IMPLEMENTATION OF GREEN ECONOMY CONCEPT IN SMES: ЕMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

Although the pandemic further complicates the situation in the Macedonian economy, it gives an advantage for development of the green economy concept that is, by efficient use of resources and to find new technological and innovative solutions that will contribute in generating income, creating new jobs and different model of consumption than the previous one. Given this, the main purpose of the paper is to analyze and identify the opportunities faced by SMEs in terms of adopting green policies in its operations. The analysis showed that SMEs have an obvious lack of information on how SMEs can apply the concept of green economy in their operations and are facing with complex administrative procedure in implementing environmental practices. This can be explained by the fact that many small and medium-sized enterprises are subject to the same environmental regulatory regime as large enterprises. Despite the modest external support, most of the surveyed companies take measures for more efficient use of resources in order to save and reduce costs. Therefore, it is necessary to create a regulatory framework for green economy in North Macedonia by bringing clear and appropriate documents with specific activities and measures, harmonized with EU standards