The objective of this research is to analyze the scientific production indexed in the international Scopus database on the subject of "corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance" in small and medium-sized enterprises. In the literature, it is currently possible to observe how large corporations undertake social responsibility actions as a usual practice. However, in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises, the reality is different due to their high heterogeneity.To fulfil the proposed objective, a bibliometric analysis is carried out, identifying 277 articles on the subject. It is observed that scientific production is concentrated in a period of 18 years (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018), the majority being qualitative studies.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of employment in creative industries on the regional and national economic growth of Ecuador. The methodology used is a panel econometric model in which the temporary and structural dimensions considered to meet the proposed objective are addressed. The inputs of a basic production function were considered and the influence of creative employment was estimated as a proxy indicator of the work factor and of tax collections as a proxy of the capital factor on regional production for the years 2009 and 2014. Noteworthy is that in the main findings of this research, the analysis of the correspondence of the variables used and the growth show a significant influence of creative employment on regional production and development. The concentration and heterogeneity of employment indicators in the territory is also significant, with the most favoured regions being the same ones whose participation in national production is significant, where the three most important urban axes of the country are also found, which are the leading territories regarding these indicators. Special situations are shown for the rest of the provinces.

In Ecuador, the sectorial policies, public policies and state investment, increase the presence of polarized and polycentric territories with very heterogeneous characteristics and with asymmetric levels of economic growth and development. The explanation for the unequal growth of regions in Ecuador is determined by the existence of different types of asymmetries; that determine economic dynamics and non-convergent development processes. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of an increase in public spending on physical infrastructure and education, on the improvement of productive conditions and on the process of reducing disparities (convergence) at the regional level in Ecuador. To do this, the hypothesis of beta convergence will be tested, which is conditioned by the proxy variables of public expenditure or investment in infrastructure and education at provincial level, for the 2001–2015 period. The results show the existence of a "slight" process of convergence per capita and productivity, although with a significant level of territorial "segregation". In the same way, it is observed that public investment made in this period did not increase the productivity of small and medium-sized provinces significantly, severely conditioning the sustainability of the process of reducing disparities at regional level.

The objective of this research is to examine growth and convergence processes in the provinces of Ecuador, considering sectoral productivity as an analysis variable. To do so, evidence of the productivity of the agricultural, secondary and service sectors is presented, and by applying the non-parametric method of density functions of the kernel, the complete distribution of the data is analyzed. The results obtained indicate that territorial inequality in Ecuador has very different behavior depending on the sectors of the economy. It is noted that inequality in terms of productivity is very high in the agricultural sector, it is at an average level in the secondary sector, and is less intense in the service sector. In the long-term, the overall balance is that sectoral inequality decreased among Ecuadorian provinces. However, there are two processes differentiated in time; in the first phase, inequality decreases more rapidly and in the second phase, it even increases in some sectors, as in the case of secondary sector returns.

The objective of this research is to identify from a spatial and temporal perspective the territories that are located in a “poverty trap” scenario. This is a scenario that does not allow overcoming the conditions and determinants that gave rise to this precarious situation, creating a vicious circle where the conditions of poverty endure through time. The methodology applied is an exploratory analysis of spatial dependence through Moran’s scatterplot and local indicators of spatial association (LISA) maps to visualize the spatial clusters of poverty. The database used is that of the population and housing censuses of 1990, 2001, and 2010 at the cantonal level. The results determine that 73 cantons were in a poverty trap over the period 1990–2001, while from 2001–2010, there were 75 cantons in this situation, which were located mainly in the provinces of Esmeraldas, Manabí, and Loja.