Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

This research article aims to investigate green public procurement as a tool for sustainable and secure food policy on the example of Poland. The practical objective of the study is to present the application of an analyzed wide range policy tool supporting sustainable food consumption in Poland. First, the systematic literature review of regulatory and market-based tools with an overview on policy rationale was carried out. Second, to assess consumers’ preferences on green public procurement, the exploratory survey with CAWI method in period from 1.01 to 31.03.2022 was conducted. Third, to quantify the survey results, one-way ANOVA analysis was applied. Fourth, to deepen only statistically significant dependencies between customers and green public procurement, Cluster Analysis was used. There are plenty interesting and applicative findings from the study. In a short time-horizon, the results show that there is a growing interest in market-based instruments on the food market expressed by consumers. Moreover, the consumers favor those that are less coercive and do not directly affect their freedom of food choice. The study found a high degree of match between green public procurement and established consumer clusters, which can be applied by state authorities in a long-time horizon.

Microcredit emerged in the 1970s, in Bangladesh, as a tool for sustainable development. However, in Portugal, it only took its first steps in the late 1980’s and emerged as a response to unemployment. This paper provides an overview of micro credit system in Portugal and aims to identify the profile of the successful microentrepreneur and point out the reasons that most contribute to the sustainability of microcredit business initiatives. Although the paper is mainly exploratory, we combined different methodologic approaches. First, we conducted interviews with key informants, then, we applied a questionnaire to microentrepreneurs. The survey contained three sections, namely, socio-demographic characteristics; characteristics of project; attitude as an entrepreneur. A sample group consisting of 96 participants of microfinance programme participated in the research. The findings indicate that the profile of the successful microentrepreneur is an individual with a superior degree, already have been employed, with positive or very positive level for the innovation of the product/service, for the adjustment of the business to the environment, for prior planning and for the accompaniment by public/non-profit institution. In a less degree, a positive level for training/professional experience in the project area and a positive level for self-esteem/self-confidence have also some influence. The results point out that the attitude as a microentrepreneur is less important than the characteristics of the project to the outcome of the microenterprise.

The activities related to food production, processing, handling, transportation, storage and disposal of food products have an important impact on sustainability. Hence, people’s food choices also contribute for the definition of the extension of this impact and therefore this work aimed at studying some motivations that influence people’s eating habits. This was an observational, cross-sectional study, undertaken on a non-probabilistic sample of 11960 participants form 16 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania, United States of America). The survey was undertaken by means of a questionnaire of self-response, applied only to adult citizens. The results obtained indicated that a great number of participants admit to shape their food choices according to some environmental concerns, like, for example, they prefer foods from the season or those that comply with sustainable processing and packaging. Regarding the food surplus, this seems a priority to avoid at home, but not so much when it comes to restaurants. Factor analysis indicated two types of concerns: Purely Environmental Concerns (PEC) and Sustainability allied to Quality Concerns (SQC), and cluster analysis showed that 54% of the participants tend to make their food choices considering both types of concerns, which is very expressive and positive towards sustainability of the food chain.

The Gade Clean and Gold is one of the forms of CSR program (Corporate Social Responsibility) of a state-owned enterprise of pawnshop company in addressing the waste problem in Indonesia. The program allows the public to exchange waste in the waste bank that has been established by the pawnshop with gold savings. The research aims to examines the role of The Gade Clean and Gold program in the society’s economic empowerment that is based on environmental hygiene. This study is conducted using descriptive analytics method, based on interview, desk study, and field observation. The results of this paper showed that The Gade Clean and Gold was successful in raising people’s interest in investing in sustainable economies as well as increasing public awareness of the environment.

Vietnam is still classified as a low-income country with GDP per capita at 2,587 USD in the year 2018, as per the classification by World Bank Atlas method. Therefore, industrialization is set as an appropriate policy for economic development. In Vietnam, industrial zone establishment is planned, developed and controlled by the state in order to accelerate the industrialization process. This article discusses about the importance and impact of industrialization and ongoing internal migration, as a result of industrial development, on socio-economic development by reviewing the relationship among them using multivariate statistical and comparative research methods. Case study research methodology has also been used by the researchers to examine the positive and negative impacts of immigration on infrastructure of destination locality. The article presents the statistical data and the practical experience gained in Binh Duong province which has a huge number of industrial zones and with highest in-migration rate in the country; a detailed analysis of the challenges faced by local governments is presented with the appropriate recommendations for policymaking.

The paper deals with consumer preferences of young people (members of Y generation) in relation to general principles of sustainability in environmental and social aspects of consumer goods purchase. The aim of the article is to evaluate the relationship between the general attitudes to the above-mentioned issues and the awareness of the “fair trade” business concept in the context of sustainable development of the young generation aged 15–34 in the Czech Republic. The presented results were obtained through primary research involving 840 respondents from the Czech Republic. Within the research, the quota selection features were taken into account, which were gender, age, educational attainment and respondent’s residence area. The results show that young people are interested in the origin of consumer goods they buy. They are willing to invest more in the purchase of goods if their price reflects the quality, the environmentally friendly way and the working conditions of the producers. From the point of view of the specific knowledge of the concept of Fair Trade, it was found that almost half knows it. It has been proven that young people who are interested in the origin of goods also know Fair Trade.

Plastic bags are unusually comfortable solution for consumers (particularly if are free of charge) and constitute a sort of sign of time. However, they are also an enormous environmental challenge, because they become waste after a very short life cycle. In the world this problem had already been noticed some time ago and many states took action being aimed at limiting the use of disposable plastic carrier bags. In 2018 Poland, forced by notations of the EU directive, was also included in the group of these states. This article was devoted to discussion about a solution accepted in Poland and its contribution to the accomplishment of the concept of sustainable development. As the result of the study it can be stated that it is possible to limit the consumption of disposable plastic bags in Poland, however another fear is a fact that the first signals of the leakiness of the system and the possibility of avoiding the recycling fee already appeared.

In recent years, tourism businesses have had to face rapid changes brought about by modernisation, internationalisation, social changes, and the higher demands of tourists. These features have an impact on the current level of tourism services and determine the overall economic environment on the supply and demand side. To keep up with global and national competition and these new emerging processes, it is important for managers to discover and monitor how key global figures can have an impact on the future development of tourism units in the hopes to achieve further sustainability growth. Managers should adapt to the changing environment by using new methods and strategies that make tourism units sustainable for future generations. One of the main indicators measuring economic sustainability is gross domestic product, as it captures the market value of the measured services or goods in general. For this reason, it is worthwhile to determine what the interconnections with regard to gross domestic product and tourism variable are. Through this relationship, it is possible to evaluate the health of a certain economy of tourism that can serve as a viewpoint for the management of tourism businesses in a certain state. This research looks at the relationship between the chosen indicators from the tourism sectors of the Czech Republic and Norway. Its purpose is to identify the relationship between the chosen general economic indicators measuring tourism economic prosperity, such as overall gross domestic product for international travel expenditures within a 7-year period. The main aim of the research is to determine the relationship between the chosen indicators through comparison and trend analysis. The data will be examined in order to determine the relationship between the chosen variables, as well as the strength of the dependence of both variables. Based on these findings, further research may use gross domestic product as one of the crucial indicators for the measurement of economic sustainability with respect to its added value for tourism businesses and management.

The building and real estate industry have a significant influence on the environment, economy and the society. A number of benefits are associated with the development of sustainable or green buildings. Sustainable building or real estate construction enables an ethical, viable and practical response to resource consumption and environmental impact. It creates an economic sense on a life cycle costing basis. The current research paper aims to examine the impact of sustainable real estate development (SRED) on investment in green buildings, in the real estate sector. It is pertinent to examine that how embracing sustainability in real estate building impacts or changes value proposition for an investment i.e. how participants in the market filter and scrutinize relevant sets of information and integrate it into an existing framework of investment. For this purpose, the study adopted a quantitative approach, and applied a questionnaire survey strategy. Primary data was collected by distributing survey questionnaire among the real estate investors, in the region of Austria, Vienna, Lower Austria. The information, collected from survey was analysed by the help of statistical techniques, specifically regression analysis, factor analysis, descriptive statistics, as well as reliability test. It evaluated four benefits associated with SRED, which include higher building value (HBV), productivity gains (PG), cost savings (CS), and environmental gains (EG). Using data of 103 Austrian investors, the study finds a significant positive impact of HBV, PG, and EG on dependent variable of Investment in green buildings (IN) at 10% significance level. However, it is unable to find significant association between CS and IN. The study suggests that there is a need to enhance awareness about, and focus on the benefits of sustainable real estate development (SRED) and green buildings.

Circular economy conception is a result of development of sustainability. Since 1987, when the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) has developed and published the document “Our Common Future”, numerous institutions monitor sustainable development (SD) at global, national or regional level. Recently The European Commission adopted a Circular Economy Package, which consists of an EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy that establishes a concrete programme of action, with measures covering the whole cycle and sets out the timeline when the actions will be complete. This paper analyses and tries to answer a question about what should be taking into account setting circular economy indicators.