Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Advanced Research in Management, Business and Finance
Year: 2023
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/6th.icmbf.2023.06.103
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Resource Efficiency in Innovative Textile and Clothing Industry Ecosystems: Evidence from Western Balkan Countries
Dr. Jolta Kacani
ABSTRACT:
An innovation ecosystem consists of the interaction of multiple actors, the development of stable relationships, and the use of flexible instruments to create an optimal environment for innovation. In the textile and clothing industry, innovation ecosystems rely on original approaches to achieve resource efficiency and boost productivity despite financial and technical constraints to adopting new technologies. Innovation in the textile and clothing industry is expected to enhance resilience, improve transparency, and foster sustainability. In this paper innovative practices in the textile and clothing industry refer to sustainable operational practices adopted in manufacturing to obtain environmentally friendly ready-to-wear goods. This paper aims to assess, based on accounting data and previously determined evaluation criteria, the degree of resource efficiency in textile and clothing manufacturing enterprises in the Western Balkan countries. Predetermined indicators used in this paper include online inventory of raw materials, digital tracking of environmental benefits, digital manufacturing operations, amount of investment in renewable energy resources, and online tracking of customer orders. This paper evaluates sustainable practices based on accounting data for at least 150 large textile and clothing manufacturing enterprises in the Western Balkan region. The accounting data is used to measure efficiency financial ratios such as asset turnover, investment turnover, and inventory turnover to discover new development paths of digital transformation, sustainable growth, and the overall innovation path of the industry. This paper concludes that sustainable practices promoted by clothing manufacturing enterprises foster an environment of continuous learning and growth by increasing their working capital, obtaining higher labor productivity, and opening new channels for technological innovation.
keywords: digital ecosystems, accounting data, sustainable growth, environmentally friendly, building resilience