Changing the Perception of Business Values in the Perspective of Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

This study provides an overview of practical approaches to sustainability and its communication to the public in the business sector. The research presented in this article is focused on perceived sustainability in micro and small enterprises in Slovakia through research of business models used by these enterprises using a qualitative approach. The aim is to provide a general view on this topic and to prepare the basis for a sustainable business model composed of the values of society in micro and small businesses in Slovakia. The research consists of two phases—research in the field of business environment through personal interviews with entrepreneurs (examination of parameters: locality, waste management, ecological components, minimization of waste) and research of consumers’ perceived values within the perception of environmental problems. Businesses perceive the seriousness and necessity of solving the problem. Entrepreneurs from the micro and small segments perceive the high importance of solving elements of sustainability. They mentioned the minimization of waste as the most important element, the highest value on the scale (5) was marked by up to 85% of respondents. From a customer survey, it is possible to assess that almost 86% of respondents in this case feel that global problems are affecting them personally and at the same time more than 62% of them believe that they can influence the offerings of companies through their purchases and support sustainability in the business environment.

A systematic and critical review of waste management in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises: future directions for theory and practice

“…As resulted by Demjanovičová and Varmus ( 2021 ), waste reduction is an important aspect in micro and small enterprises. However, many MSMEs ignore separating dry recyclable materials and bio-waste for collection.…”

“…Antecedents based on the tourism and hospitality sectors research Clients are not interested in WM (-) Time-consuming (-) Lack of budget (-) Lack of knowledge (-) Agyeiwaah ( 2019 ) Consumer pressure ( +) Regulatory intervention ( +) Complexity (-) Human resource constraints (-) Harley et al ( 2020 ) 5. Antecedents based on the multi-sectors research Lack of knowledge, information technologies, expertise, and training (-) Cantú et al ( 2021 ); de Guimarães et al ( 2018 ); Fahad et al ( 2022 ); Martínez and Poveda ( 2022 ); Pozo et al ( 2019 ); Salma et al ( 2021 ); Salvioni et al ( 2021 ); Sharma et al ( 2021 ); Woodard ( 2021 ); Yousaf et al ( 2021 ) Lack of financial resources and incentives (-) Cantú et al ( 2021 ); Fahad et al ( 2022 ); Martínez and Poveda ( 2022 ); Mura et al ( 2020 ); Salma et al ( 2021 ); Salvioni et al ( 2021 ); Salvioni et al ( 2021 ); Sharma et al ( 2021 ); Woodard ( 2020 ; 2021 ) Supportive governmental policies and regulations ( +) Demjanovičová and Varmus ( 2021 ); Fahad et al ( 2022 ); Martínez and Poveda ( 2022 ); Mura et al ( 2020 ) Poor regulations and legislation (-) Cantú et al ( 2021 ); Mura et al ( 2020 ); Woodard ( 2021 ) Improving the technological capacity and new technologies ( +) Fahad et al ( 2022 ...…”

“…Strict national regulations have a positive impact on managing waste in MSMEs (Salvioni et al 2021 ). In this regard, governmental regulations have a positive pressure on minimizing waste in micro and small enterprises (Demjanovičová and Varmus 2021 ). Cleaner production including WM practices is positively influenced by entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and knowledge management orientation (de Guimarães et al 2018 ).…”

Sustainable practices in hospitality pre and amid COVID‐19 pandemic: Looking back for moving forward post‐COVID‐19

“…Sustainability is a significant topic in business processes (Demjanovičová & Varmus, 2021 ) and consumers' lifestyles (Cantele & Cassia, 2020 ). For the past two decades, the notion of sustainability has been actively debated in both social and scientific circles (Malheiro et al, 2020 ).…”

Flattery will get you somewhere, sometimes? The effect of flattery and hotel segments on a hotel guests' green behavior

“…As consumers become increasingly concerned about environmental challenges and shape their behaviors to be more environmentally friendly (Kachaner et al, 2020), companies have acknowledged the significance of sustainability in their strategic planning (Demjanovičová & Varmus, 2021). The hotel industry in particular is expected to execute long‐term pro‐environmental initiatives to address its carbon footprint, including the vast amount of carbon emissions and waste (AxisRooms, 2022) as well as its significant rates of water consumption, which accounts for about 15% of the US water consumption (Desiderio, 2022).…”