Purpose: This paper aims to examine the level of customer knowledge (CK) for natural cosmetic products, namely Bulgarian rose products, in three European countries – Bulgaria, Montenegro and Italy – and to propose appropriate solutions for its management.Design/methodology/approach: The research structure is based on a questionnaire and represents a part of the general investigation about the nature of the Bulgarian rose products. The study includes the responses to priority questions on customers' knowledge about these products. Feedback is received from 236 respondents in 450 distributed inquiries for the whole investigation.Findings: The results of the research indicate that the role of the customers in the cognitive process of knowledge accumulation for the specific and rare aromatic rose products is captive, based on a new learning for the nature of the product and on the application of integrated marketing ideas for product development and promotion.Practical implications: This paper gives suggestions for the customers' preferences of organizing communication systems by the use of integrated media mix of TV, internet and journals on the unique natural cosmetic products in Bulgaria. The empirical results show the opportunity to organize a collected database for healthy products as Bulgarian rose products.Originality/value: The study of CK in the natural cosmetics industry is structured on the basis of logit regression model, which targets to analyze the increase of the chance for effective knowledge transfer with customers, with the recognition of motivation for purchasing natural Bulgarian rose products and the exchange of high‐grade information with customers about this product.

Purpose: The paper aims to study the main managerial factors for evaluating the eco‐cluster approach and to promote their implementation within the environmental industry management.Design/methodology/approach: The paper includes the authors' observations about the advantages of eco‐clustering, and their practical consideration. The empirical research shows the tendencies for developing an eco‐cluster policy in one of the most economically dynamic regions in Bulgaria: Varna‐Devnya. The study framework was discussed with managers on the basis of the environmental practices of Solvay Sodi, Devnya Cement, and Agropolihim JSC. The authors outline the possible cycle of waste management and emission exchanges in that industrial zone.Findings: The findings show that the eco‐cluster concept in Bulgaria could be provided on micro‐ and macro‐managerial levels, discussing firm relationships and governmental policy. The principal limitation for generating the findings is the lack of concordance between the governmental interest and the business interests of the TNCs. Three negative factors are important in the implementation of the eco‐clustering concept: lack of information; financial constraints; lack of trust.Practical implications: Common strategic agreements between TNCs and local authorities provide useful managerial and public implications for eco‐clustering. Second, the analysis outlines essential steps for the managerial behavior for creating eco‐clusters.Originality/value: The perspectives of the eco‐cluster are studied for the first time in Bulgaria. The investigation gives motivation for a further study of the eco‐clustering approach with the support of the local authorities. The practical steps for managerial and public implications of the eco‐cluster concept as an innovative tool for Bulgarian managers are revealed.

The “innovation–trade” interrelation has been a subject of research for decades. Nowadays, in the context of the growing importance of sustainable development, the role of eco-innovation is essential for promoting a rapid economic growth in each country. In this sense, eco-innovation influences the level of intra-industry trade stimulating international trade to adopt environmentally-friendly technologies. In general, the evaluation of eco-innovation in EU countries is done through indicators of their degree of performance and their impact on the welfare of nations. Using Eurostat data and WITS (World Integrated Trade Solution) database for the period 2010–2018, the authors of this paper give empirical evidence of a linkage between the two indicators. The Grubel–Lloyd index is selected as an appropriate tool to show that socio-economic performance has a significant weight in eco-innovation scoreboard measurement. The results confirm that intra-industry trade of each EU country is closely related to the level of its eco-innovation index. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to test for such a type of interrelation and to show that by verifying the usefulness of eco-innovation performance in EU countries through an intra-industry trade indicator (IIT) such as the Grubel–Lloyd index.

Researchers, politicians and decision-makers continue to search for a recipe for sustainable economic growth. International interest is growing in the use of material indicators for evaluating the impact of human activities on natural systems. Water footprinting is becoming a popular way of understanding the total water input used to produce goods and services to help managers and policy makers evaluate the sustainability of a country's water resources. The goal of this study is to apply the water footprint (WF) indicator to Italy's olive oil production. Based on the applied methodology, the total WF for annual Italian olive oil production is approximately 3,600–6,700 million m³. These figures are the sum of the internal and external WFs. Knowledge is a valuable contribution to understand future needs and freshwater availability. Furthermore, suggestions on its practical application are proposed.

The aim of this research is to show, in a country, catching-up like Bulgaria, how crucial the extension of environmental approach from the Transnational Corporations (TNCs) towards their suppliers is, when they are mainly Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The authors propose the approach of Material Flow Analysis (MFA) for extending sustainable management from TNCs to SMEs. For showing the advantage of MFA, we use the example of one of the most important chemical manufacturing plants in Europe, Solvay Group and its affiliate in Bulgaria Solvay Sodi. We propose concrete suggestions for creating a favourable collaboration between TNCs, SMEs and an external auditing company, for each one of them to benefit from.

This study seeks to explore the relationship between active environmental activities and energy saving in firms operating in a set of Transition countries. For this purpose, we exploit the enterprise survey data collected by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group (WBG). Employing a probit regression model, the main finding shows a positive relation between environmental practices and energy saving, controlling several firms’ characteristics such as size, affiliation, credit line, ownership status and age. The results are also confirmed when we perform the robustness check. Interestingly, medium and small firms appear to save more energy than large ones.