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This study aims to address two objectives: to analyse how the benefits of quality management (QM) are perceived on specific productivity indicators of the Colombian dairy industry and to analyse the degree of QM implementation.

The methodology used was a multiple case study and involved four companies in the Colombian dairy industry. The study variables were 32 QM practices and 7 productivity indicators. Data collection instruments were in-depth interviews and checklists.

Findings revealed that all productivity indicators exhibit changes after QM implementation. In addition, cases approaching ISO 9001 have the highest number of practices implemented, as well as evidence of control of all productivity indicators, which allows them to perceive greater benefits.

This research generates novel findings that contribute to the consolidation of theory by analysing changes in specific productivity indicators of the dairy industry after the QM implementation. At the same time, it provides valuable and useful information for managers, practitioners and policymakers.

The purpose of this paper is to present eight papers selected from ALTEC 2015 that provide an overview of innovation in Latin America.

This editorial seeks to define innovation by examining its conceptual foundations. It considers innovation beyond firms and technology to address other forms, such as social and institutional innovations. Thereafter, it discusses innovation in the context of Latin America and suggests means by which to stimulate it in the region. Finally, the authors present the eight papers included in this “special edition.”

The major findings of the paper are that it considers non-technological innovation within firms, innovation beyond the firm and innovation beyond technology. Moreover, it helps to better understand a core issue of innovation in Latin America, which is the focus on macroeconomic policy instead of microeconomic stimuli.

A broader understanding of the concept of innovation is of notable importance. Innovation implies the recognition of issues related to the market (firm), but also to the community (society) and to humanly devised constraints (institutions). Technology is only one part of it. For this special issue, the selected articles highlight the efforts made by different authors to contribute to innovation studies in the editors’ region.

Este número presenta ocho manuscritos seleccionados del ALTEC 2015, que ofrecen un panorama de la innovación en América Latina.

Esta editorial busca definir la innovación mediante la examinación de sus fundamentos conceptuales. Esto considera que la innovación va más allá de las firmas y la tecnología para abordar otros tipos, tales como innovación social e institucional. Posteriormente, se analiza la innovación en el contexto de América Latina y se sugieren medios para su estimulo en la región. Finalmente, presentamos los ocho artículos incluidos en esta Edición Especial.

Las principales conclusiones de esta editorial son que se considera la innovación no tecnológica dentro de las firmas, la innovación más allá de la firma y la innovación más allá de la tecnología. Además, esto ayuda a comprehender mejor una cuestión central de la innovación en América Latina, que es el enfoque en política macroeconómica en lugar de los estímulos microeconómicos.

Un mayor entendimiento del concepto de innovación es de gran importancia. La innovación implica el reconocimiento de las cuestiones relacionadas con el mercado (firma), pero también con la comunidad (sociedad) y con las restricciones humanamente concebidas (instituciones). La tecnología es solo una parte de esta. Para esta Edición Especial, los artículos seleccionados destacan los esfuerzos realizados por diferentes autores para contribuir a los estudios de innovación en nuestra región.

This research had two main objectives: To measure the productivity of companies in the Colombian dairy industry and to identify efficient decision-making units (DMUs) that can be used as work sample in future case studies.

In the measurement of productivity, financial variables were considered for a sample of 19 DMUs. Efficient companies were identified through the data envelopment analysis (DEAs) methodology with the VRS model oriented to inputs and outputs. The input variables analyzed were “current asset,” “property, plant and equipment,” “non-current liability” and “equity,” while the output variables were “revenue” and “profit.”

Findings revealed that seven DMUs are efficient in the input and output orientation and that companies of different sizes and with or without quality certifications are efficient in the sample analyzed. Additionally, the benchmark efficient DMUs were identified for each of the non-efficient DMUs.

The implications for the research include the contribution to the theory, on the one hand, with the analysis of the current state of the literature on the use of DEA in the food sector, and on the other, with the use of DEA to measure the productivity of Colombian dairy industry companies and with the identification of a sample of efficient units that can be analyzed in future case studies.

This article is novel and pioneering because it measures for the first time the productivity of DMUs of the Colombian dairy industry, in addition to including the current state of the literature on the application of the DEA methodology in the food sector. These findings contribute to the consolidation of the theory and also provide inputs for researchers, practitioners, managers, and policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to analyse the current state of the literature on the relationship between quality management (QM) and productivity as a performance indicator; second, to identify the key constructs of QM practices related to productivity; and, finally, to reveal whether QM can actually be regarded as a determinant of productivity.

This research was carried out through a systematic literature review, considering 150 papers that studied this relationship between 1997 and 2017 and another 37 papers on the internal determinants of productivity.

The findings revealed that human resource management, top management and process management were the more relevant constructs of QM practices related to productivity. In addition, 89 per cent of the internal determinants of productivity were related to the proposed constructs of QM practices, which suggest that QM is a determinant factor of productivity.

This review analysed the literature on the relationship between QM and productivity, as few studies have done before, generating original, interesting and useful findings that can guide future research and that also represent a useful tool for researchers, practitioners, managers and policy makers.

This chapter analyzes studies on organizational creativity in Latin America. Having identified a gap in the literature, we conducted a systematic literature review that provides academics, entrepreneurs, and managers with an overview of their regional reality. Creativity, seen here as a phenomenon that is distinct from innovation, constitutes a field of growing interest, albeit fragmented. Creativity is a multilevel phenomenon that influences individuals, groups, organizations, and the environment. Our results indicate that in the Latin American context, organizational creativity is a recent field, with publications concentrated in the last decade, and characterized by isolation when viewed from the perspective of partnerships among authors and institutions. We analyzed 39 articles and identified authors, journals, and countries with the largest number of publications. Research papers that investigate what enables creativity in organizations as well as articles that focus on organizational levels are the most commonly found. Subsequently, we discussed implications and directions for the field.

The objective of the work is to show the way in which creativity can influence entrepreneurial activity in Latin America. To do this, a review was made of the work related to: the mechanisms and contexts that stimulate creativity in business activities both internationally and in the region; and those that account for the contextual frameworks that favor or inhibit the development of business activity. Based on the above, it was reviewed in a more specific way, to what extent the link between creativity and entrepreneurship works or does not work in different types of companies such as small rural companies, women's businesses, and informal ones. In the last section of the chapter, with data constructed from the GEM, the impact of the context is shown to understand the geographical, historical, cultural, and institutional variations in the actions of entrepreneurship and creativity in the region, and with it, qualify the global studies on their relation.

The objective of this study is to review the main studies of social entrepreneurship (SE) in Latin America, to categorize them into four categories. To accomplish this, a bibliometric literature review is carried out based on data from the Web of Science database, to locate the Latin American collection of studies. In this way, the main studies are described and grouped, following a qualitative scheme that allows to substantiate the main findings of the Latin authors. Consequently, the progress made in the literature of the SE for Latin America is corroborated, by visualizing that the SE turns out to be a forceful fact to manage well-being, but that it is faced with an inconsistent development.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competitive position of the company Inditex in the period 1990-2013 as a case study, identified by academics and professionals as a successful company. The analysis has focussed on the comparison of Inditex with its competitive environment.

The methodology used to achieve the objectives was: data envelopment analysis for the analysis of efficiency and for the second the Tobit regression to determine the factors explaining efficiency. The authors have used additional methodologies such as social networks or cluster analysis.

The individual company analysis reveals that the average efficiency level by years for the period 1990-2013, is relatively high 88.8 percent. The determinants of efficiency have been; the resources of the company in terms of assets whose relationship with is U-shaped curvilinear, where the minimum value (trend change) is produced between years 2002 and 2003. The degree of internationalization of the firm, is positively related to efficiency. As the company increases its expansion, experience and skills, increases efficiency. Finally, the effect of liberalization of textile trade in 2005 had no influence on the efficiency levels.

The limitations involving the methodology, in terms of representativeness, possible generalizations and type of secondary information used, can be offset by the ability to provide good vision and establish alternatives for possible studies.

This paper contributes to the fast-fashion retail industry literature by emphasizing the importance of the case study.