The landscape of business all around the world may today be characterized by one word: turbulent. Turbulent, because there are many uncertainties and threats related to political, legal, economic, social and ecological factors. Among these factors, ecological factors act silently and businesses tend to ignore them. Often, businesses invoke economic or social pressure when they postpone measures meant to protect the environment or to change their operations to be more pro-ecological. However, in the last decades, more and more businesses started to consider ecological factors in the core of their activity. Ignoring ecological factors from the business strategy means transforming...

The importance of political and legal factors in orienting firms towards a proecological behaviour is crucial. It is a truism that in countries that promote the pro-ecological legislation and where the application of the law is consistent, the companies are encouraged to promote actions that imply a pro-ecological vision towards their businesses. Also, when political and legal factors are in consonance, companies transform their behaviour from a reactive one (to adapt to the law) to a proactive one (to anticipate the environmental legislation trends and to find out how upcoming legislation can affect the business).

The legal context represents the...

Carrying out a study of pro-ecological restructuring at Ukrainian enterprises, the authors came to the conclusion that these processes are in the development stage by both qualitative and quantitative criteria. At the level of top management, pro-ecological changes are not a priority. In Ukraine, historically (due to the fact that Ukraine was part of the USSR) entrepreneurs’ attitudes show some disregard to the value of resources, both natural and labour, and therefore the main incentives for changes at the macro and micro levels are precisely external factors. Thus, various laws and development programs are being adopted at the state level,...

Scientific and media reports on the constantly deteriorating state of natural human surroundings force contemporary society to search for more effective ways of caring for the environment that are currently available. Living in harmony with nature requires taking action in at least three areas (Majchrowska 2013): 1. Natural and technological sphere.

2. Political and social activities, legal and economic activities.

3. Popularization activities concerning individual and social awareness (Frątczak 1995).

The enterprise environment – both micro and macroeconomic – tries to respect the above-stipulated areas through active measures, aiming to achieve harmony. One might presume that human beings are fully aware of...

The following section is a continuation of the solutions from section 1, which presented the turbulent environment companies are set in. Unlike that part, the case studies presented here describe measures taken by business entities as part of the restructuring processes. These activities are closely linked with proenvironmental decisions.

The first part of the section is an extended case study on the pro-environmental activity of a large company, ThyssenGas. The analysis posed a question of whether the activity of this German gas supplier was related to ecological processes. A high-technology solution was identified here, one which enables mixing natural gas...

Pro-environmental business activity takes different forms. One of them is a complex approach to technological progress aimed at increased involvement in environmental protection. As an example of such an attitude this paper presents Thyssengas, the leading natural gas supplier in Germany. The technological solutions described below combine conventional energy sources with the renewable ones. This shows that even in large-scale business activity economic entities can use pro-environmental methods by changing their basic technology. Companies operating in market economies often make efforts intending to show their best side to stakeholders. One such endeavor is involvement in promoting environmentally friendly solutions. In...

The problem of management and utilization of the agricultural enterprises’ biowaste in Ukraine is rather urgent given the increase in agricultural production and the absence of an integrated approach to solving the current problem. Other important factors are the lack or complexity of financing of these projects, as well as the incomprehension on the part of the owners of the enterprises on the benefits of biowaste recycling. Taking the above mentioned into consideration, the main objective of the proposed case study is to develop the project of constructing and commissioning a biogas collection and utilization complex, followed by production of...

The aim of this paper is to present the selected aspects of proecological strategic reorientation in the HS Company. The company is a producer of parts for machines used in several industrial sectors of the Polish economy. The HS company is the manufacturer with a more than 100-year-old tradition of offering high-quality products, construction and design, market suppliers, extensive knowledge of gear production, and technological support.

In order to achieve the aim of the article, the following objectives are formulated: (1) presenting the history and characteristics of the HS company; (2) introducing the concepts of strategic reorientation in the HS...

The goal of PJSC “Obolon” is to meet the demands and expectations of customers and, as a result, to hold a leading market position. Their strategy includes constant attention to the preservation of the environment and takes into account the interests of all stakeholders. The basis of the strategy of “Obolon” is growth based on sustainable development principles.

As part of the strategy, “Obolon” implements innovative and energy-saving technologies, improves the environmental performance of production, minimizes harmful emissions into the environment, and reuses and recycles resources. In recent years, many investment projects aimed at reducing environmental impact were implemented – on...

Environmental policies and strategies have rapidly become a common feature of the corporate landscape, as firms acknowledge that integrating sustainability in their business operations has a significant potential for substantial gains. However, developing and implementing environmental policies and strategies are not enough for effectively incorporating sustainability into the business practices. A cultural transformation that fosters employee engagement in environmental sustainability through pro-ecological behaviour is also required. In order to achieve sustainability goals, firms are turning to one of their greatest resources – the employees. In this context, employee engagement in proenvironmental behaviour at work emerged as a prerequisite for effectively mainstreaming...

Globalization processes, changing consumer expectations and increasing competition force businesses to vigorously search for new environmental technologies that will minimize pollutant emissions as well as save natural resources. In this sense, environmental technologies relate to all forms of creating and implementing production or services processes striving to acquire higher effectiveness and responsibility of a company in the field of using natural resources (Bocken et al. 2014). Therefore, actions for new environmental technologies leading to full exploitation of the environmental potential of particular solutions constitute an essential element of reinforcement of environmental protection policy for companies. The goal of these actions...

In the era of globalization, competitiveness of enterprises is of particular importance. It is determined by many factors both external and internal, but it is the innovation that is assigned a special place, because it is widely regarded as a factor determining the development of enterprises.

Schumpeter, who sees innovation in terms of transferring an innovation into material realities, is regarded as the pioneer of this discipline. It implies practical application of new ideas, specific usage of discoveries or inventions that stem from creative thinking. Schumpeter offers a very broad view of innovation without restricting it to merely technical solutions,...

Environmental regulations attach great importance to the monitoring of production’s impact on environment. Currently environmental policy in the European Union is governed by the strategies “Europe 2020”, as well as “Sustainable Development”, and the “7th EAP Environment Action Programme to 2020”. Some postulates of these ideas include eco-design and sustainable design, which aim to minimize the adverse effects of production upon the environment. Due to the implementation of the principles of designing environmentally friendly products, it is possible to avoid high emissions and hazardous waste.

An example of an action that would reduce negative impact upon the environment is to...

One of the biggest domestic banks in Ukraine is interviewed within the research. Established in 1992, PrivatBank became a state-owned company (Statute 2018). This is the bank that owns 42.27% of assets, 32.72% of capital and 39.61% of credit and investment portfolios of the banking system the of Ukraine, as of 1 October 2016. According to market research carried out by Gfk Ukraine in the fourth quarter of 2015, 40.2% of individual clients considered PrivatBank to be their main bank. Privat is also the leader in the sphere of financial services for corporate clients. Thus, the share of corporate customers...

Ecoinnovations are a fundamental area of activity involving economy, environment and society. They directly and indirectly affect the various fundamental aspects of human activity and, as a result, policy affairs. They are a requirement for increasing competitiveness that can be only reached in a synergic way between economic and ecological effects. Thus ecoinnovation should be based on resource productivity, efficiency, competitiveness and ability to safeguard the environment. It equally concerns profits made directly from decreasing environmental impact as well as social and economic profits arising indirectly. Introduction of ecoinnovation law and international standards is particularly important for creating organisation and...