Projects / Programmes
Challenges of inclusive sustainable development in the predominant paradigm of economic and business sciences
January 1, 2018
- December 31, 2023
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.02.00 |
Social sciences |
Economics |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S180 |
Social sciences |
Economics, econometrics, economic theory, economic systems, economic policy |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.02 |
Social Sciences |
Economics and Business |
sustainable development, inclusive growth, labour and capital market frictions, industrial policy, institutional framework, ageing, intergenerational tranfers, fiscal sustainability, social cohesion,
firm, strategy, HRM, marketing, conscious consumption, quality of life, urban development
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
September 23, 2023;
A3 for period
2017-2021
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
396 |
8,069 |
7,802 |
19.7 |
| Scopus |
462 |
11,205 |
10,844 |
23.47 |
Researchers (41)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
OBJECTIVE. Research program is of interdisciplinary nature and aims at: (1) critically evaluating challenges of inclusive sustainable development in the mainstream economic and business theories and proposing alternative/extended theoretical foundations of corporate, consumer (citizens), national economy and the state behaviour in the context of the emerging global trends: shift of global interests from only environmental to more general social component of sustainability, out-of-equilibrium economic dynamics, technological learning and dynamic increasing returns; (2) developing methodological tools and examining their efficiency as well as providing empirical verification of the proposed models; (3) offering theoretical guidelines and empirical conclusions to support Slovenian companies, consumers and state in building an inclusive sustainable growth model, taking into account the nature and specifics of the Slovenian economy.
The work will be organized in three main pillars: (1) “State & national economy”, which will deal with frictions in capital and labor markets, ageing and public finances, public administration efficiency, institutional quality, policy analysis, etc.; (2) “Companies”, which will study the impact of non-tradables on competitiveness of tradable companies, determinants of corporate governance, company strategy, corporate social and environmental responsibility, supply chain management, human resource management, sustainable marketing and impact of global value chains on all business activities to achieve sustainable inclusive growth; (3) “Citizens/consumers” which are at the center of efforts to achieve sustainability, quality of life, conscious (responsible) behavior and social cohesion. In all pillars, questions of ensuring success within the sustainability frame will be of the primary importance.
DATA & METHODOLOGY. Numerous data sources and methodologies will be used: secondary (from AJPES, Amadeus, Bankscope, etc.) and primary data (obtained via survey, observation, and experimentation). In the analysis, advanced econometric, quantitative and qualitative methods will be applied.
EXPECTED RESULTS / CONTRIBUTIONS. The program is expected to provide scientific contributions as well as contributions for socio-economic development through improved understanding of sustainable development, inclusive growth and life quality in the applied interdisciplinary framework. It is expected to: (1) develop new or extend existing theoretical models, provide new empirical insights and, by doing so, contribute to academic discourse in economics, business and related technical and other fields; (2) develop new and/or extend existing methodologies and/or adapt those from other disciplines for applications in economics and business; (3) provide empirical contributions based on comparative analyses, applications to Slovenian situation, or general applications with global implications; (4) provide policy and/or managerial recommendations or both.
Significance for science
The proposed program is an interdisciplinary one with significant academic and professional contributions. Each of the three pillars (national economy and the state, companies, citizens/consumers) (1) develops new theoretical or extends existing theoretical models, (2) provides new empirical insights and by doing so contributes to academic debate in the fields of economics, business, as well as related technical and other disciplines; (3) provides new/extends existing methodologies or adapts those from other disciplines for application in economics and business; (4) provides numerous empirical contributions either due to comparative analyses, applications to Slovenian settings, or general applications with global implications.
The program is an interdisciplinary attempt to capture the impacts of the emerging trends on the challenge of successful economic, development which is also environmentally and socially sustainable. The new trends, specifically the economic crisis that pointed to the deficiencies of the prevailing (neoclassical) paradigm in economics/business and effectively pushed the economy into continuous disequilibrium (labour, capital markets, public finances, ageing, inequality, migration, etc.), shifted the focus of sustainable development from environment to societal problems of sustainability, while still recognising technology as being the necessary prerequisite for development) clearly showed that the prevailing economic and business paradigms cannot provide efficient solutions to the emerging challenges. The program offers alternative new or proposes extended theoretical models or approaches:
In capital markets analysis, theoretical models are extended to include new variables relevant for capital surge/deleveraging; empirically extensive state of the art analysis in the EU and Balkan region will be prepared.
In labour markets, theoretical contributions will be made in modelling labour demand and supply conditional to new technological trends (industry 4.0) and ageing, methodological contributions include also development of methodology on NTA, while empirical contributions include the study of labour market institutions, bargaining process and demand shocks as well as the impact of unpaid work on labour market outcomes (supply and demand).
A synthetic model for evaluating efficiency of subsidies will be developed.
Empirical contribution of public finance sustainability in view of aging, based on NTA methodology will be developed.
Model of optimal ownership structure and its effect on productivity, restructuring activities and firms’ survival during the crises as an important part of long term inclusive growth will be prepared.
Intangible capital study will develop measurement method and assess efficiency of public sector.
Institutional analysis will develop an optimal regulation model that stimulates sustainable long-term growth.
At the company level, major impacts on the development of the prevailing paradigms will be made by preparing:
Conceptual model of corporate social & environmental responsibility at firm and value chain level,
Comprehensive model of firm behaviour (including sustainability view) and empirical assessment of firm behaviour,
Contributions to supply chain literature with inclusion of recent trends (additive manufacturing, hybrid sourcing),
Analyses of sustainable marketing and supply chain management in B2B;
Study of the HRM practices with special focus on talent and health management.
These are also relevant from the social aspect of sustainable development, where program further extends the literature of well-being with interdisciplinary extensions into urbanism as well as the extensive study of the role of people as stakeholders in the society and the impact of their decisions and behaviours towards achieving sustainability goals.
Our multidisciplinarity is an important advantage facilitating understanding the reasons and predicting consequences of major global trends in or
Significance for the country
The program aims to support the sustainable development of companies in particular and the economy in general in order to improve the quality of life for citizens by providing policy and managerial recommendations for facilitating inclusive growth; by taking into account or simultaneously following the sustainable development goals (social and environmental). The results of the project are directly aligned with the vision of the Slovenian development for 2050 (Vision 2050) and will support its realization by following activities:
Analysis of the capital market frictions will impacting policy mix by providing detailed empirical assessments of situation and policy proposals in Slovenia, help understand comparative differences with other countries and help avoid future repetition of financially induced crises in the extent of the current,
Labour market frictions analysis will help understand the problems related to structural (including impact of technology) issues in Slovenian labour market and ageing related challenges (including the role of older generation in supporting younger – intergenerational transmissions) and support timely preparation of efficient policy measures;
Ageing, intergenerational transfers, and unpaid work flows’ studies will support the development of policy recommendations related to fiscal challenges of ageing (pension, health care) and other ageing related policies (life-ling learning, support to companies to adapt to different structure of workers, etc.); and contribute to a more cohesive future development.
Institutional analysis and analysis of factors determining the efficiency of public sector will help improve the quality of institutional framework and thereby contribute to overall performance also of companies and the economy.
The study of the company behaviour will provide significant recommendations for companies; primarily in the field of issues related to sustainable development (both environmental as well as human capital (social aspect of sustainability) related factors. Empirical research will help understand the competitive position of Slovenian companies and their attitudes towards sustainability issues (can also be used for policy preparation). Managerial implications that will stem from the empirical analysis will help improve corporate strategies, supply chain management, their B2B relations in view of sustainability, talent management, work conditions etc. which besides directly impacting corporate performance significantly contributes to overall satisfaction and health of population. Empirical results, case studies, best practices will be shared through study process and number of events (work-shops, round-tables, special company oriented seminars, short reports, etc.), that are organized by the research group at FELU.
Via the study of consumers and society the program will impact the environmental and social aspect of development. By understanding the behaviour and motivation of individual (e.g. for proenvironmental behaviour, responsible also social behaviour, etc.) policy-makers and companies will more efficiently prepare policies, while companies will understand better how to motivate consumers for responsible behaviour.
The analysis of quality of life determinants and urban issues related to quality of life will support preparation of several interdisciplinary policy recommendations. Quality of life analysis is in line with the search for a sustainable model of capitalism and will impact policy-making by stressing the social and environmental aspects of people’s lives, not just focusing on income components.
Studies on vulnerable groups (quality of life perspective & labour market view) will help understand groups’ problems and help improve (policy implication) their situation (e.g. problems regarding their employability, prepare informed active labour market programs).
Program work includes numerous foreign partners, which will stimulate internationalization of academia,
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
