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This chapter is intended to present the onset, evolution, and decline of Compañía Minera El Zancudo, considered the largest Colombian company in the nineteenth century. Additionally, the chapter will examine its role in both the development of manufacturing industries and the introduction of modern capitalism in the country.

The case is based on secondary information collected according to a documentary research method in which the authors selected, categorized, interpreted, and confronted different sources concerning El Zancudo.

The inception and evolution of El Zancudo involved local and foreign knowledge, techniques, and capital investments that contributed to the company growing to the point of reaching the unprecedented figure of 1,350 workers in the year 1890. Its transition from a failed local mine to a prosperous and intricate business group is full of referrals and links to foreign investment, knowledge transfer, industrial development, and an orientation toward entrepreneurship that contributed to the understanding of subsequent enterprises not only in the Antioquia region but also across the entire country.

This case study was written using limited reliable secondary sources about El Zancudo. Other significant Colombian companies in the nineteenth century (Ferrería de Pacho, Ferrería de Amagá, Empresa Textilera de Samacá, and Cervecería Bavaria) and their links to El Zancudo were mentioned but not deeply analyzed in this chapter.

The clear-cut causes that led El Zacudo to close its operations within the first decades of the twentieth century are worthy of discussion, not only by scholars and business practitioners, but also by policy makers in order to understand the phenomenon and possibly prevent existing companies from failing in a similar manner.

This case brings together the scattered literature on El Zancudo and analyzes the drivers and consequences of both its rise and fall, taking into consideration the specific historical, political, and economic contexts, furthermore, it establishes some linkages between this case and other companies under similar situations.

Formal management education and development in Latin America is a relatively recent phenomenon. Its present nature, and its evolution over the past 30 years in a number of Latin American countries, is examined. The issues are set, first, within the broader context of underdevelopment in Latin America. Second, the origins of management education and development are then analysed in terms of their relationship with the education and development of professionals in general. Third, possible links are explored between management education and the transition in Latin America from traditional to modern societies. This is followed, by a discussion of the foundation of a number of important Latin American business schools in the 1960s. Finally, the article speculates about the future of management education and development in the region.

Taking as reference a sample of around a hundred biographical materials on entrepreneurs in Mexico and Colombia, the purpose of this chapter is dual. Both to show the relevance and varied modalities that the biographical approach has enjoyed in business history research since the 1990s, and to display the intrinsic potential this modality of scholarship entails for entrepreneurship endeavors. In particular, it discusses the prospects to incorporate this body of empirical works into the large Latin American audience attending undergraduate, graduate and executive education programs in business, economic history and related fields. The chapter is organized into three sections. The first two are devoted to illustrate relevant patterns in the entrepreneurial trajectory of individuals and entrepreneurial families studied in each of the two countries under consideration. The last section identifies some conceptual issues that may impact current debates on Latin American business development as exemplified in recent business and economic history journal venues and scholarly conferences.

The purpose of this paper is to use attribution theory to identify the factors that contribute to the failure of entrepreneurial ventures in Colombia.

The research study upon which this paper is based involved an online survey. A total of 324 Colombian entrepreneurs who had experienced business failure answered this survey. The study included six factors (financial, organizational, marketing, external environment, operational, and human resources) with their respective attributions as well as a personality test and segmentation questions. Two multivariate techniques were used (principal component analysis and a multinomial distribution model) to analyze the results of the survey.

The results showed that the principal attributions of failure for Colombian entrepreneurs were financial and organizational issues, the external environment, and marketing. Specific sub-issues included insufficient income generated to maintain the business, lack of proper financing, problems with the control of the business, as well as legal and economic instability.

These results of this research study are important for the creation and development of policies that promote entrepreneurship in Colombia and other developing countries. The findings may also provide entrepreneurs with an analysis of the attributions that are most frequently associated with failure and related lessons, which could individually and cumulatively increase the probability of success for entrepreneurs who are starting new business ventures.

This study makes an important contribution to the extant entrepreneurship literature by identifying and categorizing factors associated with business failure in Colombia. In developing countries, it is especially important to analyze failure attributions to determine relevant official policy instruments that could promote successful business ventures.

This paper aims to analyse the transnational activities of Colombian migrants in the USA; the reasons why migrants engage, or not, in these activities; and the impact of migrants’ transnational activities at the household, community and national levels.

This paper analyses data obtained from focus groups with migrant families and interviews with government officials and an expert researcher, as well as secondary data sources.

The main transnational activities in which Colombian migrants engage in are individually oriented, while participation in collective actions such as philanthropy or membership of political parties and hometown associations is limited. The impact of those activities varies when analysed at different levels. Overall, transnational activities of Colombian migrants can be seen as contributing to the perpetuation of south–north dependency, even if they help improve the socioeconomic situation of migrants and their families.

This paper contributes to the migration–development nexus debate by pointing to the significance of distinguishing the level of analysis (micro, meso and macro) when studying the impacts of transnationalism on development.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the transnational entrepreneurial activities of Colombian emigrants to the USA in the context of the Colombian government’s policies and initiatives aimed at encouraging and facilitating emigrants’ transnational entrepreneurship. It examines the profile of Colombian emigrants, the entrepreneurial transnational activities they pursue and the actual and potential role of the government in instigating and shaping these activities.

The paper analyzes data obtained from focus groups with migrant families and interviews with governmental officials and an expert researcher. It also evaluates secondary data sources relevant to the subject of the paper.

The impact of transnational activities of Colombian migrants upon Colombian economy and society is much lower compared with the activities of migrants in other countries and with the potential these activities could have for contributing to the economic development of Colombia. Possible causes of this include: the specific characteristics of the Colombian emigrant and entrepreneur profile, the fragmentation of transnational networks of the migrants and the lack of governmental strategies to support the development of transnational activities of migrants.

The paper contributes to the debates on emigrant–state relation through offering an analysis of migrant entrepreneurship, technology and knowledge transfer and investment activities of Colombian emigrants in the home country. It also provides recommendations for policy action and concrete government programs that might encourage greater involvement of Colombian migrants in high value-adding activities that could benefit the country’s development.

This paper aims to present the Colombian Alejandro López Restrepo as a classic management thinker from the first half of the twentieth century and discuss his ideas in the light of Anglo-Saxon authors at that time and his contributions as a professor, manager and public servant.

Bibliographic material including López’s books and essays and their biography published by Mayor (2001) are reviewed to organize a new reading of López as a management thinker and practitioner.

Beyond several classical managerial thinkers, López reconceptualized scientific management with a critical discussion of classical economic theory using sociology and psychology to present a unique conception of work, enterprise and efficiency as a public service that gives sense to individual and social realization to face the future and create development.

Techniques as critical biography and interpretation of data have not been used, instead the aim to contribute to the literature of management history a Latin American’ thinker.

Including López as a classical management thinker can improve the study of management history. His life and ideas give new reflexive insight to understand the development of management in Colombia and serve to inspire administrators to seek improvements in society.

The paper offers a new approach toward studying Alejandro López beyond previous sociological work by Mayor (2001) with the discussion of the contributions in the lenses of managerial practices and theoretical insights at that time.

Although researchers have highlighted the importance of relational and family factors for the sustainability of a family firm, there is not much empirical research exploring how emotions and the management of emotions play a role in the interpersonal dynamics of family business owners. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the way family members manage their emotions affects the interpersonal dynamics in the family, business, and ownership subsystems of a family firm.

The paper presents an in-depth case study from a family firm in Colombia-South America.

The results indicate that the capability that family members have to manage their emotions influences the interpersonal dynamics that take place in the family firm at the individual and group level. In this case, the paper found that although emotional intelligence (EI) affected interpersonal relationships in a firm, this effect was based on the individual's willingness to use their EI capabilities, previous history between people, and the goals individuals have within each subsystem in a family firm. The paper also found that interpersonal dynamics, in turn, influence how family members work together.

Because this study uses an in-depth case study, the intention of the paper is to provide an initial picture of how EI can play a role in the interpersonal interactions between family business owners. The authors hope that this study can be used as a building block to enhance the understanding of the role of EI in family firms.

EI represents an individual's capability to perceive, understand, manage, and regulate self and other's emotions. For family firms, this means that family business owners can use this capability to determine how to enact their roles in the family firm and how to interact with other to ensure harmony in their relationships.

This paper builds on previous work on emotions in family firms to explore the role of EI in family firms, and provides an empirical exploration of the role of management of emotions in family firms.

Different approaches have tried to explain the multiple ways in which businesses engage in social‐purpose activities. The achievements and shortcomings of business social engagement in a country with complex socio‐political conditions like Colombia allows a rich description in two levels: a panorama of very diverse social initiatives, and an understanding of how particular companies have been able to put the market and the State to create social value. We contend that despite the tradition of business engagement in the betterment of Colombian society, collective action among businesses is yet to be achieved.