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This paper identifies the key dimensions in the evaluation of a public investment project of environmental transformation carried out in Moravia neighborhood in Medellín, Colombia. The Sustainable Development Goals approach is adopted through a modified five-dimensional scale applied to 197 inhabitants of the area of influence. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation models were used to derive first and second order models that could be used to define the scale. From the model, the identification of appropriate variables that can effectively contribute to the recognition of sustainable development to optimize the destination of public resources, as well as the sustainability over time of the projects for a better design of public policies are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to put the Robert Spaemann proposal's in dialogue with the management literature regarding the incidence of trust in company costs. Methodologically, the text "Confianza" by Spaemann (2005) is used as a guide, and a systematic literature review is conducted to explore the relationship between trust and its influence on management costs. For this purpose, a hermeneutic method based on the proposal of Gadamerian dialog is used. The main results show that when there is trust within the company and its surrounding context, there is a decrease in costs associated with control and monitoring activities, as well as the management of relationships with its stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the entrepreneurship research activity that uses the institutional approach as a conceptual framework in the specific context of Latin America. To do so, a semi-systematic literature review is conducted using 24 articles published between 2009 and 2021 in major entrepreneurship journals. The results show that institutional conditions significantly shape entrepreneurial dynamics. The review highlights a two-way relationship between formal and informal institutions that can either drive or hinder ventures. Policymakers should thus prioritize a comprehensive institutional approach to enhance entrepreneurial growth and boost regional prosperity. This is the first review of entrepreneurship research from the institutional approach in the Latin American context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the reasons and motivations behind several educational figures in the constructing of hybrid methodologies through combinations based on entrepreneurship education as a method. A qualitative exploratory study wa s carried out, and data was collected through 19 semi-structured interviews. Data was analyzed through a discourse analysi s technique which made it possible to appreciate that hybrid methodologies are built as part of a contextualization process that seek s to apply correctly the methodologies concerned to the educator's culture, context, and even personal style present at the time. The understanding of the role that an educator's context plays in his or her choice of contents and teaching approaches could help to avoid biases and create transformational education practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the causes that lead university students to abandon their careers as well as the reasons that would drive their return. With the application of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) metric, it was found that 301 (69.95 %) of the 551 students who left the institution did not return. The economic factor (56.8 %), the academic organization (20 %) and health (13.6 %) were identified as the main causes of student dropout. Students would be willing to return if better technological platforms were implemented (27.2 %), if tuition and enrollment costs were reduced (31.8 %), and if a job bank were made available (27.3 %). Promoter (23.6 %), passive (34.9 %) and detractor (41.5 %) students were identified; the promoters are those who are willing to recommend the educational institution and at the other extreme are the detractors who are capable of harming the image of the institution. In conclusion, the intention to return to their studies depends on the type of student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects of perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on trust; and the effects of the last one on consumer loyalty during the health contingency due to COVID-19. A variance-based structural equation model is estimated using a sample of 72 consumers. The results show that CSR actions increase trust and, in turn, this has a positive effect on loyalty. The originality of this study lies in the way loyal consumers were identified, since loyalty levels prior to the analysis were considered, so that only consumers who reported shopping in the same retailing before and during the health contingency were taken into account, which provides a better approximation of the phenomenon studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to understand the evolution of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Sustainability constructs according to different management research paradigms, as well as current tensions and future research possibilities. The methodology adopted is a tertiary review of the literature. The situation of the convergence of the two concepts, which makes it difficult to have clarity for the advance of research, and criticism towards both constructs (business case, self-fulfilling prophecy, invisibility of stakeholders, and reproduction of the capitalist paradigm of production and consumption), stand out as results. Future research perspectives are related to the deepening of each construct separately, the incorporation of other theories and disciplines into the analysis, and the integration of nonmainstream ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is two fold: First, an analysis of the direct effect of ownership structure and boards of directors on insider trading. Secondly, we examine the possible moderating effect the concentration of ownership has on the disciplinary role of boards in preventing this market practice. The results of the multiple regression and hierarchical multiple regression show the negative effect of both concentration of property and the portion of independent directors on insider trading. Regarding the moderating effect, there is evidence that the controlling roles on the boards are influenced by the concentration of property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the different dimensions of women's empowerment that can arise during the entrepreneurial process. It considers the changes in these dimensions as women advance in the development of their new ventures, differentiating characteristics according to the context (urban or rural). Another contribution refers to which empowerment factors developed by female entrepreneurs are key to reducing poverty. The proposal develops a multiple correspondence analysis and an ordered probit model, with data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Colombia. The results make it possible to identify what is needed to strengthen the empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, and the resources available for this. Furthermore, the relationship found between economic empowerment factors and family income provides evidence for the importance of empowerment for poverty reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to propose an integrated methodological approach for the categorization of assets using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA, Basic Additive Model version). The need for stakeholders to assess the possibility of bankruptcy, credit risk and the creation of investment portfolios has given rise to tools capable of evaluating financial assets. Given the increasing volume of data associated with assets, categorization into groups sharing homogeneous characteristics has sometimes been chosen. This strategy implies a significant reduction in time and cost of analysis. The system selected for the analysis includes the companies that traded on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange over the period 2009-2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As business intelligence is for companies, territorial intelligence is for local authorities. However, it is not the simple exportation of business intelligence concepts and tools, but overall a new discipline characterized by the amalgamation of collective human intelligence and computer intelligence. As a result, geographic knowledge bases, rules and inference engines are not only based on logic but also on topology, geometry and linguistics, and must take multiple actors' points of view into account. The scope of this paper will be to present the concepts necessary to construct such systems, i.e. to pass from intelligence to geographic knowledge engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research develops an initial proposal of a Decision Support System -DSS- to plan the production and distribution of new fresh agricultural products. This system is based on a hierarchical approach, which can be applied to enterprises as a planning module or as a stand-alone system for crop production. In this paper is stressed the importance of the DSS for small and mediumsized companies, or for small group of growers that need to improve coordination between their growing and market decisions. The DSS covers the strategic, tactical and operational decisions for every season, focusing on new product introduction. The aim of DSS is increasing the competitiveness of growers in a highly variable and complex marketplace. The agri-food sector still needs evolving to meet increasing demands, understand particular tastes of new consumers and evaluating the requirements of new players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we compare the methods proposed by Peña and Prieto (2001), and Filzmoser, Maronna, and Werner (2008) to detect outliers in a set of Argentine companies that quote their shares in the Stock Exchange. A significant heterogeneity between observations can be a consequence of the presence of outliers. The detection of outliers is an important task for the statistical analysis since they distort descriptive measures and parameters estimators. There are different multivariate methods to detect outliers, such as distance-based methods and projection pursuit methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency and sustainability are important factors to address in the context of smart cities. In this sense, a necessary functionality is to reveal various preferences, behaviors, and characteristics of individual consumers, considering the energy consumption information from smart meters. In this paper, we introduce a general methodology and a specific two-level clustering approach that can be used to group, considering global and local features, energy consumptions and productions of households. Thus, characteristic load and production profiles can be determined for each consumer and prosumer, respectively. The obtained results will be generally applicable and will be useful in a general business analytics context. La efficiencia energética y la sostenibilidad son factores importantes a abordar en el contexto de las ciudades inteligentes. En este sentido, una funcionalidad necesaria consiste en revelar varias preferencias, comportamientos y características de los consumidores individuales, considerando la información de consumo de energía de los metrocontadores inteligentes. En este artículo presentamos una metodología general y un enfoque de agrupamiento en dos niveles teniendo en cuenta las características globales y locales del consumo de energía y la producción de los hogares. Por lo tanto, se pueden determinar los perfiles característicos de carga y producción para cada consumidor y prosumidor, respectivamente. Los resultados obtenidos serán de aplicación general y serán útiles en un contexto de análisis empresarial general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a formative academic experience where undergraduate students of organizational psychology from a Peruvian university do their internship in local microenterprises. They conducted participant observation in order to analyze microenterprises' organizational behavior. By using a university social responsibility approach, the project recognizes microenterprises as the prevailing type of organization in the national economy. Through the linkage of students to the microenterprises, this project deconstructs and decolonizes the hegemonic knowledge traditionally taught in business schools, demonstrating the need to think about organizational knowledge and practices in a way that is situated, critical and shared by all participants. Methodological details and general operative results of this experience are outlined, as a useful pedagogical input in training contexts of the complex and inequitable labor and organizational Latin American framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the support of international organizations and think tanks, the Managerialism have gradually been installed as a unique technical rationality to think about organizing in Latin America, silencing other ways of doing organization. Chile has been an emblematic case. It is from this place that this paper aims to show how, despite the violence with which this model is imposed, practices that show other ways of building a life together persist. Through data produced in the Chilean school system, it is exposed how other practices emerge in the interstices. Practices that show other ways of organizing, based on community, cooperation and solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses some of the discourses and practices with adequate capacity to allow the emergency of post-developmental strategic horizons, in the Popayan business environment. Starting from the relationship between enterprise and development, we aim to offer resources to enterprise-organizational strategy, taking in count insights of pos-developmental and vital contradevelopmental processes (construction of social contexts around of sustainability of life, and social and natural diversity). We found that the transitional emergency of pos-developmental strategic horizons might be built between proposals of enterprises and social organizations. However, the last ones have more potential for re-meaning the strategies. This study privileges a qualitative, constructivist and interpretative methodology, and methods of documentary research and ethnographic interviews and observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exposes the results of ethnographic and documental analysis research. The hypothesis argues that the vocation of civil servant came into the National public management as part of administrative reforms set guided by the managerial logic, adopted by Colombian governments to attend the international organizations requirements, thus configuring a new way of epistemic colonialism. The conclusion is that in the institutional practices and speeches that define and prescribe the service vocation this is assumed as a normal attribute of the civil servants, and thus, service vocation could be incentivized no mater the objective conditions of labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the socio-economic and demographic determinants of the potential demand for microcredits in Argentina using Logit type estimation techniques based on a random, stratified and non-proportional survey covering 5.700 households in 20 urban sectors. The paper runs two regressions, one for the demand for microcredit with productive purposes and another for the demand for microcredit to improve or enlarge housing. It is concluded that the type of employment, labor informality, age, marital status and debt reoccurrence are determinants of the probability to apply for a microcredit for both purposes. Future research could replicate this methodology for different time periods to strengthen our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents different conversations on management and organizations that have been published in ten of the main Latin American journals in the time period 2000-2014. The unit of analysis consisted of 3.210 papers classified in four conceptual axes: Management Theory, Organization Theory, Organizational Studies, and Research and Education in management and organizations. For the categorization, the Atlas.ti software, version 7.5, was used, complemented with content and frequency analysis methods. Thematic trends in management and organizations, the most prolific authors, the cooperation networks, as well as thoughts on research and education in this field were identified in this study. The results of the research invite to reflect on the basis of management and the implications of its interventions on organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional management educational methods like in class group activities derive from Western democratic principles and work well in tolerant and pluralistic climate. However, in dogmatic and oppressive social environment, they just reinforce the dominant culture and create obstacles to fostering the students' critical reflexive thinking. Learning space becomes constrained by different overwhelming contextual factors: from group pressure to an authoritarian political background. On the case of the Russian business ethics classroom, this paper examines the influence of an oppressive context on the learning space and offers an approach to weakening this influence by intensifying students' critical reflexivity using writing assignments and supportive teacher's feedback based on a narrative therapy approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on Hannah Arendt's distinctions between thinking, action and judgment this paper develops a framework for leadership development. Leadership and leadership development are approached from a political perspective, which implies emphasizing the collective, relational and material aspects of leadership. Leadership is defined as the collective actions in in which unique subjects, who can think, act and judge for themselves, are engaged. Practices of thinking, action and judgment are seen as different dimensions of leadership development, which enables people to take part in politics. These dimensions help empower actors to lead themselves and to engage, interact, collaborate, communicate and to give space for others in collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, there has been an increasing interest on knowledge in the business realm. Japanese scholar Ikujiro Nonaka was among the main theoretical and practical contributors to knowledge creation in organizations, as well as a promoter of including practical reason in the research of business topics such as decision-making, knowledge management, ethics and leadership. In his theory, a Western classical tradition, namely the virtue of phronesis, is combined with the Japanese notion of Ba (context-based learning), to explain the way people engage in communities of practice as opportunities for learning. This paper describes his theory of knowledge creation, pointing to phronetic leadership skills as essential drivers of knowledge creation in organizations, in light of the Western classical tradition. Finally, it discusses the scope and limits of Nonaka's contribution, as well as some challenges it posits in order to make the business realm a true space for learning and human flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the theoretical perspective of market orientation proposed by Narver et al. (2004), this paper analyzes its relationship with innovation success and the moderating role of market and internally focused learning orientation. By ordinary least squares estimation of linear regression function it was found that reactive market orientation has a positive linear effect on innovation success. Meanwhile, proactive market orientation has an inverted U shaped effect that is moderated by market focused learning orientation. The paper demonstrates that each orientation type effects depend on the learning process type. It therefore follows that the enterprise's innovation success would have better results when combining an adequate market orientation and the learning process type applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic capability framework has been the subject of great concern in the strategy, management and economy ields of work on account of the bearing it has to help understand the way how companies are facing changes in the setting where they work: A core issue within the context of open markets and global economies. Nonetheless, strong controversy has been sprouting up around these subjects, a controversy which should be identiied and solved so as to allow for this framework to be further expanded on as a consolidated theoretical body of thought. A survey is being made in this paper of the main areas of debate, and promissory research lines are being put forwards on the basis of a set of relevant papers being published since 1997, and being selected according with the number of times these papers have been included as footnotes quotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conceptual and theoretical approach is being made in this paper of a tacit dynamic ability being currently dealt with in scientiic literature on the subject of resources and capabilities which have not so far been looked into with due thoroughness: The responsiveness, the ability to face up to opportunities, threats and crises having an exogenous origin. This capability is essential in a competitive world such as today's and, above all, in those countries working within an open economy setting. A survey is thus being conducted in this paper of the particular capabilities making up this ability, such as the setting-addressed surveillance, the way how reactions are being designed and applied. Further on, this paper includes two examples showing the way how some Colombian companies are managing such a capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the mediating effect of Absorptive Capacity (AC) in the relationship between Information Technology Capabilities (ITC) and Organizational Performance, particularly financial performance (FP) and non-financial performance (NFP). The hypothesis model was tested on a sample of manufacturing and service companies, for which a structural equation by the least squares method was used. As for the results it was found that there is a total mediation of AC in the relationship between ITC and FP, and a partial one between ITC and NFP. In conclusion, to achieve the ITC impact on business results, its articulation is needed with soft organizational skills such as AC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the language employed by disciplines that study organizations (business administration, organizational theory, organizational studies, etc.) must be carefully cultivated for strictly methodological reasons, given that the language in which theory is expressed affects the theory positively or negatively. Therefore, as an example, the paper shows that the expression administrative process is erroneous and even harmful. The paper discusses the efforts of philosophers and social scientists who have studied the aspects of scientific language in general as well as the language of their respective fields and it critically analyzes proposals by important thinkers who have broached the topic of problems with the theoretical language for organizations. Such analysis includes efforts seeking to standardize administration terminology made by authors such as Urwick and Koontz; propositions by Astley, Daft, and Wiginton who argue that studying organizations requires an ambiguous language, given its complexity (within the "linguistic slant" that has permeated organizational research, in which Alvesson, Cooper, Gergen, and Thatchenkery have also participated); and Simon's thoughts, who set out to build a vocabulary that would enable describing organizations for scientific purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common to analyze deficiencies in employment quality by using the variables informal employment and underemployment. The former term is understood to capture the problem from the company perspective (demand) whereas the latter captures it from the worker perspective (supply). This paper examines how related those variables are to employment quality in the Colombian urban labor market. To do so, the determinants informal employment and underemployment are analyzed together using an econometric model that incorporates the correlation of the terms of error (bivariate probit model). A high correlation was found between the two variables and they, in turn, are related to low income levels, low educational levels, deficient work conditions, and low technological development sectors. This is the first paper on the Colombian labor market that analytically examines informal employment and underemployment together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the determinants of incumbent failure using the game theory. In the suggested schema, an entrant firm decides to confront a monopolist firm by offering second-generation technology. The firm with the monopoly offers first-generation technology so it must decide whether to enter second-generation technology into the market or not. The paper concludes that the share of the existing market and the expected magnitude of the demand that will remain with the older technology are barriers against an established firm deciding to invest in an innovation. The probability that an established firm would invest in such innovation is inverse to the entrant firm's probability of success, to the amount of the investment, and to the magnitude of the profits that the established firm would make with its current product if the entrant company is successful. The article illustrates the theoretical exposition by using the results of introducing mobile cellular telephony in the telecommunications industry in Colombia [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the new trends in the higher education system in Colombia, this paper raises the question of how the introduction of credit systems may transform the management system of a university. To answer that question, the paper introduces the case of Universidad del Rosario, one of the most traditional universities in Colombia, transformed its institutional setting to implement this system years before the legal credit system requirement to do so even existed. Reviewing the unsystematic literature on this topic and introducing the concept of credit systems, the paper provides a model which systemizes managerial change due to credit systems into four categories: (i) governance and structure, (ii) culture/values and institutional identity, (iii) managerial practices and techniques, and (iv) the relationship with the environment (internal and external). The paper also presents concerns about cultural and institutional particularities which may affect and distort the expected impact of introducing a credit system, and it finally observes how important it would be to consider process dynamics when dealing with this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warnings against addictive products inform the public about potential health and behavioral risks caused by the use and abuse of such products, in order to minimize such risks. This paper analyzes the aspects of information processing, emotional responses, and possible changes of attitude due to variations in two important conditions for such communications: the threat in the message contents and the nature of the issuer. To do so, this paper offers a conceptual review of diverse aspects that affect the efficacy of the warnings, it examines the persuasive role of the threat in the communication and of the issuer of the message and, finally, it discusses the weight of some personal variables that affect information processing. Such arguments give rise to a set of propositions for research on the cognitive process of interiorization that such messages have and on how a person's attitude may be affected. The conceptual basis for this paper is a combination of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and of the protection motivation theory (PMT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have evaluated the psychographic characteristics that influence product brand loyalty and supermarket loyalty. Notwithstanding, none of them has evaluated the psychographic characteristics of both constructs together. Questions such as "Why do consumers develop different buying attitudes and habits regarding different supermarkets and regarding different product brands?" have gone unanswered. To answer them, the paper propose and tests a model that evaluates the similarities and differences between the psychographic causes of product brand loyalty and supermarket loyalty. This research has predicted and proven that consumers' psychographic characteristics influence product brand loyalty and supermarket loyalty in different ways and in different intensities. From the psychographic characteristics analyzed in this research, the paper shows that aversion to risk and product quality awareness increase product brand loyalty whereas the search for variety and price awareness decrease it. On the other hand, only aversion to risk influences supermarket loyalty (positively). The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of such results on supermarket owners and on producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are more and more airline carrier alliances used as a strategy to reduce company costs and increase profits. However, this form of organization may reduce well being as well, and particularly the service users' well being. This paper measures variations in well being that the Avianca, Sam, and Aces airline passengers experienced on the Medellín - Bogotá route, during the operations integration process that took place in Alianza Summa, process that ultimately led to the liquidation of Aces and to Avianca remaining the number one Colombian airline. The use of a contingent valuation methodology and a logistic model led to finding that the main decrease in well being was seen in attributes related to service quality. The paper highlights the importance of studying alliances in distinct markets because distinct social costs (consumer well being and unrecoverable losses in efficiency) must be taken into account in such processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of the second half of the past century, operations areas began to be acknowledged as strategic areas for organizational competitiveness, whether the firms were industrial companies or service companies. A fundamental question arose from that acknowledgement, "Is the operations area really supporting the company in meeting its objectives?" For manufacturing companies, present-day competitive pressures demand multi-factor performance and developing a manufacturing strategy that is coherent with the business strategy becomes a must. This paper presents a general procedure for evaluating the structural coherence of the manufacturing strategy, taking three main elements into consideration: competitive priorities, production systems, and manufacturing gearing. This procedure was given to a set of thirteen companies in the metalwork industry for them to apply. It revealed some structural gaps. That was particularly concerning in cases where the company sought to attend highly demanding export markets. The paper suggests future actions related to searching for new market niches that can be immediately attended and simultaneously undertaking projects to strengthen these companies' competitive capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the current status of the use of diffuse set theory applications and diffuse inference systems in solving financial problems, specifically in the areas of company portfolio theory, project assessment, credit analysis, technical analysis, and financial analysis. They enables incorporating uncertainty into the analysis in a different manner from the one used in the theory of probabilities. The paper also includes a critique of traditional financial decision-making models, which do not clearly capture market behavior dynamics. Using this new approach, it is possible to gather economic and financial phenomena along with all of their inaccuracies and treat them mathematically. Furthermore, expert criteria may be incorporated into the analysis, thus making the models developed true support tools for decision making. However, present-day theoretical developments tend to merge knowledge-based technologies to solve many engineering problems and that opens a whole new area of research to apply them to Social Sciences and Economic Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper covers some basic concepts of anthropology and of interpretive anthropology/hermeneutics. It is based on three books by Clifford Geertz, the main representative of interpretive anthropology: Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology, The Interpretation of Cultures, and Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics. Reading those works led to reflecting on the question, is Geertz's theoretical - methodological reference approach for understanding culture relevant to studying culture in hospital organizations? The authors of this paper consider that, according to Geertz's thought, studying culture consists of understanding the subjects' interpretation of their social world and of the kinds of thinking that they observe directly in their experiences built, according to the meaning that they give to shared ethnographical symbols. The authors conclude that this view enables understanding the structure of the relations inside hospital organizations, which, in turn, favors issues regarding workers, management and, consequently, users and the society at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes some national accounting and full cost accounting proposals for designing a sustainable income account to evaluate a company's environmental (and social) performance. Such an account implies including external elements and events into the company's accounting system, which may be controversial as it decreases company benefits and negatively affects the shareholders' dividends at a short term. The paper argues that, in spite of its methodological limitations, using methods to calculate external elements and events and implementing them into the accounting information system enables better knowledge of company operations and a change in manners of doing business, which have always been taken for granted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To obtain strategic information about the different actors in the bio-industrial cluster in western Colombia, related to decision making and interventions that lead to the competitive development of the cluster and the region, a model based on technological innovation in similar schemes was designed to measure the critical fields and factors of competition. The paper presents: (i) the fields and factors that have an impact on development and competition in the cluster, and (ii) an analysis of evaluation and measuring schemes that have been developed for similar cases at an international, national and regional level. The paper presents a proposal for evaluating and tracking the fields and factors, based on constructing an theoretic framework, identifying tracking and evaluation systems, structuring the monitoring system, and defining and adapting the measuring model. The importance of some factors on development and competition is evidenced, as is the need to measure them and generate strategic information that will support decision making and public policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the social and cultural factors that influence the consolidation of business conglomerates. A neo-institutional theoretical perspective is used, combined with the social camp concept, to study the institutional distance and dominant relationships in the conglomerates. These aspects are qualitatively applied to 39 direct interviews with micro-cluster tool-making businesses, retailers and support agencies. The paper concludes that there is an asymmetrical accumulation of specific capital, a variety of organizational subcultures, and a predominance of commercial relationships characterized by subordination and domination, rather than the cooperation and interaction that are vital to a cluster's success. The results help understand the dynamics and function of clusters, and open a line of socio-cultural investigation of business conglomerates that goes beyond traditional economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the application of the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) in the Colombian capital market. To construct optimal portfolios, CAPM optimization techniques were used that were based on the monthly performance of shares on the Colombian Stock Exchange between 1993 and 2003. The optimum portfolios were then valued, and their profitability was compared with the Colombian market average. Comparing this profitability with the market portfolio for different samples and periods gave uncertain results. It was also found that the optimum portfolio model is little used in Colombia. The paper concludes that improving the application of the optimum portfolio model depends on a higher level of profundización and efficiency in the Colombian capital market. Similarly, the proper use of optimizers by portfolio administrators, added to their experience and intuition, will improve their performance in the capital market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the behavior of high-tech firms, located in technological parks of the Basque Country, concerning the management of knowledge, the kind of strategic alliances they enter, and the effect of such behavior on their performance. The paper is theoretically supported by the resource--based approach (RBA) and the different views on strategic alliances and knowledge management (KM) reviewed and included in the references section. The field work included interviewing more than 66 managers and later work consisted in carrying out statistical analysis on different variables identified. Different tests prove that intangible assets related to human capital (I+D instruction and experience) contribute to the growth of business, that firms tend to enter formal I+D alliances with universities and technological centers rather than other firms, and that these agreements also contribute to the growth of firm business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal objectives of this paper are to develop a conceptual and theoretical framework to evaluate the cost of protectionism in the Brazilian automobile industry, and present a scheme to compare different studies. A standard partial equilibrium model was developed, and applied to the sub-compact vehicle segment of the Brazilian automobile industry. Two important aspects were analyzed: (1) economic indicators, and (2) supply and demand curves. Four economic indicators were used: (1) domestic consumption, (2) domestic production, (3) domestic prices, and (4) world prices. A supply and demand sketch was generated to determine price elasticity, using values obtained from a multiple regression model. The sub-compact vehicle segment was chosen because it represents more than 70% of the Brazilian domestic market. 2000 was chosen as the year to examine because this was when an import tariff of 35% was imposed on the automobile industry. This trade barrier provided an interesting case study for the cost of protectionism model. The paper concludes that the model clearly demonstrates protectionist polices' adverse effects on the Brazilian economy, which experienced a welfare loss borne by consumers, producers and the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies advances in science, technology and innovation (STI) in Colombia between 1990 and 2005, and then explores: (i) the successes and failures of policies designed to stimulate advances, and (ii) the challenges facing the country when converting knowledge and, especially, innovation into primary sources of development and competition. The paper reviews neoclassical and evolutional contributions in terms of their relationship with technological change, growth and development, and looks at the literature on recent experiences of successful industrialization and national innovation systems. It then moves on to the implications for STI policy, using official information, domestic and international publications and a number of the authors' investigations to evaluate some of the efforts and results indicators related to innovation, production capacity, and scientific divulgation and articulation between actors in the scientific, technological and productive fields. The results show notable advances in science, but precarious results for technology and the links between actors in these fields. The paper then examines the political challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the tax income consequences for the government of creating a tax reduction system based on investments. This type of policy is usually applied with a view to improving the general conditions of the economy, or as a model of investment for the future, but the net effect on tax collection for the government depends on the performance of businesses benefiting from the deductions. This investigation used economic, mathematical, statistical and dynamic tools to describe the optimization problems for businesses and the government (related to fiscal problems) within a neo-classical framework. The practical application is related to Colombia, and uses a calibration of the author's proposed variables. The paper concludes that it is convenient to apply this instrument, given the need to accelerate economic growth and solve a difficult fiscal situation at the same time. Furthermore, it establishes that tax benefits are unlikely to generate excessive levels of investment that would reduce tax collection at current values. However, measures may need to be introduced to control how benefits are granted and avoid opportunistic behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper it is proven that the entrepreneurial stance on SMEs has a positive influence on export performance. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database from 2011 is used for a sample of 320 exporting SMEs. Using structural equation modeling, a positive effect is proven of entrepreneurial characteristics, internal and external, and access to government resources on entrepreneurial stance. With these results, the SMEs can recognize their weaknesses and strengths on internal resources and their environment, and take steps to improve their export performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the main determinants of sovereign bonds spreads, considering the German and US government bonds as benchmarks, for countries within the European Union and the European Monetary Union, from 2004 to 2011. The econometric methodology of panel data with fixed effects is applied, and the results indicate high adjustments in the face of the different benchmarks. The financial crisis shows a higher impact in those countries within the Eurozone. Future lines of research could contemplate a broader period of study, include more macroeconomic variables and group the countries according to the similarity of their fundamentals to conduct a more exhaustive analysis of the debt markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews corporate political activity (CPA) research articles published between 2004 and 2015 in different journals. A surprising finding is that a low number of articles have dealt with CPA in Latin American cases. To promote research on CPA in these contexts, a research program is presented with the following three-phase structure: basic questions, combination of topics and other subjects of interest. This agenda can outline a path for CPA research that not only supports practices with a contextualized administrative knowledge but also evidences the political actions of enterprises that can promote the control of wrongful corporate behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the competition between Peruvian microfinance institutions (MFIs) using the Boone indicator, from 2003 to 2009. The findings suggest that microfinance has been developing in a more competitive environment that promotes financial inclusion and the development of efficient institutions. In turn, it places on the authorities' agenda the responsibility for monitoring and preventing questionable practices in the provision of credit that can lead to over-indebtedness of clients with the deterioration of the loan portfolio of MFIs. For further research, it is suggested to extend the period of analysis and/or to study the relationship between competition, financial results of institutions and the level of indebtedness of customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes to assume peace building as a process that is intrinsically related to the constitution of a political subject and the civic strengthening of its actors. The methodologies used are social cartographies, in-depth interviews and focus groups. One finding is the necessity to discuss peace building in relation with the public virtues and citizenship participation through citizens' rights. It concludes that peace building is related with the transformation of social imaginaries, the development of capabilities and the implementation of pedagogies for humanization, from which the political training proposal Humanizarte is designed for its application and validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]