1. Barriers and influencing factors in the implementation of circular economy in Slovenian road transportKristijan Brglez, Mateja Čuček, Andjelko Andy Kober, Rebeka Kovačič Lukman, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: The European Union’s commitment to sustainable development, exemplifed by the Green Deal and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, highlights the importance of the circular economy, especially for road transport companies. This study examines the current state of circular economy practices in Slovenian road transport through an inquiry of 151 logistic companies. Utilizing principal component analysis, fve key factors infuencing circular economy implementation were identifed: knowledge and competences, company practices, strategies, regional development, and market presence. Additionally, seven barriers were noted: lack of knowledge, fnancial constraints, time limitations, space constraints, limited technology, management issues, and supply chain coordination challenges. Findings suggest that circular practices are often secondary to business proftability, with fnancially stable companies more likely to adopt these practices. Success in circular economy implementation requires investments in innovative technologies, capacity building, and strong management support. Companies in more developed regions tend to adopt circular practices due to better access to knowledge and incentives. These insights provide a foundation for future research, including comparative studies across transport sector in European Union and globally.
Keywords: circular economy, logistics sector, PCA, barriers, road transport
Published in DKUM: 25.11.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 8
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2. Drivers and barriers of digital transformation in asset managementDamjan Maletič, Marta Grabowska, Matjaž Maletič, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: This paper aims to improve understanding of the drivers and barriers to digital transformation in asset management. Accordingly, this paper contributes to the literature by conducting a qualitative Delphi study with 15 experts (including academia, consultancy and industry) to identify, validate, and classify the drivers and barriers affecting digital transformation in asset management. As a result of the experts’ interactions, 20 barriers were identified. The main barriers to digital transformation in asset management are the following: Misunderstanding of the strategic importance of asset management, no clear vision/strategy, existing mindset and culture, inadequate asset management system, lack of understanding of digital trends, and lack of employee knowledge and skills. The study also highlights 12 drivers that are critical to the digital transformation of asset management. These include cost reductions, opportunities in condition monitoring of assets, expected benefits in asset management processes, expected benefits in risk management and others.
Keywords: asset management, digital transformation, drivers, barriers, Delphi
Published in DKUM: 04.04.2024; Views: 219; Downloads: 23
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3. Drivers and barriers for the adoption of circular economy principles towards efficient resource utilisationVesna Alivojvodić, Filip Kokalj, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: Contemporary societies, whether they have reached advanced levels of economic and social development or are still developing, need to prioritise the implementation of circular economy practices. This will facilitate the shift towards regenerative, sustainable, and closed-loop industrial systems. For now, there are some efforts to encourage patterns of production and consumption through changes in economic trends, development of institutional frameworks, harmonising regulations in the field of environmental protection, and raising the level of social awareness to achieve, above all, greater efficiency of resources. Extensive literature that deals with monitoring the implementation of the circular economy already indicates the existence of numerous barriers in this process but also notices some incentives for raising the degree of circularity of the observed systems. In this paper, the question of whether a single value can represent the level of circularity of the chosen material/product chain is researched. An overview of barriers and drivers for implementing circular economy strategies is given to structure a proper metric framework in correlation to the research question. The objective was to simplify the monitoring of circularity by developing a unique index for comparing material/product chains in similar systems. This was accomplished by using the circular material use (CMU) rate introduced in the European Union and modifying it for financial data calculation. As a result, the circular economy index, which covers all 9R strategies (CEIR), is obtained. The practical verification of model applicability was shown by determining the degree of circularity achieved for passenger cars in the four observed EU countries.
Keywords: barriers, 9R framework, circular material use rate, circular economy index, passenger cars
Published in DKUM: 19.03.2024; Views: 296; Downloads: 27
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4. Youth entrepreneurship among higher education students – a qualitative research of entrepreneurial intention and educationPedro Mendonça, Vítor Braga, Marisa R. Ferreira, Alexandra Braga, Amélia Carvalho, 2022, original scientific article Keywords: higher education students, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial education, barriers to entrepreneurial intention, qualitative research
Published in DKUM: 19.06.2023; Views: 393; Downloads: 4
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5. Motivation for Learning English in AdulthoodJerneja Osredkar, 2019, master's thesis Abstract: Technological development, information technology development, new ways of communicating and globalisation have influenced the society and knowledge greatly. One's knowledge needs to be upgraded and improved constantly since it enables the quality of work, personal development, as well as a better quality of life in society. Due to historical spread of the language and the economic power of the United States of America, English has gained the position of a global language and is used as a lingua franca in the world. Therefore, many invidiuals decide to learn English in adulthood. Their decision to enrol in language courses and final success depend on many factors, motivation certainly being one of the key factors. The main aim of the master’s thesis is to find out what motivates adults to take part in language courses as well as what the potential barriers are. The analysis of the survey has not shown any major differences in motivation between older and younger adults; however, factor analysis shows that knowledge is the most important value upon which people decide to enrol in the English language classes. When analysing barriers, situational barriers have proven as the most pressing issue once again.
Keywords: lifelong learning, the English language, motivation, barriers to learning
Published in DKUM: 20.12.2019; Views: 1296; Downloads: 158
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6. Innovation leaders, modest innovators and non-innovative SMEs in Slovakia : key factors and barriers of innovation activityĽubica Lesáková, Petra Gundová, Pavol Kráľ, Andrea Ondrušová, 2017, original scientific article Abstract: Background and Purpose: The field of innovation represents for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) a fundamental challenge. If the number of innovative SMEs is to rise, it is necessary to identify key factors determining their innovation activity and eliminate the innovation barriers. The main purpose of the paper is to present the results of primary research focused on identification (evaluation) of key factors and barriers determining innovation activities in Slovak SMEs. The division of SMEs into three groups of enterprises: innovation leaders, modest innovators and non-innovators enables to identify the differences in managers’ perception of the main factors and barriers determining innovation activities in various types of SMEs and to formulate policy implications for Slovak SMEs.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Results of the empirical research were processed using MS Excel and the statistical analysis of the data in R3.2.4. statistical system was done. For statistical tests we assumed significance level (α = 0.1).
Results: Evaluating the importance of the key factors a majority of enterprises (64.71%) indicated financial resources as the most important factor for the innovations. There is no statistically significant difference in individual (analysed) factors between innovation leaders, non-innovators and innovation followers (modest innovators). The results gained from Fisher exact test (p-value = 0.11) indicated a small difference in evaluating the significance of individual barriers between innovation leaders, non-innovators and modest innovators. Majority of enterprises also see as the main barriers to develop innovation activities bureaucracy and corruption and inappropriate state support of innovation activities.
Conclusion: The main implications (conclusion) coming from the research are basic recommendations for state policy makers as well as SME’s managers to foster innovation activities in enterprises. They refer to the areas of financial resources, high-quality human resources, cooperation and participation of SMEs in different networks and clusters, systematic institutional support to SMEs, well-created vision and clearly formulated aims, and willingness of enterprises to innovate. Recommendations are summarised following the results of factor’s and barrier’s evaluation.
Keywords: innovations, small and medium enterprises, factors, barriers, Slovak Republic
Published in DKUM: 04.05.2018; Views: 1263; Downloads: 132
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