and society. In the present situation, the COVID-19 pandemic can be a trigger (accelerator) of the digitalization process. The results of the study show that the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine restrictions stimulated the growth of demand for digital technologies to meet the communication, professional, consumer and economic needs of the people, contributed to the spread of new non-standard forms of employment using information and communication technologies. The authors present a system of transformational changes in the social and labour sphere in terms of digital and sustainable development; also, they propose key imperatives, priorities of strategic and tactical level to ensure the stabilization and balance of the labour market and employment in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Employers’ Experience of Introducing Dual Studies: The First-Year Results of the National Experiment

The transition to the knowledge-based economy emphasizes the need of bridging the gap between the employers’ needs and expectations with regard to their employees’ knowledge and skills and the existing level of the knowledge and skills of the workforce, including the graduates of tertiary educational establishments (TEEs). One of the instruments that has already proven its efficiency in “building bridges” between the companies and higher educational institutions is dual studies (DS). Companies view such cooperation as the investment in its competitiveness, which, in its turn, is viewed as one of the factors of the national economic development. Thus, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Office in Ukraine (FES-Ukraine) launched a project aimed at presenting and adapting the experience of Germany in dual studies organization in 2013. As a result, in 2019, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MES) launched a national experiment on introducing DS in 44 pre-tertiary and tertiary educational establishments. The article aims to present the results of the survey conducted among the Ukraine-based employers that participated in the first year of this experiment. The authors’ questionnaire survey was carried out from June to September 2020. The respondents included 111 companies indicated as partners by the TEEs listed in the ministerial Order #1296 on the launch of the experiment planned for the period of 2019-2023. The answers were obtained from 93 companies, 55 of which presented details of TEE-company cooperation. The data obtained allowed performing both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The findings show that companies are interested in dual studies and are ready to invest in training students as their potential employees. German approaches to the DS organization cannot be simply copied due to the specific features of the national legislation and the state of the national economy. However, they may be successfully adapted and implemented in Ukraine. Therefore, the obtained information has been used for elaborating recommendations to the stakeholders (TEEs, employers and their associations, the MES and other relevant state bodies etc.).