Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

This article is a reflection about education as the motor of the economic, social and human development of territories. It centers around Colombia. The main argument is that competitiveness does not exist unless Education, a crucial variable that translates into prosperity and progress, is taken into account. Education and competitiveness are thus interdependent inseparable allies. Companies need to innovate in order to be competitive, because once they offer unique products or services they can reduce or even eliminate competition –a distinctive proposal gets positioned among customers looking for product or service innovation if they get satisfied and if their expectations are met. Companies wanting to be at the head in their field, should see innovation as a dynamic partner, one that would guarantee their becoming a model for other companies to follow.

The present review aims to present a brief analysis of ecology, a field intrinsically able to promote knowledge dialogue. Its argumentative lines are identified, which, in the opinion of the authors, energize and promote a potential scientific revolution —in Kuhn’s terms— of what is or can be Bioeconomics or Ecological Economics in contrast to the conventional discourse of Market Economy. This paper is based on a documentary review. The main conclusion is the need to foster dialogue, both interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary, in Economics in order to respond to the issues of the 21st century.

This paper describes the situation of commercial sexual exploitation involving children and adolescents in the Historic Center and Rodadero in Santa Marta city (Colombia). The demand and supply in the market is analyzed, taking into account the interactions among implicated actors: the exploiter, the exploited, the consumer, the main public policy makers and formal tourism representatives. Their participation in the dynamics of this unwanted market is exposed, which it has become the scourge of Santa Marta society, tourism and the environment. Through surveys and interviews the profile of the potential consumers of such services as well as their manners of participation were established. It is maintained, as a result of the study, that demand plays a key role in the persistence of this market. It is suggested that public administration has performed very poorly in preventing and mitigating this phenomenon. And that the main goal of such policies as well as of committed citizens should discouraging demand.

Knowledge Management (KM) is a key discipline for Software Development Organizations (SDO) because the main asset and the main product of these organizations is knowledge in diverse forms. This study identified the factors considered determinants for the success in KM implementation and the barriers that difficult the implementation of KM. For reaching the objective, a survey among representatives of 129 SDO in Colombia was conducted. One of the findings of this study is the identification of Human-oriented factors as the most relevant factors for the success of KM, and the high cost and low availability of financial and human resources, and unawareness and inexperience in KM as the main barriers for the implementation of KM. This study could be used as a reference for identifying and establishing the existing conditions that could influence in present or future KM implementations.

In this article the results of a study conducted at Casa Glamel —small business— are condensed. The goal was to assess the relevance of implementing an information system ERP that could help to improve productivity, quality and costs reduction. To carry out the research, a diagnostic process was carried out that encompassed all areas and processes in the company: technological, personnel-wise, budgetary, functional and software related. An outstanding conclusion of such diagnosis is that the company needs to reassess its objectives, its mission and its vision; it would also needs to, train staff on the subject of informatics and to acquire new technologies in order to obtain the expected benefits from implementing an information system ERP.

Thanks to globalization, there are different patterns within the New Economic Geography, which explains the causality of phenomena of economic agglomeration in particular geographical areas, which lead to the strengthening of world economic powers. Within the World Trade Organization are the trade agreements. These agreements have become a framework for bilateral negotiations, in which topics in order to optimize trade relations, which are governed by certain international treaties. The problem developed in the paper is, how intellectual properties issues work together with these agreements and, in turn, how the WTO-plus generate an environment of fierce competition where countries with economic capabilities, such as Colombia, must face a refined economic clusters such as the European Union and subject to its rules; which affects national competitiveness.

his article is derived from research conducted in retail stores in the city of Medellin, Colombia. The purpose of the research was to consider how Corporate Social Responsibility has an impact on clients and interest groups. The research was carried out through a qualitative methodology, through a hermeneutical approach. It should be noted that the epistemological sources have a foundation that supports the management of Corporate Social Responsibility, contributing to a business construction in a comprehensive and strategic manner. However, it was identified that companies in the retail sector are not convinced that acting in accordance with Corporate Social Responsibility contributes to their reputation and generates a positive impact on their clients and interest groups. The results of the study suggest two proposals to implement social responsibility in companies in this sector; First, consideration is given to considering social responsibility within the strategic plan of companies, and the second is to identify the way in which Social Responsibility contributes brand value and reputation to customers and other stakeholders.

Socio-economic dynamics of the countries have resulted in an increase in their development gaps. Some approaches attribute development to an emphasis on productive factors related to labor force formed for either manual skills, either intellectual ones. This article centers around the relationship between competitiveness, education and employability to contribute to this discussion. Based on the review of authors that show the evolution of this relationship between productive factors and development, each section proposes reflections on the theoretical debate and the empirical observation, particularly regarding developing countries.

Techniques such as near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) can be used to identify classes and properties of soils with good precision. The aim of this study was to calibrate models to predict the content of clay, silt and sand of a Typic Hapludox by NIR spectroscopy. The study was carried out in the Carimagua Experimental Station located in the municipality of Puerto Gaitán, Meta, Colombia. A grid design was used, 1200 samples were collected in an area of 5100 ha. The development of the models have made by partial least squares regression. A low representatively models were obtained for sand and silt contents, with values of R2 (0.41 and 0.34, respectively).The clay model  content showed a high R2 (0.76). For the clay was possible the development of similar digital maps and digital spectrum maps . The results for the clay content indicate that laboratory analysis  can be substituted, in large part by spectral models. In the case of sand and silt, in the future,  it would be convenient to improve the model  for substituting the laboratory analysis  for this class of soil.

Tropical dry forests are complex and fragile ecosystems with high anthropic intervention and restricted reproductive cycles. These have unique richness, structural diversity, physiological and phenological . This research was executed  in the Upper Magdalena Valley, in four forest fragments with different successional stages. In each fragment four permanent plots of 0.25 ha were established and lighting habitat associated with richness, relative abundance and rarity of species. The forest dynamics included the mortality, recruitment and diameter growth for a period of 5.25 years. The species rischness found in the mature riparian forestis higher than that reported in other studies of similar areas in Valle del Cauca and the Atlantic coast.  The values of richness, diversity and rarity species are more evidenced  than the magnitudes found in  drier areas of Tolima. The structure, diversity and dynamics of forests were correlated with the lighting habitat, showing differences in canopy architecture and its role in the capture and absorption of radiation. Forests with dense canopy have limited availability of photosynthetically active radiation in understory related low species richness, while illuminated undergrowth are richer and heterogeneous.