The need for an income is cited by several studies as a primary motive for both formal and informal business start-up activities found in emerging countries. Conversely, entrepreneurs from developed countries enjoying more favorable economic conditions (such as the United States, Canada, or the European Union) are mainly motivated by intrinsic motives. Given the extant literature, it appeared important to determine which motivators were at play in larger Mexican urban centers, where economic conditions seemed to have become similar to those of Canada and the United States. No significant differences were observed between the motives of female as compared to male entrepreneurs from urban Mexico because a majority went into business primarily for economic reasons rather than for intrinsic motives. Knowing that Mexican entrepreneurs are mostly motivated by economic goals should help local governments in designing policies aimed at fostering and facilitating entrepreneurship.

El actual mercado globalizado de la educación superior propicia nuevos marcos regulatorios para las instituciones que generanla necesidad de sistemas de gestión para el seguimiento y control de objetivos y metas. El aseguramiento de la calidad implica la obtenciónde acreditaciones y certificaciones por entidades externas basadas en la norma ISO 9001 y la nueva norma ISO 21001. La presente investigaciónanaliza el impacto de las variables de gestión por procesos y de planeación estratégica en la calidad educativa en una muestra de 48 Instituciones Públicas de Educación Superior (IES) de México, pertenecientes a una asociación nacional que cuentan con un sistema de gestión de calidad certificado de acuerdo con la norma ISO 9001:2015. El objetivo del estudio es determinar la incidencia de la gestión por procesos yde la planeación estratégica en la calidad educativa en las IES públicas de México. Mediante el uso de ecuaciones estructurales ajustadas pormínimos cuadrados parciales, los resultados señalan que la gestión por procesos tiene un impacto positivo en la calidad educativa; mientrasque la planeación estratégica no presenta impacto en la variable dependiente. Estos hallazgos son consistentes con la literatura, incluyendo la no significancia de la planeación estratégica con la calidad educativa debido a la naturaleza de instituciones públicas con fondos no vinculados al desempeño o la matrícula.

Abstract. In hyper competitive environments, knowledge has turned to be the most valuable resource. However, a competitive advantage is achieved through the firm’s capability for assimilating and exploiting it with commercial purposes, as a product or process innovation. Therefore, the cognitive processes, defined as knowledge creation, transfer, and assimilation preceding an organizational innovation, are critical for a firm’s survival in markets such as those of emerging economies. In addition, contextual factors such as the structure, the culture, strategic processes and information technologies have been identified in severalstudies as responsible for an effective knowledge transfer, while the effects of knowledge characteristics and the capabilities of senders and receivers have not been sufficiently integrated in literature. This study presents a literature review about the cognitive processes preceding an organizational innovation in order to map the different topics and research lines related to the phenomena. Then, the effects of contextual organizational factors, as found on different frameworks, are discussed. Finally, a proposed framework for application in emerging economies is introduced-Keywords: cognition, knowledge transfer, organizational innovation, organizational context

Social entrepreneurship has been defined as the generation of new ventures involving economic, social and environmental value. In that sense, social impact is aimed through the introduction of products, services, technologies or processes targeted for the improvement of the well-being of the poor, access to education, health services, water, energy, among others. However, social entrepreneurs usually lack the resources to sustain their ventures; thus, inter-firm alliances are often sought for resource provision. Although such alliances are a step towards the achievement of sustainability regarding the new social venture, the main argument of this study relays upon goal alignments among all the pertaining partners towards creating community value through a business ecosystem. Then, contributions of all actors involved could be focused around visions, ideas, volunteering, and resources exchanges. This study presents a conceptual model based on the development of a business ecosystem through bridging social capital with diverse key players (e. g. universities, government, Non-Governmental Organizations, Multinational Corporations, or institutions) in order to assure resource provision for social firms. The model proposes that greater transfer of resources among the players strengthens the sustainability of the new social venture.

Keywords: informal economy, institutionalization, SMEsAbstract. The informal sector has been growing throughout the last century in emerging economies. Particularly in Latin America, both a long-term instability in economic and political environments, and a continuous migration from rural to urban areas; have triggered the appearance of unregulated businesses and employments. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) operate informally in one or more business processes, in order to reduce costs and maximize profits. Leaving aside tax evasion and illegal labor, such SMEs often have low technology and an unskilled work force; which threatens its survival in highly competitive environments. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the impact of the Multi National Corporation (MNC) and the Academia in the formalization of SMEs. This is aimed through a collaborative model for the institutionalization of operational and managerial knowledge within SMEs. Qualitative results indicate that improvements are triggered by a self-conscious awareness of the value derived from institutionalizing best business practices.Palabras clave: economía informal, institucionalización, PyMEsResumen. En economías emergentes, el sector informal ha crecido continuamente durante el último siglo. Particularmente en América Latina, entornos de inestabilidad políticaeconómica, así como una migración continua de las áreas rurales a las urbanas; han propiciado la aparición de negocios y empleos no regulados. Las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas (PyMEs) operan informalmente en uno o más procesos de negocio, con el fin de reducir costos y maximizar utilidades. Más allá de evadir impuestos y leyes laborales, dichas empresas cuentan con baja tecnología y mano de obra poco calificada, lo cuál amenaza su supervivencia en entornos altamente competitivos. El propósito del presente artículo de investigación es el resaltar el rol que la Empresa Multinacional y la Academia juegan en la formalización de las PyMEs. Esto es realizado mediante un modelo colaborativo para institucionalizar el conocimiento administrativo y operativo de la PyME. Resultados cualitativos indican que las mejoras están sujetas a la transformación en la visión de negocios derivada de la institucionalización de mejores prácticas.

Abstract. Women entrepreneurs represent a research phenomenon that has increased its importance over the last years. This study contributes to understand the role of women entrepreneurs in developing countries. In particular, we study the factors that influence the entrepreneurial activity of women in Mexico, identifying the characteristics both from the business and the entrepreneur, along with the barriers and impact of her entrepreneurial activity. Three case studies are analyzed from Tamaulipas, Mexico. The main finding of this study is that the context in which the women entrepreneur is immersed is essential to interpret her activity, being age an important factor influencing the perception of the entrepreneurial activity.Keywords: entrepreneurship, small businesses, womenJEL: L25, L26, L29Resumen. La mujer como emprendedora representa un fenómeno de estudio cuya importancia ha ido en aumento en los últimos años. El presente estudio tiene por objetivo contribuir en el entendimiento del emprendimiento femenino en países en desarrollo. En particular, se estudia los factores que influyen en el emprendimiento de negocios que realizan las mujeres en México, identificando tanto las características de la empresa como de la empresaria así como los obstáculos e impacto de la actividad empresarial. Con este objetivo en mente, el presente estudio se basa en el estudio de 3 casos de microempresarias en Tamaulipas, México. El principal hallazgo de este estudio que el entendimiento de las características de la empresaria así como del contexto en el que se desenvuelve es importante para poder interpretar su actividad, siendo la edad un factor importante que influye en la percepción de la actividad empresarial.Palabras clave: emprendimiento, microempresas, mujer

To achieve a competitive advantage in the industrial sector means a strategy promoted by senior management, based on the experience acquired over time and the capabilities that are formed or absorbed. This article proposes to identify if absorptive capacities (acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation) work explaining the innovation types developed by small and medium industrial companies located in Sonora. The cross-sectional research analyzes the data using the statistical method multiple linear regression in a model that includes the stages of absorptive capacity for each type of Innovation (product and process, organization, and commercialization) whose data were collected using an adapted survey, applied a sample of 89 small and medium industrial companies. The results show that assimilation capacity can explain all the types of innovation and exploitation capacity specifically explains to process and product's innovation, which constitutes the main knowledge that is provided considering that each innovation types requires specific management and represents the current routines using knowledge in the companies studied, related to their performance.

El objetivo de la presente investigación fue determinar los factores que inciden en el crecimiento de las asociaciones no financieras de la economía popular y solidaria en las provincias de Azuay, Cañar y Morona Santiago – Ecuador. Es de enfoque cuantitativo, para la recolección de los datos se utilizó una encuesta tipo Likert de cinco opciones aplicada a una muestra de 93 representantes de las asociaciones. Para la validación de contenido se empleó el método de agregados individuales y para medir confiabilidad se utilizó el Alpha de Cronbach con un resultado de 0,837. En el análisis de los datos se empleó el método estadístico de la regresión lineal múltiple. Los resultados muestran que los factores que inciden en el crecimiento de las asociaciones no financieras de la economía popular y solidaria son: Capacitación del personal, gestión comercial y asociatividad.