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This chapter presents an overview of social entrepreneurship and social innovation in Colombia and explores its implications in the Pacific Alliance. It is organized into five sections that provide an overview of the fields of social entrepreneurship and social innovation with the aim of sharing experiences that have occurred in the country with the international academic community. It offers a description of the social and economic context of Colombia and then presents the situations that currently serve as the basis of social entrepreneurship and social innovation. It also discusses the main actors that are active in this context. In particular, the chapter emphasizes the experience of the city of Medellín, which is thought to provide an auspicious scenario for the establishment of a business ecosystem based on social entrepreneurship and social innovation. The learnings of Colombia can serve as a relevant example for the countries of the Pacific Alliance that are currently building their social business ecosystems.

This chapter presents the topic of the ‘new generation’ of upgrading initiatives in informal settlements in Latin America and the rationale for this book, its objectives and research questions, focusing on the issues of spatial justice and public open spaces in informal settlements. It also provides a short insight into the research setting, i.e. the social, economic and physical characteristics of the case study location, Comuna 13 in Medellín, including short descriptions about the three spaces that were investigated in detail. It also provides a brief overview of the research methodology applied.

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.

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 chapter is to describe the First Contact Pilot Program carried out in collaborative work between ISAGEN, a partly government-owned firm within the energy sector, and Universidad EAFIT, a private university in the city of Medellin.

The First Contact Pilot Program was developed following an existing model implemented at the Universidad Externado de Colombia, a private university located in Bogotá. Nevertheless this pilot program took methodology elements from ISAGEN and its suppliers relationship policy. Additionally content concerning the Global Compact and its principles was provided within the subject “Senior Seminar.” Students from this subject were voluntary participants in the pilot program.

The chapter provides a brief survey conducted by ISAGEN wherein some findings are visible. In this survey the First Contact Pilot Program participating entrepreneurs were asked about their motivations in order to voluntarily be part of the program and they recognized the great importance of this initiative for their businesses to change lots of practices and to become part of a global market culture.

This first version of the program was at the same time a way to invite other big organizations in the city of Medellin to take part in such activities. Massive participation, not only from the big players but also from small and medium enterprises, is necessary to achieve the goal of spreading the Global Compact’s principles. In the longer run it assures the creation of a fairer market place where all players in all sizes contribute to respect and promote a core of best practices in business.

One of the most remarkable implications by designing and implementing the pilot program was the fact of having interactions between International Business Students and local small and medium firm managers together talking about the Global Compact and the way it may improve many aspects within the firm and toward stakeholders.

A particular feature of this chapter to be considered as original and valuable is the establishing of networks for the dissemination of the Global Compact’s principles. Collaborative work among private and public sectors and with higher education institutions in fostering the transformation of business practices to achieve a fairer global market place constitutes the aim of this particular pilot program. At the same time this pilot program embodies the spirit of the UN PRME in giving the students of International Business the opportunity to develop their capabilities to become the future managers aware of the sustainability value for business.

This chapter presents an assessment of the participatory process during the PUI upgrading initiative, drawing on extensive interview data with residents, experts and municipal staff. It highlights the potentials and limitations of participatory processes in upgrading informal settlements. Structured into three parts, focusing on the process, the products and the effects of the PUI, it discusses topics such as social and material sustainability, self-esteem, place attachment and use of space, formal and informal economic development, political image-making and more.

For Colombia, cocaine is a product that is sold for profit in the United States. Mainstream political economy, let alone the other social sciences, has little to say about the process of extraction of surplus value in the production and distribution of cocaine, in other words, how cocaine is exploited for profit. The paper argues that the conventional framework, which locates profits generated from the cocaine trade in an economic model of crime shields a much deeper reality than simply ‘money laundering’ as a ‘legal problem.’ The central argument is that the cocaine trade in general, and the cocaine economy in particular, are a vital aspect of U.S. imperialism in the Colombian economic system. The paper tackles a critical problem: the place of cocaine in the re-colonization of Colombia – defined as ‘narcocolonialism’ – and the implications of the cocaine trade generally for U.S. imperialism in this context. The paper evaluates selected literature on the Colombian cocaine trade and offers an alternative framework underpinned by a political economy analysis drawn from Marx and Lenin showing that cocaine functions as an ‘imperial commodity’ – a commodity for which there exists a lucrative market and profit-making opportunity. It is also a means of capital accumulation by what could be termed, Colombia's comprador ‘narcobourgeoisie;’ dependent on U.S. imperialism. It is hoped that by analyzing cocaine with a Marxist interpretation and political economy approach, then future developments in understanding drugs in Colombia's complex political economy may be anticipated.

Liliana Alzate-Pérez is a fifth semester student in the Bachelor's in English-Spanish Education (Licenciatura Inglés-Español) at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellín, Colombia. She serves as a Research Assistant at the Research Group on Pedagogies and Didactics of Subject Knowledge (Pedagogías y Didácticas de los Saberes). She has helped with data collection and analysis procedures on two research studies: An exploratory study about teacher education policies in Medellín and a study regarding school violence. She is also a member of the Student Research Group on Second Language (SRG-L2), currently drafting a project about impact of teacher education programs. In addition, she works at a partnership project between UPB and local newspaper El Colombiano for the inclusion of the newspaper as a pedagogical tool. She has also been teaching a biology preparation course for the Colombian ICFES High School standardized test at UPB High School for four years. Her first research presentation was about her study (along with Mr. Gómez-Yepes) on teacher education practices in the new curricular proposal at the Faculty of Education at a research symposium at UPB. Her primary research interest is in the field of teacher education, specifically in the area of teacher education policies. Additional research interests include issues of technology and literacy in the high school setting, working in the inclusion of different educational needs in the curriculum, and the development of creative strategies for teaching improvement.