Share or not to share? Sharing economy in public eyes

Research background: Sharing (or collaborative) economy brought a bulk of possibilities to spread the business internationally not only for private sector, but also for every citizen who own any assets demanded on the market. With a vital support of web platforms even individuals can utilise shared goods and services either as a supplier or as buyer. Purpose of the article: The study aims at the assessment of public attitudes towards the phenomenon of sharing economy. More detailed, the willingness to utilise shared services and goods as well as the willingness to offer them are investigated. Methods: The questionnaire survey was conducted to reveal the public attitudes towards selected aspects of sharing economy. Dominantly, the Likert-type scale is used to express respondents’ attitudes, but also the method of semantic differential was utilised. It is used as the 7-points rating scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of the sharing economy concept. The questionnaire was distributed among public using purposive sampling via web platforms. The frequency and contingency analyses with support of the relevant statistics are used to process the data. Findings & Value added: The survey reached mostly young people which is positively perceived as lot of “web-skilled” individuals could be expected among such a sample. Internet literacy is a pre-cursor for sharing economy possibilities utilisation. Surprisingly, higher share respondents do not expressed interest to offer services via sharing economy platforms. Overall, no more than 30% of the sample utilise shared services. Here, men seem to be more embraced to be involved

Assessment of Chain-of-Custody Certification in the Czech and Slovak Republic

Forest certification is a voluntary verification tool that has been gaining importance within the global sustainability issues as an independent verification tool for sustainable forest management and wood processing industry and as an influencer in private and public purchasing policies and a component of emerging wood harvesting and trade legality schemes. This study focuses on the chain-of-custody (CoC) component of forest certification. A survey of CoC certified companies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia was carried out to explore the understanding of the concept and role of forest and CoC certification as an environmental, economic, and social tool. It aimed to determine expectations following from the implementation of CoC certification by companies and to identify difficulties in existing certified wood product supply chains and costs related to purchase and sales of certified forest products, respectively. Results indicate that respondents demonstrated a high level of understanding of the CoC concept and that they link forest certification mainly to the issues of legality, tracing the origin source of supply and promotion of sustainable utilisation of wood. The main expected benefits are linked to the improvement of an external company image followed by penetration of new markets and increase of sales volume. CoC is not considered a tool to improve internal company performance and efficiency. The key problems connected to certified supply chains relate to the sufficient quantity of certified forest products, low margins and overpriced certified material inputs. Respondents reported none or minimum price premiums for their certified products over non-certified alternatives. Several differences related to the understanding of the sustainable forest management concept and the level of price premium paid for certified inputs were identified between the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified companies as well as between the different forest products sectors

Analysis of Wood Flows in Slovakia

This paper describes the analysis of raw wood flows in Slovakia. Material flow analysis was used to reveal and quantify relations between the resources and the primary uses of wood. In particular, two approaches to wood flow modelling were utilised - wood balance and wood resource balance. Wood balance was introduced to illustrate a global view of the resources and primary uses of roundwood in Slovakia without analysing internal flows or individual roundwood assortments, respectively. The wood resource balance, as a more detailed analysis, takes into account the uses of wood as a material and also the by-products and waste generated by the production that could be used as inputs for further uses in wood processing or energy sectors. The latter balance was compiled using available official statistics supplemented by a questionnaire to estimate missing data for waste streams. With a total consumption of 11.964 mil. m3 roundwood equivalents, the value of the overall cascade factor was 1.11. Over 84% of all resources were used for industrial purposes, and nearly 16% were used for energy generation

Globalisation Impacts on Timber Consumption in Slovakia

Research background: Globalisation is nowadays phenomenon which affects all economic sectors. The pros and cons of globalisation can also be observed in the case of forestry and forest-based complex in Slovakia. Timber trade and market follows the theory of derived demand, which means that demand for wood depends on the demand for final products. We can observe a significant impact of globalisation on changes in the use of wood from traditional to new ecological and sustainable use. Since 1993 the consumption of industrial roundwood in Slovakia has increased by almost 185%. Purpose of the article: The aim of this study is to examine the impact of globalisation on the consumption of coniferous and non-coniferous industrial roundwood in Slovakia, and to determine the relationship between the consumption of industrial roundwood and trends of globalisation trends in Slovakia. Methods: The development of KOF globalization index was analysed in the period 2003 to 2018. In addition, the development of the consumption of coniferous and non-coniferous industrial roundwood was examined. The correlation analysis and linear regression were used to analyse the relationship between the KOF globalisation index and development of consumption of coniferous and non-coniferous industrial roundwood in Slovakia. Findings & Value added: The results of correlation analysis show statistically significant relationship between globalisation and the development of consumption of industrial roundwood in Slovakia. We can conclude that the development of globalisation has more significant impact on consumption of non-coniferous industrial roundwood than on consumption of coniferous industrial roundwood

Consumers – global citizens from the CSR 2.0 perspective

The article focuses on CSR 2.0 concept (Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility) in context with concept of a circular economy and responsible consumer. The main goal of CSR 2.0 is an improvement of the quality of life for all people in the world. This concept perceives consumers as global citizens. The basic principles of CSR 2.0 are Creativity (C), Scalability (S), Responsiveness (R), Glocality (2) and Circularity (0). The companies which implement CSR 2.0 can bring innovative solutions to most pressing social, environmental and ethical problems and challenges in the world. Responsible and conscious consumers can engage in the process of implementing CSR 2.0 by their willingness to collaborate and participate in the marketplace and corporate world. The aim of this paper is to look at the consumer from the “Glocality and Circularity perspective” according to the basic principles of CSR 2.0 in the condition of the Slovak Republic. To fulfil this aim, we conducted a survey of 1061 Slovak inhabitants. The results show the profile of our respondents according to their local actions (environmental actions, buying ethical products etc.) and their profile/activities regarding their participation on circularity (e.g. recycling, re-using, sharing etc.)

Energy Utilization of Renewable Resources in the European Union ― Cluster Analysis Approach

This paper analyzes and evaluates the European Union (EU) utilization of renewable resources in energy production and consumption. Biomass and renewable waste, with a share of 64.2% of primary renewable energy production, is the most important energy source in the EU. However, utilization of renewables in energy production and consumption differs across EU countries and is significantly influenced by various factors, including environmental, social, and economic characteristics. Cluster analysis was used to reveal these differences based on the identification and quantification of a set of factors reflecting the availability of renewable resources, utilization of renewable resources, and relevant socio-economic indicators. The results indicate that there are nine main identifiable clusters, considering the high variability of selected variables. The analysis confirmed that the economically developed EU countries with significant renewable resources have above-average primary energy production from renewable resources and biomass in particular. On the other hand, small EU countries are aggregated in numerous clusters characterized by under-average values in terms of availability and utilization of renewable resources such as wood production or energy consumption but with a relatively high share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption

Sustainability and Branding: An Integrated Perspective of Eco-innovation and Brand

Eco-innovation presents a tool that helps companies to transform environmental constraints into opportunities and advantages such as cost reduction, better reputation, and benefit for new markets. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the perception of eco-innovation and green brands in the context of sustainability in Slovakia and their mutual relation. The applied research focused on the perception of eco-innovation and green brands. The survey was realized by the Kano model that provides customers’ opinions regarding the requirements of the monitored object. In our case, the research object is ecological innovation evaluated in terms of selected parameters. To generalize the relationships among examined parameters, cluster analysis was applied to identify clusters of examined parameters of ecological innovations. The aim of the contribution is to present the output of the cluster analysis in a form of a dendrogram showing a graphical grouping of related objects in three clusters that include examined parameters according to their perception by customers

Sustainability and Branding: An Integrated Perspective of Eco-innovation and Brand

Eco-innovation presents a tool that helps companies to transform environmental constraints into opportunities and advantages such as cost reduction, better reputation, and benefit for new markets. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the perception of eco-innovation and green brands in the context of sustainability in Slovakia and their mutual relation. The applied research focused on the perception of eco-innovation and green brands. The survey was realized by the Kano model that provides customers’ opinions regarding the requirements of the monitored object. In our case, the research object is ecological innovation evaluated in terms of selected parameters. To generalize the relationships among examined parameters, cluster analysis was applied to identify clusters of examined parameters of ecological innovations. The aim of the contribution is to present the output of the cluster analysis in a form of a dendrogram showing a graphical grouping of related objects in three clusters that include examined parameters according to their perception by customers