Liudmyla Starchenko

Purpose. The paper aims to explore the relationships between biogas production capacity, economic, technological, and natural-resource factors, and electricity consumption in the agricultural sector of Ukraine and the EU countries. Methodology / approach. The study uses fixed effects panel econometric models to account for temporal and institutional heterogeneity in the data. The investigation is conducted for Ukraine and the EU countries, such as Germany, France, Italy, and Poland. The research is based on correlation and regression analysis using econometric modelling. The model includes indicators such as agricultural export and import, farmland area, crop and livestock production volumes, and the installed capacity of biogas plants. The Box-Cox transformation, normality tests (Jarque-Bera and Shapiro-Wilk), multicollinearity, and homoscedasticity tests (Breusch-Pagan and White) were applied to validate the model. Results. The modelling results for Ukraine indicate considerable potential for reducing electricity consumption in the agro-industrial sector through the development of biogas technologies. In this context, sustainable reduction scenarios are proposed for Ukraine based on investments in renewable energy. Observations for several EU countries with high biogas production levels suggest a tendency toward lower agricultural energy intensity; however, this relationship should be interpreted with caution, as it requires further empirical verification. A negative and statistically significant coefficient for Poland indicates that, under comparable levels of biogas-based electricity generation and export intensity, Poland’s agricultural sector tends to consume less electricity than the benchmark country (Germany), potentially reflecting more favourable structural or technological conditions for energy efficiency. Originality / scientific novelty. The novelty lies in developing and empirically validating a comprehensive model for assessing the impact of agribusiness on electricity consumption, with a specific focus on the role of biogas. Unlike existing studies, this article integrates economic, technological, and energy indicators to measure the complex interactions affecting energy consumption in agriculture. Practical value / implications. The results can inform energy management policies in agriculture, particularly in supporting renewable energy integration. The findings are relevant for government agencies, local authorities, agribusinesses, and international stakeholders in developing strategies for sustainable rural energy transitions and enhancing energy security.

У статті проаналізовано фрактальну організаційну структуру як інноваційну модель управління, що набуває особливого значення в умовах цифрової трансформації, глобальної нестабільності та війни в Україні. У цьому контексті актуалізується пошук інноваційних організаційних структур, здатних забезпечити адаптивність, гнучкість і самоуправління. Підкреслюється, що класичні ієрархічні моделі управління дедалі частіше не відповідають вимогам сучасного VUCA-середовища (волатильність, невизначеність, складність, неоднозначність), де критичними чинниками успіху є швидкість реагування, гнучкість, автономія та інноваційність. Відповідно, фрактальна структура, яка базується на принципах самоподібності, децентралізації, самоорганізації та прозорої координації, постає як ефективна альтернатива традиційним підходам. У роботі охарактеризовано ключові ознаки фрактальної структури, її переваги (гнучкість, масштабованість, підвищена мотивація персоналу, інноваційний потенціал) та обмеження (складність координації, вимоги до організаційної культури). Проведено порівняння з класичними типами організаційних структур (лінійною, функціональною, матричною, дивізійною), виокремлено критерії ефективності, релевантні для оцінки фрактальної моделі. Особливу увагу приділено впровадженню фрактальної структури в умовах війни, що визначають необхідність швидкої адаптації бізнесу, децентралізованого прийняття рішень і збереження операційної стійкості. Наведено алгоритм поетапного переходу до фрактальної моделі для українських компаній. Розглянуто кейс компанії «SalesDoubler», яка реалізувала принципи фрактального управління через Agile-трансформацію, що дозволило значно підвищити ефективність, швидкість розроблення рішень і залученість персоналу. Стаття має як теоретичне, так і прикладне значення, оскільки пропонує нову парадигму організаційного розвитку, здатну ефективно реагувати на виклики цифрової доби та функціонування бізнесу в екстремальних умовах. Фрактальна організаційна структура вирізняється високою адаптивністю, автономністю та стійкістю до змін завдяки принципам самоорганізації та децентралізованого управління. Її ефективність підтверджує приклад компанії «SalesDoubler», що успішно реалізувала трансформацію на основі agile-підходу. Водночас для масштабування такої моделі необхідною умовою є наявність зрілої корпоративної культури та впровадження цифрових інструментів підтримки управління.

The article summarizes the arguments and counterarguments in the scientific discussion on the development of sustainable entrepreneurship. The main purpose of the study is to identify the essential characteristics and key determinants of success of sustainable entrepreneurship initiatives. Systematization of literature sources showed that the current stage of entrepreneurship is characterized by the transition from the concept of maximizing profitability to the formation of long-term sustainability. Existing theoretical and empirical research shows that sustainable entrepreneurship is an activity aimed at balancing economic, social and environmental challenges. The theoretical analysis of the results of basic research on sustainable entrepreneurship has identified a list of key internal and external determinants that contribute to the development of sustainable entrepreneurship. It is determined that the key internal characteristics of the entrepreneur are the level of his motivation and qualification. At the same time, among external factors, the education system, the availability of state environmental and social policy measures, as well as public perception and support of social and environmental initiatives play a significant role in promoting sustainable entrepreneurship. It is established that the existing empirical research revealed the differentiation of results for companies of different sizes and at different stages of operation, as well as depending on the form of ownership and sector of activity. The results of the analysis provide a scientific basis for further research on the key determinants of the effectiveness of sustainable entrepreneurship initiatives, the identification of the most promising sectors for social and environmental initiatives, and the study of links with social, environmental and economic parameters.

In the ongoing world trends focusing on the ecological issue, corporate social responsibilities, sustainable development goals, the current business could not be competitive without the implementation of the innovations. Besides, the application of changes contributes to the relevant transformation of the business model, considering the worldwide trends. The paper deals with the analysis of the leading scientific trends in analysing of the sustainable business models and innovations. In the paper, the authors used the bibliometric analysis of the scientific papers from Web of Science and Scopus. The main limitation to select scientific papers were as follows: published for 2000-2019 years; the language of the paper – English; papers which contain keywords – sustainable, business model and innovations. For the analysis, the VOSviewer, Scopus and Web of Science tools were used by the authors. Tools from the scientific databases allowed to identify the main parameters of the scientific publications: quantity, dynamic, country, the most cited papers, etc. VOSviewer allowed visualising the main scientific clusters which analysed the sustainable business model. Considering the findings, the rapid increase of articles on the sustainable business model was in 2000. The authors identified 13 clusters; three of them had strong linking. The most significant cluster contained focused on innovations, the second – on corporate social responsibilities and environmental management, the third cluster – on cleaner production as a core element of a sustainable business model. The tendency of scientific investigation allowed concluding that sustainable business model could not be without a complex system of innovations, corporate social responsibilities and cleaner production.

Implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and increasing environmental issues provokes changes in consumers’ and stakeholders’ behavior. Thus, stakeholders try to invest in green companies and projects; consumers prefer to buy eco-friendly products instead of traditional ones; and consumers and investors refuse to deal with unfair green companies. In this case, the companies should quickly adapt their strategy corresponding to the new trend of transformation from overconsumption to green consumption. This process leads to increasing the frequency of using greenwashing as an unfair marketing instrument to promote the company’s green achievements. Such companies’ behavior leads to a decrease in trust in the company’s green brand from the green investors. Thus, the aim of the study is to check the impact of greenwashing on companies’ green brand. For that purpose, the partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-PM), content analysis and Fishbourne methods were used. The dataset for analysis was obtained from the companies’ websites and financial and non-financial reports. The objects of analysis were Ukrainian large industrial companies, which work not only in the local market but also in the international one. The findings proved that a one point increase in greenwashing leads to a 0.56 point decline in the company’s green brand with a load factor of 0.78. The most significant variable (loading factor 0.34) influencing greenwashing was the information at official websites masking the company’s real economic goals. Thus, a recommendation for companies is to eliminate greenwashing through the publishing of detailed official reports of the companies’ green policy and achievements.