The European Green Deal is the new strategy for economic growth adopted by the European Commission (EC) in late 2019. One of the most important tasks in the realisation of this strategy is the mobilisation of the industry for a clean and circular economy (CE). Currently, the European Union (EU) is in the process of transformation towards a CE model, which was announced in 2014. The CE assumes a transition from a linear model based on take–make–dispose to a circular model, in which waste, if it arises, becomes a valuable resource. At the same time, it is recommended to use raw materials (RMs) more efficiently and to recycle them. The EC underlines that both changes in the management of mineral resources in individual member states and their effects should be monitored. Therefore, in 2018, the EC pointed out issues related to RM management as important elements of the monitoring framework in transformation process towards CE. The paper presents strategic directions aimed at sustainable and circular RM management in the EU, with a strong emphasis on the key elements of sustainable development—environmental, economic and social. Moreover, the importance of mineral resources management in the EC in the context of transformation towards the European Green Deal and CE is presented, and the results of selected CE indicators related to the RMs, and indicators that present sustainable RMs management are discussed. The core of the paper is presentation of a set of recommended actions which should be taken in coming years with strong emphasis on the implementation of the sustainable development (SD) principles. RM management faces a number of challenges, primarily in achieving increased levels of critical raw materials (CRMs) recycling, as well as the greater involvement of stakeholders themselves and awareness raising in the field of SD and CE among enterprises operating in the RMs sector. Currently, all member states are working together to accelerate the transformation process in the area of CE and the European Green Deal, e.g., by implementing national CE programs. A great opportunity to accelerate the transformation process is the new financial perspective for projects under the balanced and circular management of RMs—Horizon Europe, which plans to finance the new projects on RMs management and recycling.

Municipal waste management has been an area of special interest for the European Commission (EC) for many years, especially in the transformation process towards a circular economy (CE), which is a priority of the European Union’s (EU’s) economic policy. This paper presents the overview of the Polish waste management system (WMS) and the CE-related tasks indicated in the Polish CE Roadmap. Despite the fact that Poland is one of the countries that generates the least waste per capita (329 kg in 2018) in the EU (489 kg), it still has problems with adapting the levels of municipal waste recycling to European requirements (34.3% in 2018, EU average 47%), which result from the lack of sufficient infrastructure for waste management and the insufficiently developed public awareness and behaviors. The current paper presents an inventory of the recommended actions, which support transformation towards CE in municipal waste management. These actions have been grouped into six core principles of circularity, indicated in the ReSOLVE framework: Regenerate, Share, Optimize, Loop, Virtualize, and Exchange. In each of presented areas, recommended tasks and actions were identified that should be taken by governments and residents themselves, such as landfill remediation, use of selected municipal waste fractions for economic purposes, sharing products with co-users, waste recovery, remanufacturing products or components, virtual solutions in everyday life to reduce the amount of generated waste, or replacement of household appliances by items with a higher energy class. An implementation of specific actions indicated in the paper could positively influence transformation towards CE in Poland. Because the presented examples of actions are model solutions, they can also be used in other countries and regions.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of digital technologies in tourism entrepreneurship. In particular, the main objective of this research is to examine the relationships among proactiveness, innovativeness, digitalization, and firm performance and growth in the hotel industry.Design/methodology/approach: The data for this investigation were collected from 110 one- or two-star hotels that were operating in Poland during the time of this research. This study employs PLS-SEM to analyze the relationships among the examined variables.Findings: The results show that digitalization has a significantly positive impact on a hotel’s performance. Moreover, digitalization mediates the impact of entrepreneurial behaviors on performance. In particular, digitization is a full mediator for the impact of proactiveness on firm growth and innovation on market performance. Additionally, there is a partial complementary mediation effect of digitalization in the case of impact of innovativeness on firm growth; digitization is not a mediator for the impact of proactiveness on firm growth.Originality/value: Previous studies have not captured the relationships among entrepreneurship, digitalization, and performance; this study helps to fill the gap and examine these associations in the hospitality industry. The outcome of this study provides valuable insights for hoteliers for understanding the role (and importance) of digitalization in the context of proactiveness and innovativeness.

Previous research has indicated that the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on performance is ambiguous. This relationship can be affected by numerous factors – both internal and external. This study aims to examine the moderating impact of inter-organizational cooperation, competitive behaviors, digitalization, diversification, and flexibility on the relationship between EO and performance; it also assesses the impact of market conditions on the relationships that were examined above. The sample was comprised of 150 small printing companies, and the moderating roles were analyzed with PLS-SEM. The results confirmed the strong positive impact of EO on firm performance under both non-crisis and crisis conditions. The results indicated that, under crisis conditions, the impact of EO on market performance is positively moderated by inter-organizational cooperation, digitalization, and diversification. However, these factors do not moderate the examined relationship under non-crisis conditions – they only become moderators during a crisis. When supported with the Welch-Satterthwait statistical test, these observations indicated the moderating role of market conditions on the other factors that were examined in this study. With its findings, this study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and crisis management. The originality of the study is two-fold: first, this study examines the moderating impact of several factors that have not been previously tested on the EO–performance relationship; and second, it compares the examined models (and the entrepreneurial behaviors that are reflected in these models) and tests the moderating roles of the examined factors under two different market conditions (non-crisis, and crisis). In this way, the study tests the moderating role of market conditions as it relates to the examined moderators.

Recent economic and public health crises have posed important challenges to family businesses – particularly those in the hospitality sector. While sustaining a business, performance becomes critical; there is insufficient knowledge on the use of entrepreneurial behaviors in mitigating the impact of a crisis by family businesses. To help fill this gap, this study explores the configurations of entrepreneurial behaviors that lead to improved performance in small firms under crisis market conditions – particularly, risk-taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, flexibility, and digitalization. This study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The sample consists of 117 one- and two-star Polish hotels that are comprised of both family and non-family businesses. The data was collected in November and December 2021. The results confirm the core role of risk-taking, proactiveness, and flexibility in increasing the performance of these small firms. However, performance outcomes depend on the configurations of the firms; differences between family and non-family businesses stood out. In family hotels, risk-taking is accompanied by flexibility as a core factor, and digitalization does not play an important role in achieving higher performance. Overall, these results contribute to the literature on organizational entrepreneurship (especially entrepreneurial orientation) as well as family business crisis management in the tourism sector. These findings offer implications for managers by indicating combinations of entrepreneurial behaviors that can help foster business performance.