and wholesalers should also play their part in this awareness-raising. 1. 4. MARKET-BASED INSTRUMENTS With the digitisation of the economy and the gathering of data,
We believe that ecoinnovations in SMES will contribute to a making a green economy work in Europe and worldwide.
new markets New business models Enhancing quality of life Creating new and sustainable jobs Material security Resource justice economy environment society politics Figure 2:
and make business more resilient in the face of market trends, notably fluctuating commodity prices.
The business case for material efficiency has increased with rising commodity prices. Complying with regulations Many companies eco-innovate their processes
and impacts by limiting extraction of virgin resources and by limiting unused extraction Consider renewable and secondary resources (circular economy) Reduce cost by improving efficiency of extraction Comply with
and energy productivity and by material substitution Build resilience to changes in commodity prices and resource supply Increase your turnover
USA) website contains a wide range of resources that could be useful for ecoinnovators. www4. shwec. uwm. edu/shwec The Money back through the window initiative of the KÖVET Association for Sustainable Economies
The price volatility for commodities, notably metals, food and non-food agricultural items, was higher in the 2000s than in any decade of the 20th century6.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report 2012 ranked extreme volatility of commodity prices as the fifth most important risk in terms of potentially negative impacts7.
Material productivity expresses the amount of economic value generated by a unit of material input or consumption.
Energy productivity expresses the amount of economic value generated by one unit of energy input or consumption. 5 SERI 2011, Global Material Flow Database. 2011 Version. www. materialflows
Towards the circular economy. Economic and business rationale for an accelerated tradition. 7 WEF 2012:
and can be found online. www. oecd. org/innovation/green/toolkit The Guide Towards The Circular Economy of the Ellen Macarthur Foundation offers interesting guidance on how businesses can benefit from adopting new practices
based on the circular economy philosophy. www. thecirculareconomy. org. Several in depth case studies also provide insights on how companies have changed their material inputs,
management include coping with the rising volatility of commodity prices, dealing with uncertain supply of materials,
or by involving key suppliers and other related stakeholders. Map and measure resource inflows and outflows from the company.
Quick wins Engage key partners and stakeholders: this may produce interesting opportunities for new eco-innovative solutions,
materials and processes to key internal and external stakeholders in R&d. Subscribe to sources of information on emerging technologies
diverse concepts and involve stakeholders/experts. Reward buy in when eco-innovative ideas are implemented. Choose whether to pursue patents to protect the novel function,
or new business models driven by environmental considerations will require approaches outside of normal day-to-day R&d processes with dialogue with a range of stakeholders including customers,
and ongoing communications with customers and other stakeholders can identify new opportunities for eco-innovation.
Test stakeholders'responses and attitudes surrounding environmental aspects. Engage existing and potential customers, as well as other stakeholders, in conversations through a variety of media.
Use positive and negative feedback to improve business/product development and promotional strategies. Benchmark your product (s) against competitors on environmental aspects, alongside function, cost, pricing
How can stakeholders be rewarded for adopting and promoting pro-environmental behaviour? Eco-innovate products and services Eco-innovate!
and other stakeholders environmental awareness and understanding may help to reveal business opportunities or threats.
and examples. www. defra. gov. uk/environment/economy/products-consumers/green-claims-labels/Learning Resources Eco-innovate products
economy and society. www. eco-innovera. eu Ecopol is a transnational public partnership that aims to accelerate the implementation of ecoinnovation policies across Europe.
Eco-innovation in Romanian SMES ROXANA VOICU-DOROBANTU Department of International Business and Economics Bucharest University of Economics Bd.
Dacia, 41, Bucharest ROMANIA rovodo@gmail. com http://www. rei. ase. ro DOREL MIHAI PARASCHIV Department of International Business and Economics Bucharest
University of Economics Bd. Dacia, 41, Bucharest ROMANIA paraschiv@inde. ro http://www. rei. ase. ro ANA MARIA MARINOIU Department of International Business and Economics Bucharest
University of Economics Bd. Dacia, 41, Bucharest ROMANIA anamarinoiu@yahoo. com http://www. rei. ase. ro Abstract:
-The paper presents the results of a qualitative research on the perception and implementation of ecoinnovation in Romanian SMES.
economic growth, social development and environmental protection. Its multilateralism leads thus to it being on the agenda of various international bodies,
Recent Researches in Applied Economics ISBN: 978-1-61804-009-1 186 2 Problem Formulation 2. 1 Eco-innovation Basic concepts Defined as the production, assimilation or exploitation of a product, production process,
A taxonomy of Eco-innovations according to Andersen (2008) General purpose Macroorganizational Alternative Integrated Add-on Recent Researches in Applied Economics ISBN:
as well as other emerging economies, allows the extrapolation of the results at an international level, in view of improving the quality of the integration of ecoinnovations into the normal activity of SMES.
Recent Researches in Applied Economics ISBN: 978-1-61804-009-1 188 References: 1 Abrahamson E.,Rosenkopf L. 1997), Social network Effects on the Extent of Innovation Diffusion:
A Framework for Innovation and Environmental Economics. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 03-01, Mannheim 14 Cantono S, Silverberg G (2008), A percolation model of eco-innovation diffusion:
the relationship between diffusion, learning economies and subsidies, at http://www. merit. unu. edu 15 Cojanu Valentin (Coord.
2000), How Should We Study the Relationship between Recent Researches in Applied Economics ISBN: 978-1-61804-009-1 189 Environmental Regulation and Innovation?
Effects of Business Groups on Innovation in Emerging Economies, Management Science, Vol. 50, No. 10.oct 2004), pp. 1348-1365 29 Newton JL, Freyfogle E (2005), Sustainability:
Rennings, K. 2000) Redefining Innovation-Eco-innovation Research and the Contribution from Ecological Economics, Ecological Economics, 32,319-322.36 Soete, L. 1987) The impact of technological innovation
Recent Researches in Applied Economics ISBN: 978-1-61804-009-1 190
Position Paper e-Regulation Ecommerce Europe's Proposal for Sustainable Growth of E-commerce in Europe www. ecommerce-europe. eu POSITION PAPER 3table of contents1 Introduction
As such, e-commerce has contributed significantly to the European economy in general and the success of the European Single Digital Market in particular.
Seeks more self-regulation based on dialogue with consumer organisations and other relevant stakeholders. Wants consumer rights throughout Europe to be harmonised as much as possible
and recommendations of the Copenhagen Economics study into the Pricing Behaviour of postal operators. 4 Cross border parcel-delivery should be improved, without disproportionally affecting e-commerce businesses. 53.
Any ADR or ODR scheme must maintain a balance between the interests of all the stakeholders;
therefore, Ecommerce Europe supports a multi-stakeholder approach to ADR and ODR. 8 4. 1. 2 Checks and balances Include the core principles for ADR in a binding instrument,
For this reason, Ecommerce Europe calls on the EU, national authorities, operators and consumers to further reflect with relevant stakeholders (i e. data controllers
Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit sponsored by Microsoft The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 1 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Acknowledgements
Survey results 34 Contents 2 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 3 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Reaping the benefits of ICT:
Europe's productivity challenge is an Economist Intelligence Unit white paper, sponsored by Microsoft. The Economist Intelligence Unit bears sole editorial responsibility for the content of the report.
The findings and views expressed in this white paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor.
We conducted empirical research to investigate the strength of ICT's impact on economic growth, based on a cross-section model of 60 countries.
Laza Kekic of the Economist Intelligence Unit produced the crosssection model that underpins some of the key findings in this report.
April 2004 Acknowledgements 4 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Once again Europe finds itself at a technology crossroads.
Despite high spending and the widespread adoption of sophisticated ICT infrastructure, European countries continue to lag behind on key measures of economic growth and productivity.
First, why hasn't heavy investment in ICT delivered the economic growth and acceleration in productivity experienced in the US?
the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted empirical research to investigate the strength of ICT's impact on economic growth, based on a cross-section model of 60 countries.
The report also makes extensive use of the Economist Intelligence Unit's international business environment rankings.
The link between ICT and growth is developed strong in economies. The Economist Intelligence Unit's cross-section analysis of 60 countries confirms the general view that ICT is linked strongly to economic growth in developed countries.
At the same time, the impact of ICT is weak in emerging markets and our analysis suggests this may be
and use will begin to affect economic growth only after an adjustment period. Executive Summary The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 5 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge ICT accounts for much of Europe's lag behind the US in growth performance in recent years.
The crosssection analysis indicates that ICT accounted for as much as 0. 4 percentage points of the 0. 52-point difference between GDP per head growth rates in the US and the euro zone big three (Germany, France, Italy
The performance of other European economies is mixed, with The netherlands and Austria performing well in some areas,
therefore have a large impact on the economy's ability to reap greater economic growth and productivity gains.
and changes to educational 6 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge curricula.
The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 7 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge In March 2000,
European union leaders signed up to an economic reforms strategy that seeks no less than to transform the EU into the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy.
and economists that the EU as a whole was falling behind the United states in key measures of economic growth, most crucially that of labour productivity growth.
even after the intervening economic downturn experienced on both sides of the Atlantic. Why does the US outpace Europe in productivity growth?
The optimists believe that this heavy investment in ICT will soon pay off in higher productivity and economic growth.
and is primarily based on empirical research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It includes the results of a cross-section examination of 60 countries, covering the 1995-2002 period,
The conclusions draw on findings from the Economist Intelligence Unit's survey of 100 senior business executives,
Introduction 8 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Part
I The economic impact of ICT The question of technology's impact on economic growth and productivity has fascinated and perplexed governments,
The role of technology in the economy is now a subject of government policy across the globe,
Those that believe ICT has a key role to play in economic growth look to the example of the United states. America's formidable growth
*Most economists believe this productivity surge can be traced in part to the benefits of ICT production and use.
Some go further, claiming ICT has delivered fundamental and lasting change in the US economy, leading to a permanent improvement in its growth prospects.
Some economists believe the traditional growth-accounting studies that paint ICT in such a positive light are flawed.
and productivity A new empirical study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit takes a different approach to the traditional growth-accounting models referred to above,
Using this model, together with a variety of indices such as the Economist Intelligence Unit's business environment rankings
In other words, ICT penetration and usage needs to attain critical mass before it will make a significant positive impact on a country's economy.
the four Nordic countries, the UK, Netherlands and Switzerland also score highest in the Economist Intelligence Unit's index of ICT enablers (see p. 11,
The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 9 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Labour productivity growth and ICT Aggregate labour productivity growth and ICT contribution
OECD Along with Ireland, the US recorded the biggest increases in ICT contribution to labour productivity growth in the 1996-2002 period. 10 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT
*ICT accounts for most of the gap in GDP per head growth between the US and euro zone big three In addition to reinforcing the link between ICT and increased productivity and growth in developed economies such as Europe
The Economist Intelligence Unit's forecasts of GDP growth indicate that Europe is unlikely to close this gap
together with a strong performance in most of the ICT enablers, tend to deliver faster economic growth.
European effectiveness in harnessing ICT The Economist Intelligence Unit's research confirms that most European countries lag significantly behind the US in key measures of ICT investment
whereas Sweden, Denmark and Finland actually outperform*OECD, 2003 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 11 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge it.
However, several economists believe the UK is on the cusp of an acceleration in productivity growth on the strength of its effective use of ICT.
Economist Intelligence Unit The ICT infrastructure index used here combines six connectivity variables penetration of traditional fixed lines, broadband access lines, mobile phones, PCS, Internet users and Internet servers
Continued on page 14 12 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Three ways ICT can boost the economy 1. ICT investment.
Economists believe ICT capital investment has made a sizeable contribution to GDP growth in many developed countries in the past decade,
Despite a dip since 2000, many economists see ICT investment growth in both the US
an economist who argues that the 1990s boom owed much to transitory factors and that the drivers of demand for ICT goods will be weaker over the next half-decade3.
Groningen Growth and Development Centre, 2003.0 100 200 300 400 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Software Communication equipment IT equipment The Economist
Despite this, few economists or policymakers believe governments should intervene to create or boost an ICT-producing sector artificially.
Dirk Pilat, an economist at the OECD, argues that only a few firms can compete in this area5.
Ultimately, the biggest payoff from ICT is a sustainable boost to productivity growth throughout the rest of the economy in the ICT-using sectors.
Economists studying TFP growth in Europe's ICT-using industries have seen little (if any) sign of an acceleration here.
Many economists conclude that this is because of the time-lag between the point where countries invest heavily in ICT
Bartelsman and Hinloopen, 2002 3gordon, 2002 and 2003 4van Ark et al, 2002 5pilat and Wölfl, 2004 6oecd, 2003 14 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits
of ICT Europe's productivity challenge largest and richest economies inevitably lead the way in harnessing ICT.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's forecasts suggest that on current trend, most European countries show no sign of closing the gap in growth with the US.
Ahmad, et al, 2004 2ahmad, et al, 2004 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 15 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge To reap the benefits of ICT we must invest in the parallel areas of organisational capital
yet most of the EU countries continue to be outpaced by the US economy. The rewards of ICT depend on a complex interaction between technology
the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted a survey of 100 senior business executives, as well as in depth interviews with a range of European policymakers and business leaders.
16 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Commission shows that only 4%of Europeans have set up a business in the past three years,
or implementation 23 Lack of ICT skills in workforce 22 Employee resistance to change 22 Other 3 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 17 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe
. Effective laws to protect intellectual property 34 27 23 9 6 18 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge ICT
unfettered competition Our cross-section analysis of 60 countries appeared to confirm a strong link in developed economies between the quality of the business environment and the economic impact of ICT.
Strong competition in the economy as a whole encourages other companies to use technology to innovate with their products,
The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 19 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Restrictive product-market regulation is another area where innovation can be stifled.
Bart van Ark, an economist from the University of Gröningen, believes restrictive product markets discourage innovation and ultimately the effective use of ICT.
Many economists argue that Europe's labour market regulations are too restrictive and that they deter companies from reorganising the workplace.
Policymakers and economists diverge however, on the link between labour regulations and productivity growth, and on the desirability of policy initiatives to effect change.
Eike Röhling, director-general of technology policy in the federal Ministry of Economics and Labour, cites the shortage of venture capital as one of the key barriers to innovation in his country.
Van Ark and O'Mahony, 2003 20 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge unfavourably with the US.
Bridging the R&d gap The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 21 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge attempting to extend the benefits
and too many 22 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge standards-related initiatives stop at national borders.
The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 23 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Europe's challenge is to create a business environment where innovation can thrive
and where the benefits of ICT are readily available at all levels of the economy. Creating that environment
The eeurope 2005 plan (the part of the Lisbon agenda concerned with creating a knowledge-based economy in Europe)
which most economists believe is too restrictive in most of Europe. Despite this, many policymakers (as well as executives judging from our survey) do not see labour market reform as a priority.
risks and Part III Unleashing the enablers of growth 24 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge commercial impact of new technology.
Fortunately, most have used this dominance to aggressively roll out digital subscriber line (DSL) The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 25 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge broadband networks and services,
By dint of its sheer weight in the economy, this type of government procurement can help to aggregate demand for new products and services.
e-government from the East 26 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge online,
The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 27 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge The Economist Intelligence Unit conducted a crosssection empirical analysis of 60 countries covering the years 1995-2002.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's approach also has advantages over existing cross-section studies, in that most of these have focused on ICT investment across countries.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's model is wellbehaved in that in the full 60-country sample all the standard determinants of growth
background and explanation 28 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Appendix A: Empirical analysis: background and explanation Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge the role of ICT.
a measure of the openness of economies, a measure of real exchange-rate variability and our composite index of the quality of the business environment and microeconomic policies.
Economist Intelligence Unit 1 0. 50-0. 5-1o 5 10 This chart relates ICT development to growth in GDP per head,
Above a certain level of ICT development the upward-sloping part of the curve), network effects from a minimum mass of ICT in the economy and the experience derived from earlier ICT development mean that the benefits of increasing ICT
The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 29 Appendix A: Empirical analysis: background and explanation Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Table 1 Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 Coefficients t Stat Coefficients t
a country is rated as an open economy according to the following four criteria:(1) average tariff rates below 40%;(
BUSENV an index constructed by the Economist Intelligence Unit of the business environment (on a 1-10 scale) based on indicators grouped in the following categories:
The composite ICT infrastructure/use index, on a 1-10 scale, is a simple average of the 4 component indexes. 30 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Appendix A:
The growth advantage that the euro zone economies had in terms of lower initial GDP per head (the catch up potential) and higher investment rates is cancelled roughly out by the effects of the US's superior business environment and schooling.
0. 909 0. 945 N 26 26 26 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 31 Appendix A:
as of national income A qualitative indicator of competition in the telecoms market. A qualitative indicator of the security of the Internet infrastructure.
major euro zone economies is again attributable to ICT. Although the forecast EU average in 2004-08 is exactly equal to the 1995-2002 actual figure,
there will be greater variability in individual EU economies'performance with some countries accelerating their growth, which in part is related to ICT developments. 32 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Appendix A:
Empirical analysis: background and explanation Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Table 5 Growth rates of real GDP per, annual average 2004-08,%Actual Forecast 1995-2002
UK 2. 41 2. 45 US 2. 14 2. 12 EU-15 2. 07 2. 07 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004
Investment in ICT and Economic growth, mimeo. Bartelsman, Eric, Andrea Bassanini, John Haltiwanger, Ron Jarmin, Stefano Scarpetta and Thorsten Schank, 2002, The Spread of ICT and Productivity Growth Is Europe Really Lagging Behind in the New Economy?
Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti, mimeo. Basu, Susanto, John Fernald, Nicholas Oulton and Sylaja Srinivasan, 2003, The Case of the Missing Productivity Growth:
Colecchia, Alessandra and Paul Schreyer, 2002, The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies to Economic growth in Nine OECD Countries, OECD Economic Studies, No. 34.
Jorgenson, Dale, Mun Ho and Kevin Stiroh, Lessons for Europe from the U s. Growth Resurgence, CESIFO Economics Studies, Vol. 49,1/2003, pp 27-47.
OECD, 2003, ICT and Economic growth: Evidence from OECD Countries, Industries and Firms, Paris: OECD. Oulton, Nick, 2001, ICT and Productivity Growth in the United kingdom, Bank of england Working Paper, No. 140.
The Contribution of ICT Investment to Economic growth and Labor Productivity in Poland 1995-2000, Warsaw:
IT and Multifactor Productivity in U s. Service industries, Paper Prepared for the Texas A&m Conference, The New Economy:
Van Ark, Bart, 2003, The Productivity Problem of the Dutch Economy: Implications for Economic and Social policies and Business Strategy, Research Memorandum GD-66, Groningen:
Bibliography 34 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Appendix C:
which is by the Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Microsoft, seeks to answer these crucial questions.
%respondents) Public sector 18 Private sector 82 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 35 Appendix C: Survey results Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge 4. Please tell us what industry
%respondents) $500m-$1bn 19 $1bn-$3bn 5 $3bn-$8bn 5 $8bn or more 11 Not applicable 3 $500m or less 57 36 The Economist Intelligence Unit
China 12 33 55 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 37 Appendix C: Survey results Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge Which of the following countries have the highest levels of ICT literacy as an average across the whole population?(%
China 10 34 56 38 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Appendix C: Survey results Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge How important are the following aspects of the business environment in enabling your company to benefit from ICT?(%
and ICT investment 14 Restrictive working practices 14 Publicity ramifications of automating jobs 5 Other 2 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 39 Appendix C:
-democracy 15 Regulation to protect consumer interests 19 Other 0 40 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Appendix C:
%1 Above 50%0 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 41 Appendix C: Survey results Reaping the benefits of ICT Europe's productivity challenge What proportion of the following business processes are automated in your company?(%
%respondents) 10-25%12 26-50%13 51-75%2 More than 75%4 Less than 10%69 42 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Appendix C:
%respondents) Less than 25%12 25-50%26 50-75%40 100%1 75-99%21 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 43 Appendix C:
44 The Economist Intelligence Unit 2004 Whilst every effort has been taken to verify the accuracy of this information,
neither The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. nor the sponsors of this report can accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this white paper or any of the information,
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