Áron Szennay
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Publications - 10
Exploring entrepreneurial phases with machine learning models: Evidence from Hungary
Publication Name: Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review
Publication Date: 2025-06-01
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
Page Range: 101-122
Description:
Objective: The article aims to explore the potential differences between the two phases of entrepreneurship, i.e., total early-stage entrepreneurial activity and established business, as defined by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The study aimed to classify entrepreneurs using various machine learning models and to evaluate their classification performance comparatively. Research Design & Methods: Using the Hungarian GEM datasets from 2021 to 2023, we analysed a subsample of 964 entrepreneurs. Due to inconsistent results from traditional analyses (e.g., correlations, regressions, principal component analyses), we employed machine learning approaches (supervised learning classification methods) to uncover latent relationships between variables. Findings: The study utilized seven machine learning classification methods to examine the feasibility of grouping companies within the sample using Hungarian GEM data. Findings indicate that machine learning techniques are particularly effective for classifying businesses, although the performance of each method varies significantly. Implications & Recommendations: These results provide valuable insights for researchers in selecting methodologies to identify various business phases. Moreover, they offer practical benefits for market research professionals, suggesting that machine learning techniques can enhance the classification and understanding of entrepreneurial phases. Contribution & Value Added: The study adds to the existing body of knowledge by demonstrating the effectiveness of machine learning methods in classifying business phases. It highlights the variability in performance across different machine learning techniques, thereby guiding future research and practical applications in market research and entrepreneurship studies.
Open Access: Yes
Impact of proximity from chemical and pharmaceutical universities on startup founding: empirical evidence from the Visegrad countries
Publication Name: Discover Sustainability
Publication Date: 2024-12-01
Volume: 5
Issue: 1
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
This paper examines the spatial distribution of chemical startups in the Visegrad Countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary), highlighting their potential to drive technological innovation by creating new products or services under conditions of high uncertainty. The study focuses on the proximity of these startups to medical or chemical universities and those with biotechnological research fields to better understand their geographical patterns and potential knowledge spillovers. Data were drawn from Crunchbase, a comprehensive startup database, resulting in a final sample of approximately 333 operational chemical, pharmaceutical, or biotechnological startups. Companies were identified using keyword-based searches, while startup locations and distances to the nearest medical universities were recorded. Statistical methods were applied to assess spatial patterns. Results indicate that these startups are frequently located in cities with biotechnological, chemical, or medical universities. Our findings highlight different types of startup activities and levels of financial support across the Visegrad countries, emphasising the role of chemical startups in fostering technological advancement and sustainable development.
Open Access: Yes
Providing Decent, Affordable, and Sustainable Housing: Analysing Environmental Impacts of Family Houses Built with Conventional and Unconventional Building Materials
Publication Name: Environmental Footprints and Eco Design of Products and Processes
Publication Date: 2024-01-01
Volume: Part F3205
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 105-126
Description:
The construction industry is considered an activity responsible for both significant CO2 emissions and material flows. Providing affordable, decent, and sustainable habitats is, however, a fundamental human need. Therefore, the chapter aims to analyse the environmental impacts of construction and energy upgrades of detached family dwellings typical in Hungary. For the analysis of environmental impact, the concept of ecological footprint (EF) was used. The main advantages of this method are that (1) results can be compared to the upper limits of sustainability, (2) figures are rather easy to understand for each stakeholder, and (3) the concept may take into consideration all impacts of human activities. The chapter, however, analyses only the EF of material use of constructions. The sample consists of data on five detached family houses, representing the housing in Hungary: (1) a new two-storey family house with a gable roof, (2) a new family house made of timber, and (3) an energy upgrade of a typical family dwelling built between 1950 and 1990, called “Hungarian cube”. The results show that the construction of new detached family dwellings has a significantly higher ecological footprint than renovating an existing one. Using non-conventional construction materials (e.g. timber), however, can decrease the ecological footprint of construction, but useful lifetime should be considered more deeply in this case. Volatile energy prices have highlighted the importance of the energy efficiency of the housing stock. Newly built dwellings have outstanding insulation and, therefore, have nearly zero emission during operation, but they are not the means of affordable housing due to their construction costs, and the construction itself has a significant environmental impact which is not outweighed by the energy savings during the useful lifetime. Therefore, retrofitting and even extension of dwellings can better contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Open Access: Yes
The Ecological Footprint of Embedded Rail Structures
Publication Name: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
Publication Date: 2024-01-01
Volume: 877 LNNS
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 42-52
Description:
Since the 1990s, tramway transport in East-Central Europe has been experiencing a renaissance. In urban planning practice, there has been a growing trend towards the displacement of individual motorized transportation, thereby reducing traffic congestion and air pollution, creating the foundations of a healthier, more liveable urban environment. In the major cities, large-scale investments have recently been carried out or are being planned. Most of the investments focused the modernization and renovation of existing line sections, but there are also examples of new lines being built. Due to the increasing demands placed on rail transport (reduction of noise and vibration loads, as well as of life cycle costs), the use of embedded superstructures is gaining ground in Poland as well. These superstructures are excellent from a technical point of view and have a lower environmental impact in terms of noise and vibration, but the cost savings and ecological footprint reductions vary between designs. Our research proposes a standardized approach to measure environmental impacts of urban railway projects using ecological footprint (EF) calculation. As a result of our previous studies, we found that the ecological footprint of a design built with B3 rails is significantly smaller than that of a design built with 59Ri2 rails. In our current study, we have investigated how the ecological footprint of the design with the more favourable ecological footprint changes when it is modified to meet the environmental considerations. We examined the additional environmental impact of reducing noise and vibration. In our research we present an example from Krakow to illustrate the practical application.
Open Access: Yes
Factors of Responsible Entrepreneurial Behaviour: Empirical Findings from Hungary
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2023-01-01
Volume: 107
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 25-30
Description:
Sustainability is a contemporary global challenge that could be resolved only with the active and effective contribution of businesses. Thus, this paper aims to shed light on factors influencing entrepreneurs’ responsible behaviour. The analysis is based on the Hungarian merged dataset of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Adult Population Survey (APS) 2021 and 2022 (n=697). The results are based on statistical analyses, namely non-parametric correlation analyses and factor analysis. The findings show that variables concerning entrepreneurs’ responsible attitudes and behaviours significantly correlate with each other – except for two variables concerning directly with the SDGs, namely SDG awareness and considering SDG in KPIs. Using the five correlated variables, two factors can be created, where variables concerning intentions decouple from those concerning taking any steps towards minimising environmental or maximising social impacts. These results implicate that although entrepreneurs tend to consider environmental and/or societal aspects of their business decisions, they come short of taking steps towards them. Thus, responsible actions should be incentivised with education or targeted aids.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET23107005
The Ecological Footprint of Construction Materials—A Standardized Approach from Hungary
Publication Name: Resources
Publication Date: 2023-01-01
Volume: 12
Issue: 1
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
Due to the large volume and mass of materials used, the construction industry is one of the sectors with the highest environmental impact. However, to provide good quality, affordable, and low-energy housing, the business case must be maintained. Accordingly, we aimed to develop and test a calculator to measure the ecological footprint of the embodied carbon in materials used in construction projects in a standardized way, without the need for environmental or even civil engineering expertise, and thus in a way that is accessible to SMEs. The novelty of our research is that although there are calculators for measuring the environmental impact (e.g., carbon footprint) of the construction industry, and there is a methodology for calculating the ecological footprint of construction, there is no free, easy-to-use, online calculator for calculating the ecological footprint of embodied carbon in materials available to all enterprises. In other words, this approach extends our previously developed corporate ecological footprint calculator with the environmental impacts of material usage. The study summarises the baseline research for an ecological footprint calculator, tested on two new condominium buildings and the energy renovation of five condominium buildings, built with a prefabricated technology typical in Hungary and other post-socialist countries. Based on our results and in accordance with former literature sources, most of the ecological footprint of new construction projects is determined by materials with high mass and volume, in particular, concrete, steel, and masonry; so it is not necessary to take into account all construction materials in a calculator in a detailed way. We also conclude that renovation and ongoing maintenance, as well as preservation, are recommended for structurally sound buildings, as embodied carbon in materials in the case of an energy upgrade of an existing condominium building has an environmental impact of 0.3–0.8 global hectares per dwelling, depending on the technical content, while in the construction of a new building, this value is between 10.49–14.22 global hectares. Our results can help investors and clients in their decisions, and policymakers in determining urban development directions.
Open Access: Yes
Ecological Footprint Analysis of Tramway Track Structures
Publication Name: Chemical Engineering Transactions
Publication Date: 2023-01-01
Volume: 107
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 283-288
Description:
The European urban landscape has been constantly evolving in the last 70 years since the Second World War. Thus, European cities are developing their own public transport networks. Urban rail transportation, namely trams, can be considered a mobility option with (1) high capacity, (2) relatively low life-cycle cost, and (3) low Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission. Developing green urban transport systems requires, however, using a more comprehensive and complex approach. To do this, infrastructure operators should consider the environmental aspects of construction projects in the decision-making process. This article analyses the construction and maintenance issues of a very common and widespread tramway superstructure from the environmental point of view, using the methodology of ecological footprint calculations. Considering environmental impacts is highly recommended as early as the design stage by selecting the most suitable construction materials and technologies. Therefore, structural and vibration-damping solutions are compared that are equivalent in terms of technical suitability to highlight CO2 emissions and ecological footprint during the production and life cycle of each building material. The results suggest that a multi-directional assessment can help to develop a more sustainable, liveable and environmentally friendly urban transport without major trade-offs. The article also shows how the ecological footprint of the designed track structure changes when it is optimised to minimise the environmental impact. Such a change could result in a reduction of up to 20 % in the ecological footprint.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3303/CET23107048
Ecological footprint as an indicator of corporate environmental performance—empirical evidence from hungarian smes
Publication Name: Sustainability Switzerland
Publication Date: 2021-01-02
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
Page Range: 1-20
Description:
Small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the national economies of the EU member states. This economic activity has an inevitable environmental impact; however, environmental performance indicators are mostly measured at larger companies. Since the ecological footprint (EF) is a suitable measure of unsustainability, this paper considers it as a measure of the environmental impact of SMEs. An EF calculator for SMEs was developed that is freely available online, and it is a methodological innovation per se. Our previous research projects highlighted that the calculator must be easy‐to‐use and reliable; therefore, the calculator considers only the common, standardizable, and comparable elements of EF. Our results are based on validated ecological footprint data of 73 Hungarian SMEs surveyed by an online ecological footprint calculator. In order to validate and test the usefulness of the calculator, interviews were conducted with respondents, and results were also checked. The paper presents benchmark data of ecological footprint indicators of SMEs obtained from five groups of enterprises (construction, white‐collar jobs, production, retail and/or wholesale trade, and transportation). Statistical results are explained with qualitative data (such as environmental protection initiatives, business models, etc.) of the SMEs surveyed. Our findings could be used as a benchmark for the assessment of environmental performance of SMEs in Central‐ and Eastern Europe.
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3390/su13021000
Challenges of Corporate Ecological Footprint Calculations in the SME Sector in Hungary: Case Study Evidence from Six Hungarian Small Enterprises
Publication Name: Agroecological Footprints Management for Sustainable Food System
Publication Date: 2020-01-01
Volume: Unknown
Issue: Unknown
Page Range: 345-363
Description:
Scientific and social discourse examines primarily the environmental performance of large enterprise actors. Although these large enterprises usually operate on an international level, over half of the added value created in the European Union and thus over half of the environmental damage are generated by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Nevertheless, while the tools and expertise required to measure environmental performance are available for large enterprises, the SME sector has only limited access to these tools. s part of our research, we have developed an ecological footprint (EF) calculator applicable to the specificities of the SME sector, which has been tested on six Hungarian companies operating in different sectors and organisational frameworks. The test results indicate that the managerial information system of partnerships includes all the main inputs that are necessary to estimate a company’s EF. However, in the case of sole proprietorships, most of the required data can only be acquired by estimation. Our EF calculations on analysed firms cannot be considered as representative data. But on the base of the case studies, we can suggest that our EF calculator for SMEs is suitable to take a more comprehensive survey on EF of Hungarian and international firms, in order to generate sectoral benchmarks. Ecological footprint among analysed enterprises ranged between 5102 and 263,589 global square metres. It is caused mainly by (1) the sector (e.g. constructions have generally larger footprints than office activities) and (2) the size, expressed in number of employees or value added. To increase transparency of the environmental performance of the SME sector, we recommend that the supplementary annex of partnerships includes the main input data necessary for the calculation of the EF in a comparable and consistent way, in natural units of measurement. With such information and our calculator, it would be possible to determine the average environmental impact of the individual sectors, which would provide an appropriate starting point for the environmental investments of enterprises.
Open Access: Yes
Through the blurry looking glass-SDGs in the GRI reports
Publication Name: Resources
Publication Date: 2019-06-01
Volume: 8
Issue: 2
Page Range: Unknown
Description:
"Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" was agreed upon in 2015 by the global community and proposes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for the period between 2015 and 2030. Since the greater integration of goals was an explicit claim, there are numerous overlaps among them. One of the novelties of the SDGs is that, in order to achieve the set goals, the Agenda 2030 addresses not only the states but the businesses as well. In our study, the relationships between the SDGs were analyzed on the base of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators linked to the goals. The analysis was carried out by cluster analysis. Our results indicate that there is a strong relationship to be found among nine of the 17 SDGs. That relationship is mainly technical, which is caused by the number of aligned (genuine) GRI indicators. Though there are relationships between the SDGs as well, their strength is much weaker. According to our classification of SDGs, we suggest that the gap of business attention among SDGs is smaller than it is showed by KPMG.
Open Access: Yes
