The widespread use of information and communication technologies and subsequent transformations have led to the formation of a digital economy (DE). The European Union, as an international organization, has become the subject of building such an economy, striving to bring member countries closer in the field of digitalization.The aim of this paper is to compare the DE development parameters of the EU countries based on cluster analysis and determine the most significant of them to solve the problems of bridging the digital divide between countries. For clustering, a feature DE vector of 20 indicators was created and the k-means algorithm and the Euclidean distance metric were used. For classification, the decision tree method was applied.Three clusters of EU countries were identified by the level of DE development (leaders, followers and outsiders), which allowed assessing their positions relative to each other. Key parameters that determine countries’ positions in the general rating are identified. A parameter chart is generated to control the establishment of DE in the EU countries, which, in addition to key parameters, includes maximum, minimum and harmonic mean values of these parameters by cluster. This characterizes the landscape of DE development in the EU countries, assesses the digital divide and is the basis for decision-making in the area of bridging this divide.
In the context of globalization of the educational services market, competition between universities is becoming more intense. This manifests itself, among other things, in the struggle for positions in international university rankings. Given that universities are evaluated according to many criteria in such rankings, it becomes necessary to identify the most significant factors in determining their positions.This study aims to identify the key factors determining the world’s leading universities’ leadership in international university rankings. The numerical values of the criteria for compiling the QS World University Rankings (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE) rankings were an empirical basis for the study. The analysis covered the Top 50 universities (according to the QS ranking) and was conducted based on reports for 2020 and 2021.At first, clustering was carried out (method – k-means); the data set was the combination of numerical values of QS and THE criteria (six and five criteria, respectively). The universities were divided into three clusters in 2020 (23, 19, 8 universities) and 2021 (23, 17, 10 universities). This showed the universities’ leadership relative to each other for each year.At the second stage, classification processing was performed (method – decision trees). As a result, criteria combinations that give an absolute separation of all clusters (2020 – five combinations; 2021 – eight combinations) were identified. The obtained combinations largely determine universities’ affiliation to clusters; their criteria are recognized as key factors of their leadership in the rankings. This study’s results can serve as guidelines for improving universities’ positions in the rankings.
Modern economy is characterized by rapid qualitative and quantitative changes that significantly affect the nature of economic, socio-economic and social relations. Innovative processes and trends are very specific manifestations, which are reflected in the economic and marketing theory. A greater place in science and practice is occupied by the concepts of new economy, knowledge economy, knowledge society. Therefore, the study of knowledge economy marketing becomes more and more relevant.The paper is aimed to develop a technique for selection of the key parameters for building the model of national knowledge economy marketing.For this purpose, it is proposed to conduct a cluster analysis based on aggregated data. Classification of differences between clusters is given. As a result of classification, the authors have identified a group of indicators, which make all clusters distinctive and, first and foremost, determine positions of countries in the global landscape. These indicators are interpreted as key factors of the knowledge economy.Based on the suggested mathematical functions, the authors assessed the value of every key factor within the selected group. It became the second step in selecting the parameters to build a multifactor model of knowledge economy marketing at the national level. The paper also justifies that it is reasonable to use cognitive approach to address challenges in the sphere under consideration. This approach is able to become a sound basis for building the model of national knowledge economy marketing in the form of cognitive map.
The increased final consumption exacerbates the problem of the scarcity of natural resources and leads to environmental pollution. The concept of circular economy, which implies the formation of closed-loop chains of production and consumption with maximum regeneration and recycling of materials, is considered as an alternative to the firmly established “linear economy” (take-make-dispose). As a part of sustainable development strategy, the European Union adopted a general policy on the transition to a circular economy. However, for objective reasons, such transition is quite uneven at the level of member countries, which adversely affects the total progress. Therefore, the need arises to assess the positions of individual countries and identify major reasons for the uneven transition to support the countries that are lagging.The goal of the study is to identify the factors of uneven progress of the EU countries towards a circular economy. For that reason, a set of empirical data (20 indicators) has been compiled; cluster, classification, and parametric analyses have been conducted. As a result, three clusters of the EU countries have been obtained and six indicators, included into combinations that make all clusters different, have been identified. These indicators can be interpreted as the key factors contributing to the uneven progress of the EU countries towards a circular economy. The difference in harmonic means by clusters allowed quantitatively estimating a “circular gap”. It is of practical value for the EU policy aimed at bridging the gaps between member countries during the transition to a circular economy.
The paradigm of "unlimited growth" capitalism leads to an aggravating the problem of a natural resource shortage, an increase in waste and general pollution of the Earth. The concept of a circular economy (CE) is an alternative to this; it implies a transition to closed production and consumption cycles. The purpose of the article is to supplement this concept with ideas of integrating several rationalizing production models of the CE building at the national production system level, taking into account the country's participation in international trade. These model production models are "flexible custom manufacturing", "distributed manufacturing" and "lean manufacturing", which also means the widespread involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises. The use of digital technologies for a new quality of communication, as well as the creation of sharing centers, in order to achieve greater organizational and technological complexity of the production system is required. The CE building must take into account the country's participation in international trade. Attention is focused on the fact that the CE will have a different effect on certain types of international trade, in particular, it will stimulate such trade as: materials for processing, secondary raw materials, technologies, projects of finished products, R&D services. Purposeful national and global policies, expansion of international cooperation and support of developing countries are needed in order to increase the positive contribution of international trade to СЕ building. Practical recommendations for the CE concept implementation are proposed, including the creation of: information infrastructure for production networks; digital platforms for interaction between producers and consumers; industrial parks, clusters and incubators for new industries, as well as technological, digital and organizational innovation stimulation.
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