How do consumers perceive the dual quality of goods and its economic aspects in the European Union? An empirical study

Integrated reporting (IR) is an important element in the development of corporate reporting in the European Union (EU). It turns out that stakeholders need not only financial but also non-financial information about the company. Due to changes in the environment, the role of CSR is growing. Enterprises undertake more and more pro-social and pro-environmental activities. European countries and organizations introduce regulations and recommendations that are to improve and standardize IR. The article aims to present IR within the EU and analyze the relationship between the number of reports prepared and the welfare of individual countries. Research methods used in the article are study by action, statistical technique, and critical analysis of literature. The development of IR in the EU is briefly described. It was also analyzed whether there is a correlation between the popularity of IR in a country and its wealth. A high correlation was found between the wealth of a given country and the number of integrated reports prepared. The wealthier the country, the more integrated reports are made there. There is a big difference in the popularity of IR between the EU countries which joined the EU before 2004 and those in the EU from 2004 or later. More than 200 integrated reports are prepared in the countries that joined the EU before 2004 than in the countries that joined the EU in 2004 or later. Although the popularity of IR is growing steadily, there are still a few EU countries where integrated reports are hardly ever present.

The interrelation between the innovation activity of enterprises and various types of network cooperation is of practical importance for the effective strategic management of network structures. In the present study, on the basis of indicators that measure innovation and technological effects and are adapted to the standards of statistics of the EU countries, the weighted aggregate innovation index of light industry companies in Ukraine and the EU countries is justified and calculated. On the basis of correlation and regression analysis, the relationships of varying strength are established between the integrated innovation index and different types of network innovative cooperation of light industry companies of the EU countries. The high-strength relationship is revealed between the innovation index of light industry and the indicators of the share of companies that had partners within their group of companies; that were involved in any type of network innovation partnership; that had partners in innovative cooperation among universities; that were involved in any type of partnership with a foreign partner from the EU countries, the EFTA countries or the candidate countries for accession to the EU. The construction of a correlation-regression model of the dependence of the innovation index of light industry on the share of innovation-active companies involved in any type of network innovation partnership and the share of innovation-active companies involved in network cooperation with a foreign partner from the EU countries, the EFTA countries or the candidate countries for accession to the EU given the possibility to predict the level of innovation of domestic companies of light industry depending on the level of their involvement in different types of network innovative cooperation.

The paper aims to highlight the status of the circular economy implementation in the EU and Ukraine, as well as to determine the advantages, challenges, opportunities and barriers to transition to circular supply chains. The main problems of waste management in Ukraine are explored, including faulty legislation, underinvestment, state policies and enlightenment regarding the circular economy, formal approach to the implementation of programs and strategies that should improve economic conditions, dominance of most waste-generative – extractive – industries in the economic structure of Ukraine. It is found out that the legislative framework for circular- and bio-economics in Ukraine does not meet the global challenges and requirements of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU and needs urgent improvement measures. Studying the EU experience allowed describing the advantages and challenges of a circular economy that emerge in Ukraine. The article presents a mathematical model aimed at describing the peculiarities of a circular economy in the countries with low and high levels of industrial ecologization as well as understanding conditions for resource conservation during production processes. An econometrical model of the correlation between the solid waste generation, GDP and capital investment into environmental protection in Ukraine is used to demonstrate the absence of the latter’s influence on the waste generation at the current technological level of the national industries. The research results allow developing recommendations for state policy for the industrial sector and environmental protection that may be implemented at the current stage to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 2030.