Establishing a sustainable business : strategies, challenges, and opportunities in the modern market
Gerulytė, Kamilė; Šalkauskas, Raulis (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025123039006
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025123039006
Tiivistelmä
This paper analyses the integration of sustainability into business practice, focusing on the Lithuanian tourism and accommodation sector. It aims to identify effective sustainability strategies, assess key challenges and compare Lithuania's progress with the high-level, ef-fective Finnish model. The study, based on a qualitative method combining expert interviews and observation of accommodation establishments, is divided into three main areas: barriers, business strategy and regulatory impact.
The results show that Lithuanian businesses face significant challenges, such as high costs, long investment payback periods, lack of qualified personnel and dubious laws. Meanwhile, Finland's Sustainable Journey to Finland (STF) programme offers a coordinated and well-structured framework for integrating sustainability into daily operations. While both countries support sustainability, Finland achieves better results due to stronger institutions and clearer operational support methods.
The study's conclusions highlight the need for Lithuania to increase regulatory turnover, im-prove access to green financing and strengthen internal business capacity. A national certifi-cation system is proposed and educational and monitoring tools are developed. These in-sights provide practical advice on how to align business goals with environmental and social sustainability.
The results show that Lithuanian businesses face significant challenges, such as high costs, long investment payback periods, lack of qualified personnel and dubious laws. Meanwhile, Finland's Sustainable Journey to Finland (STF) programme offers a coordinated and well-structured framework for integrating sustainability into daily operations. While both countries support sustainability, Finland achieves better results due to stronger institutions and clearer operational support methods.
The study's conclusions highlight the need for Lithuania to increase regulatory turnover, im-prove access to green financing and strengthen internal business capacity. A national certifi-cation system is proposed and educational and monitoring tools are developed. These in-sights provide practical advice on how to align business goals with environmental and social sustainability.