The objective of this article is to analyze the barriers faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) when implementing initiatives for sustainable development. For this purpose, a search equation was designed, and the 50 highest cited articles from the search results in Scopus between years 2013 and 2017 were reviewed. The selected criteria for the article analysis were article name, article year, country, continent, journal, Scimago Journal Rank, Scimago Quartiles, Affiliated Universities, abstract, and keywords. Among the main results, 175 barriers to sustainability for SMEs were identified. The barriers that appeared most frequently were lack of resources, the high initial capital cost of implementing sustainability measures, and lack of expertise. At the end of the article, a proposal is included which shows the 175 identified barriers, classified by “sector,” “sustainability tool,” and “internal/external” which can aid in new qualitative and quantitative studies of barriers to sustainability in SMEs.

The purpose of this study is to identify circular economy concept trends of Latin America with regards to Europe, in which a systematic review of literature (SRL) was made using Scopus data in order to define the search, to select the relevant articles, and to analyze the results. Seventy‐one articles from Scopus were reviewed, and the analysis was complemented by the analysis with 57 documents from other scientific Web browsers such as Mendeley, Scopus, Academic Google, ScienceDirect, and SciELo which sum a total of 128 documents which the majority have come from Europe. Main concepts were identified, barriers and trends. The main conclusion was which the current concept is not very clear; in spite of Europe knows that limitation, Latin America is making the same mistake implementation.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to review the literature on the Delphi method, its characteristics and current applications through an analysis of recent most-cited scientific papers, with an emphasis on three axes, namely, the number of rounds used, stakeholder participation relevance or only academic experts’ participation and the possibility of using indicators or techniques different from those related to descriptive statistics. Design/methodology/approach In total, 57 papers were initially reviewed, 10 of them with a high citation rate. Then, an analysis was made of papers in Scopus for the period 2015-2018 published in the Technological Forecasting and Social Change Journal and in the Futures and Foresight Journal, which had the characteristic of displaying quartile Q1 or Q2 in Scimago in addition to being in Scopus. Findings Among the main results, the authors observe the tendency to use fewer rounds, a higher prevalence of stakeholder participation and not only academic experts but also the use of new types of modified Delphi such as real-time spatial Delphi, Delphi group, market Delphi, real-world Delphi and policy Delphi. Originality/value Among the conclusions, the possibility of using other indicators or complementary techniques to the descriptive statistics is highlighted such as number of justifications or comments between rounds, coefficients to quantify the competence or degree of expertise of the participants, measures of the perception of the expert on the usefulness of the presented feedback, graphs of the number of arguments according to the number of questions, the Wilcoxon Ranked Pairs Test, the k means, Kolmogorov–Simonov test and the Mann–Whitney U-test.

This study seeks to identify and define the determinants of the sustainable innovation system (SIS). To achieve the objective, a qualitative approach was used through a systematic literature review using data from Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus. Two search equations were used to extract the data. In the first search equation, 69 documents were analyzed, and for the second, 102 documents were analyzed. Multiple definitions were found regarding SIS, it is worth highlighting in the findings the evolutionary process that these systems follow. As a contribution to the study, 79 determinants of an SIS are presented derived from the classic functions of an innovation system.

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En este artículo se describen las actividades y resultados del proyecto "Alianza Regional para el Fortalecimiento del Sector Agroindustrial en Risaralda" -Componente Prospectiva, mediante la aplicación del método Delphi a dos rondas, a través de la invitación a grupos de interés del sector con el fin de contribuir a reducir la incertidumbre en la toma de decisiones proponiendo temas, innovaciones y tecnologías que se convertirán en apuesta para el desarrollo de nuevos y/o mejorados programas de capacitación en el sector agroindustrial de Risaralda al 2032, entre los resultados más importantes se priorizaron 42 temas y tecnologías en cuatro agrupadores; los cuales se presentan como insumo para la realización de estrategias de capacitación y transferencia. Como conclusión se resaltan siete estrategias y programas de capacitación sobre formación en buenas prácticas; para lograr certificaciones internacionales, cursos para adopción y transferencia de tecnologías emergentes en nanotecnología en fibras o cascarilla, generación de espacios de ideación y trabajo colaborativo.

Coconut (Cocos nucifera) is a raw material that has gained particular relevance for agribusiness in recent years. This has come about largely owing to the paradigm shift regarding its genuine nutritional benefits. It is especially due to innovation that has been incorporated into agro-industrial processing and the development of new products, and the fruits of such labor can be seen in the growing demand by consumers around the world. Integrally making full use of coconut, it turns out, is extremely important for agribusiness. Coconut indeed has become a benchmark, not only from the environmental dimension but also from the social and economic perspectives both of the communities that plant it and the agribusinesses that transform it. This study aims to identify technologies, new uses, trends, and innovations related to the coconut agro-industrial chain, as well as their prioritization, by means of a prospective study, using the Delphi method in two rounds. Two methods applied at the methodological level comprised a technological surveillance study by means of a literature review in a SCOPUS database, PatentsInspiration, complemented with commercial surveillance for the four major topics of plastic wood, coconut oil extraction, high salinity and moisture, and small-scale coconut by-products. Moreover, the Delphi method was used, in two rounds, with 178 topics, technologies, and innovations, classified into seven thematic groups. The Delphi was answered by 32 experts in the two rounds. Vantage Point text mining software was also applied for the analysis of the surveillance results. Within the seven thematic groups, the following 10 priority technologies are highlighted: functional phytochemicals, non-caloric sweeteners, coconut milk preservation technologies, water activity and shelf life, coconut sugar extraction methods, batch and continuous drying technologies, lyophilization, coconut fiber and shredded recycled PET, magnetic particle modification of activated carbon derived from coconut shell and biochar to effectively remove phenol from water, and biodegradable packaging for coconut derivatives. In addition, the following topics were prioritized in the sustainability grouper: sustainable agriculture, bioeconomy, family agriculture, and circular economy.

In this article, we focused on studying the current barriers to implementing innovations in order for the agricultural sector to become more sustainable. Through a systematic literature review (SLR), 73 scientific articles were obtained with a search equation in SCOPUS. Of these, 48 were analyzed because of the mention of an obstacle preventing the sector from implementing innovations towards sustainability. Information related to the publication year, abstract, authors, keywords, innovation, innovation type, relationship with Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), identified barrier, nature of the barrier (internal/external), agricultural subsector, country, and methodology of each article was identified, and with VantagePoint software, a technological surveillance technique was applied as a quantitative analysis of the information. The United States is the country with the most publications related to the subject. The most mentioned keywords were “Sustainable Agriculture”, “Agroecology”, “Climate Change”, “Innovation”, and “Organic Farming”. Additionally, a qualitative analysis showed 43 types of innovations, 16 of them related to technology. “Organic Agriculture” is the most mentioned innovation, followed by “Genetic Engineering” and “Precision Agriculture”. In addition, 51 barriers were identified, 28 external to farmers and 23 internal. “Lack of policies that promote that innovation Innovative Practices” is the most mentioned barrier, followed by “Epistemic Closure”, “Unfavorable Regulation”, Climate-Smart Agriculture, and “Unskilled Labor”. This article is intended not only to show trends in the barriers to innovation that prevents the achievement of sustainability that the agricultural sector needs, but also to serve as an input for the development of policies that provide solutions to these impediments. It was shown that 17 out of the 28 external barriers are related to topics that could be solved by formulating policies, laws, incentives, guidelines, and regulations.