Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
121 

Wilson Araque Jaramillo 
Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Sede Ecuador (Ecuador) 

 
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2626-8705 

Roberto Hidalgo Flor 
Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Sede Ecuador (Ecuador) 

 
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2369-3666 

Jairo Rivera Vásquez 
Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Sede Ecuador (Ecuador) 

 
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3528-5969 

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Ecuador: 

Evolution and Challenges 

Abstract 

The main objective of this article is to analyze the evolution of Ecuadorian Small and Medium-Sized 

Enterprises (SME), their contribution to the national economy, institutional framework, and internal 

operating characteristics. To this end, the focus is on companies related to the manufacturing sector in 

Ecuador. The main periods of the analysis are: i) the 1990s, ii) 2000-2008 and iii) 2009-2019; however, 

the decades of the 1970s and 1980s have been included in the first part of the article for their relevance. 

Literature review is the main data collection methodology, and the databases used are from official 

sources. Data from the Banco Central del Ecuador (BCE, Central Bank of Ecuador), the Instituto 

Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC, National Institute of Statistics and Census), regulations and 

research around the SME sector have been used. 

The main findings are that SMEs are crucial within the Ecuadorian industrial fabric, because of its 

specialization in products that contribute to satisfying basic needs, but also because they provide parts 

and supplies to other companies. The quantitative contribution of SMEs, however, has been declining 

over time, both in number of establishments, staffing, and production, which reveals the increasing 

relevance of large industries. In this process, the institutional framework has had an influence in the 

evolution of SMEs, with certain strengths and weaknesses in terms of supporting the development of 

SMEs. In turn, in regards to internal operation, it becomes apparent that despite some improvement, 

there has not been significant progress during the period under analysis. In short, this work contributes 

to the larger discussion about the relevance of SMEs in Ecuador, their history, and whether there might 

be grounds for public policies to support their development. 

Keywords: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise; Small and Medium-Sized Industry; Ecuador  

 

Corresponding author: e-mail: wilson.araque@uasb.edu.ec  

Received 16 September 2020 - Accepted 2 June 2021       
 
 
 
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No 
Derivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-comercial re-use and 
distribution, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered or transformed in any way. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2626-8705
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2369-3666
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3528-5969
mailto:wilson.araque@uasb.edu.ec
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
122 

1. Introduction 

In Latin America, there is a significant contribution from small and medium-sized industries in 

terms of employment and production, which is linked to the development models implemented 

by the countries in the region (CEPAL 2013; Peres and Stumpo 2002). The same can be said 

about the Ecuadorian case. However, we have yet to know the history, evolution, environment, 

and characteristics that have influenced their dynamism and survival over time. The article 

focuses the analysis on companies related to the manufacturing sector in Ecuador.  

The main objective of the study is to understand the evolution of Small and Medium-Sized 

Industries (SME, or PYMI for its initials in Spanish) in Ecuador. In this document, an SME is 

characterized according to the number of workers, due to the availability of information, and 

taking as reference Comunidad Andina de Naciones (CAN, Andean Community of Nations) 

Decision 702 of 2008,1 which was formally adopted by the country through the Código 

Orgánico de Producción, Comercio e Inversiones (COPCI, Organic Code of Production, 

Commerce and Investment) and later in Executive Decree 757 of 2011. 

The methodology used in this document is based on a documentary review; data from the Banco 

Central del Ecuador (BCE, Central Bank of Ecuador), the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y 

Censos (INEC, National Institute of Statistics and Census), regulations and research around the 

SME sector were used in this process. In this analysis, the main characteristic of this study is 

the use of timeframes, which organizes the presentation of the evolution of SMEs into three 

                                                           
1 According to Resolution 702, SMEs (PYMIs) are defined by two variables: the personnel employed and the gross 

value of sales. In terms of the personnel employed, a small business has up to 49 workers and medium businesses 

have up to 199 workers (CAN 2008). The use of sales or personnel employed does not have a statistically 

significant difference (Rivera 2018). 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
123 

main periods: i) the 90’s, ii) 2000 -2008, and iii) 2009-2019. It should be noted that the first 

part of the article includes the 70s and 80s because they are important for background. 

The document is structured as follows: the second section presents the study methodology; the 

third section analyzes institutional characteristics related to SMEs, highlighting the laws and 

organizations related to the sector; the fourth section presents some characteristics of the 

evolution in the study of the sector over time; the fifth section establishes the importance of the 

industry within Ecuador and the contribution of SMEs to the country, highlighting their 

contributions in the number of establishments, personnel employed, and production; the sixth 

section indicates the operating characteristics of the SME sector, its progress, and challenges. 

Finally, the seventh section presents the conclusions of the document. 

2. Methodology 

As a technique for data collection, this paper uses the analysis of historical documents that, as 

part of historiography—a key space of the historical profession (Ayala 2014b)—focuses on 

identifying, reviewing, and studying specialized literature, studies, and research already 

generated by public and private, national and international organizations throughout the 

economic history of Ecuador. These contain a significant component such as the history of the 

evolution and transformation of the fabric of production. 

Considering that history, from the viewpoint of the time variable, is a fairly wide space, this 

study takes timeframes as a method to help the approach to reality, based on the specific 

organized analysis of duly classified data collected (Ayala 2014a). The investigative effort has 

focused on three periods starting in 1990 since, due to the occurrence of certain historical 

events, these become references for understanding the economic history of SMEs. However, in 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
124 

the institutional segment, an earlier period is included; the decades of the 70s and 80s, as a 

necessary background to understand the sector. 

The periods chosen for the historical study of SMEs are the following: 

▪ 1990 to 1999, a period of searching for an economic opening, given that between 

the 60s and 80s, Ecuador took as reference a model of inward industrialization 

promoted by the Comisión Económica para América Latina (CEPAL, Economic 

Commission for Latin America). 

▪ 2000 to 2008, implementation of dollarization as the monetary model of Ecuador. 

▪ 2009 to 2019, evolution of the economy, from an economic boom, with 

restrictions on private productive development—emphasis on the presence of the 

State in all spaces—to a final scenario of economic austerity. 

3. Institutional Evolution and Change in Regard to Small and Medium-Sized Industries 

(SMEs) 

In the analysis of the institutional framework related to SMEs, the definition established by 

Institutional Theory is considered, for which institutions are the norms, regulations, and actions 

of people and entities that set conditions and/or limit the behavior of involved social actors 

(North 1991; DiMaggio and Powell 1999). In contrast, organizations are groups of people who 

act on the basis of a structure and guidelines to achieve a specific purpose or objective, thus, 

“formal organizations are generally understood to be systems of coordinated and controlled 

activities that arise when work is embedded in complex networks of technical relations and 

boundary-spanning exchanges” (Meyer and Rowan 1977, 340). With this perspective, this 

section identifies laws and regulations, public and private entities, business associations, and 

organizations directly related to SMEs in Ecuador, whether with a regulatory, representative, 

or academic approach to the sector. As previously stated, the timeframe of analysis in this 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
125 

section presents four periods since, from the institutional perspective, the 70s and 80s are 

relevant as background. In each period, certain facts that determined changes in the economic 

situation and the administration of the country are presented as points of reference, and graphs 

of relevant economic variables that reflect the context of these situations are also presented.  

FIGURE 1. Average Annual Price of Oil 1972 - 2019, by Type, in 2015 Dollars 

 

Note: Deflated series using the United States Consumer Price Index - Adapted from British Petroleum. 

2020.  

Source: Observatorio de la Energía y Minas de la Universidad de las Américas 2020. 

The periods are: i) the 70’s and 80’s, ii) the 90’s, iii) 2000-2008, and iv) 2009-2019. An 

important reference in all these stages is oil and its price variation, which, since 1972, has been 

a determining factor in the country's economy, so that below (figures 1 and 2) the evolution of 

the oil price and the variations in GDP and GDP per capita are presented. This information and 

its specific relevance is taken up in each period. 

 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
126 

FIGURE 2. Percentage Change in GDP and GDP per capita (1970-2019) 

Note: GDP per capita based on data from years of Population Censuses and with projections in 

intercensal years. 

Source: Own elaboration with BCE and INEC data. 

The evolution of GDP per capita in constant monetary values, shown in figure 3, also allows us 

to visualize the economic situation described in the aforementioned stages, specifically, growth 

in the 1970s, stagnation in the 1980s, the crisis at the end of the 90s and growth from 2004 to 

2014-2015, when the decline in oil prices began to impact the economy (Figure 1) and the 

further deterioration in growth (Figure 2).  

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
127 

FIGURE 3. GDP per Capita Evolution 1970- 2019 (2007 Dollars) 

 

Note: GDP per capita based on data from years of Population Censuses and with projections in 

intercensal years. 

Source: Own elaboration with BCE and INEC data. 

3.1 The 70s and 80s 

In Ecuador, the manufacturing industry began to have relevance in the 1960s, as it was 

considered an alternative for growth and economic development in light of the crisis of the 

agro-export model. This gained momentum from 1972, mainly due to the application of the 

import substitution model, which had started in the 1960s, and due to the availability of 

resources from oil exports, channeled as credits or fiscal stimuli. This was complemented by 

the creation of the Andean group, through the signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969, in 

which Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile came to participate, with an 

initial vision of integration, geographical planning of manufacturing production and a 

community market (Insotec 1986, 19). However, the crisis of the 80s occurred, known 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
128 

internationally as the debt crisis, a period in which the terms of trade deteriorated, external 

investment declined significantly and export growth was slow (Samaniego 1993). 

The effect of oil resources and the import substitution model is shown in Figures 4 and 5, the 

first of which shows the evolution of the GDP of various sectors of economic activity. In the 

case of the Manufacturing Industry, significant growth can be seen in the 1970s; it should be 

noted that oil extraction and refining data has been consolidated in a single item and oil refining 

has been removed from the Manufacturing Industry, in order to visualize the growth and 

contribution of other manufacturing activities. With this consideration in mind, the stability of 

the manufacturing industry not related to oil in contributing to the economy is presented (Figure 

5). In recent years it has contributed the most and has always been among the top two or three 

industries, with an average of 11.9% between 1965 and 2017. Figure 4 confirms the growing 

evolution that manufacturing had from the oil boom; between 1965 and 1972 the average 

growth rate was 4.8% while between 1973 and 1981 (before the new crisis) it was 8.4%. In any 

case, in this period, “industrialization, urbanization, the expansion of the middle classes, and 

the strengthening of the State profoundly changed Ecuadorian society” (Larrea 2000, 89). 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
129 

FIGURE 4. GDP Evolution in Several Economic Sectors, 1965 - 2017, in 2007 Dollars 

 

Note: Oil Refining has been removed from manufacturing industries, to be added to Oil Extraction, in 

order to portray the contribution of the Manufacturing Industry independent of oil. 

Source: Own elaboration with BCE data. 

FIGURE 5. GDP Contribution Structure between 1965 and 2017 (in %) 

 

Note: Oil Refining has been removed from manufacturing industries, to be added to Oil Extraction, in 

order to portray the contribution of the Manufacturing Industry independent of oil. 

Source: Own elaboration with BCE data. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
130 

The legal framework to promote small industry was generated in 1965 with the Small Industry 

and Handicraft Promotion Law, which had several modifications in the 70s, aimed at better 

serving the sector. Specific regulations were issued for the application of the law, the promotion 

of the sector, the categorization and qualification of companies' access to a differentiated salary, 

and access to special credit lines such as Fopinar and Fondos Financieros. In 1975 the Centro 

Nacional de Promoción de la Pequeña Industria y Artesanía (CENAPIA, National Centre for 

Promotion of Small Industry and Handicraft) was created. It gives way to the formation of inter-

ministerial committees to support the sector and reorganizations to better meet the needs of 

companies (Fernández 1990, 48-annex 1).2 Additionally, at this stage, the Industrial 

Development Law is issued and organizations such as the Centro de Desarrollo Industrial 

(CENDES, Industrial Development Centre), Corporación Financiera Nacional (CFN, National 

Financial Corporation), Ministerio de Industrias, Comercio e Integración (MICEI, Ministry of 

Industry, Commerce, and Integration) are created and “as complementary measures, 

amendments are made to the tariff system, seeking to protect the production of the existing 

industry and the tax system in order to promote investment and capital accumulation in the 

industry” (Insotec 1986, 43).  

In the business associations sphere, as of 1969, provincial small industry associations were 

formed; in 1971 a national federation of these associations was organized, in 1979 it was 

approved that the associations be considered as chambers of production and they were renamed 

Cámaras de Pequeña Industria (Small Industry Chambers); and in 1982 amendments were 

approved so that the federation of associations be called Federación Nacional de Cámaras de 

                                                           
2 In Fernandez's (1990) document there is a detailed list of all the standards issued between 1965 and 1989. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
131 

Pequeña Industria (FENAPI, National Federation of Small Industry Chambers) (Insotec 1986, 

81). From the private sector, in 1980 Instituto de Investigaciones Socioeconómicas y 

Tecnológicas (INSOTEC, Socioeconomic and Technological Research Institute) was created 

at the initiative of business owners and technicians related to SMEs (some of this entity’s 

activity is described in section 4.2). It started researching to support proposals for the benefit 

of the sector, with support for Small Industry Chambers’ development through training for 

entrepreneurs who held management positions in Small Industry associations. The result of 

INSOTEC’s actions is, in part, to influence the chambers of the provinces with greater 

economic development, to develop services and mechanisms so that their members could have 

better levels of competitiveness, “among them the following can be mentioned: credit guarantee 

corporations, savings and credit cooperatives, fair and exhibition corporations, training 

institutes, sectoral technical assistance programs, etc.”  (Lanusse 1993, 41). 

The model of promotion and protection within a closed market, applied since the 1960s but 

promoted since the 1970s thanks to oil resources, along with “restrictive economic policy 

measures have meant a great [negative] weight for the industrial sector due to the [excessive] 

dependence of the sector on domestic demand” (Samaniego 1993, 122), which ultimately led 

to a lack of productivity and quality by local companies and a lack of options and convenient 

prices for consumers. 

3.2 The 90s 

“Since the late 1980s, but especially since 1990, a series of measures were adopted in Ecuador 

to modernize the State's management and favor the country's insertion into international 

markets” (Hidalgo 1999, 10). There were changes related to fiscal management, monetary 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
132 

policy, labor policy, financial policy, foreign trade, and also in public institutions related to the 

productive sector (Insotec 1996, 9). Up to 1994, the tax reform introduced in 1990 gradually 

dismantled all the exemptions that the development laws had established. Tariffs were reduced, 

subsidies were removed that were intended to favor the development of the industrial sector but 

that, in reality, ended up being harmful due to not having considered a temporary validity term 

from the beginning. Figure 4 shows that in the 90s the growth rate of the manufacturing industry 

decreased. Ecuador transitioned to an outward development model promoting the export sector. 

Over the first five years of that decade, several government entities that had been created in 

previous years as instruments of the state to promote industrial development under the previous 

scheme, were closed or restructured. Among those that were closed were CENAPIA, CENDES, 

Comisión Ecuatoriana de Bienes de Capital (CEBCA, Ecuadorian Commission of Capital 

Goods), Fondo Nacional de Preinversión (FONAPRE, National Pre-Investment Fund). The 

following were restructured: Ministerio de Industrias, Instituto Ecuatoriano de Normalización 

(INEN, Ecuadorian Institute for Standardization), Servicio Ecuatoriano de Capacitación 

(SECAP, Ecuadorian Training Service), Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología 

(CONACYT, National Science and Technology Council), and CFN.  

But also as part of the national productive transformation process, government bodies were 

created such as the Consejo Nacional de Modernización del Estado (CONAM, National Council 

for State Modernization) which, among its main objectives, sought to restructure the operation 

of state entities. Thus, the goals were to present said entities as direct contributors to the 

strengthening of the economic opening of the country towards a global context. The intensive 

development of information and communication technologies (ICT), began to demand a more 

innovative profile from the country’s production fabric, with a highly adaptive capacity to new 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
133 

challenges. It is clear that, in the case of SMEs, corporate guilds had their role in joining this 

transformative process (Lanusse 1993, 38). 

In this context, the Minister of Industry in office in 1992, according to words transcribed in 

Lanusse's document (1993, 44), expressed no interest in introducing sectoral (industrial) 

policies and even less for specific strata (small industry), but Ministry maintained lines of credit 

and technical assistance programs. From the private sphere and with the support of international 

cooperation (Germany, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Inter-American Development Bank –

IABD), two institutions, which began their activities in the 1980s, continued with programs 

aimed at the SME sector (Hidalgo 1999, 71). These institutions were INSOTEC (with research, 

dialog, support for business associations development, generation of proposals, and some direct 

services to companies: technical training and assistance) and Swisscontact (technical assistance, 

training, support for credit guarantee programs).  

In the second part of this decade, there was a deep political crisis, even with the promulgation 

of a new constitution in 1998, which in terms of trade liberalization gave a predominant role to 

the private sector (Ayala 2012). During this period there were five changes of President between 

1996 and 2000, as a result of the implementation of certain unpopular measures and the lack of 

respect for the constitutional order, which was influenced by the difficult economic situation, 

whose main causes were the war with Peru in 1995 and the decrease in the price of oil (see 

Figures 1 and 2). This led to high inflation rates, high interest rates (which distorted the 

investment priorities of individuals and companies), devaluation of the national currency 

(MICIP 2002, 20), a deposit freeze in march 1999, and, faced with the risk of hyperinflation, 

the national government opted for a currency change to the dollar. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
134 

An important characteristic to consider is that, in Ecuador, the representation of small industries 

is in the Cámaras de Pequeña Industria, while the medium-sized industries are instead affiliated 

with the Cámaras de Industrias (Industry Chambers) which also group the large ones. The latter 

are “those that most influence and weigh on the decisions made in matters of economic and 

social policy” (Lanusse 1993, 39). The limited influence of the small industry can be explained 

by the fact that they do not represent strong economic groups, there are internal divisions in 

FENAPI, but also that “they continue to analyze the current situation with schemes and 

approaches that were typical of the oil boom times and that can be associated with a concept of 

a protective and paternalistic state” (Lanusse 1993, 39). 

3.3 2000 to 2008 

As stated above, this period begins with the implementation of the dollar as the official currency 

in Ecuador in January 2000. This occurred due to the serious economic situation of the last 

years of the nineties. In any case, during the first years of this period, the framework of 

economic opening and export promotion was maintained, without an explicit industrial policy 

and much less one aimed towards small industry. Symbolically this was reflected in maintaining 

the new name that had been given to the Ministerio de Industrias (Ministry of Industries) in 

previous years, when it was renamed as Ministerio de Comercio Exterior, Industrialización y 

Pesca (Ministry of Trade, Industrialization and Fisheries), together with the issuance of the 

Foreign Trade and Investments Law (issued in 1997), which led to the creation of Consejo de 

Comercio Exterior (COMEXI, Exterior Commerce Council) and Corporación para la 

Promoción de Exportaciones e Inversiones (CORPEI, Export and Investment Promotion 

Corporation). In addition to this, several projects with international support (USAID, GTZ, 

CBI-Holland, ALADI), all with emphasis on exports, were executed. Unfortunately, in a similar 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
135 

way to what happened in other Latin American countries, “institutions typically focus on their 

own goals without coordinating and implementing policies with other institutions” (Urmeneta 

2018, 83). 

The first six years of the 2000s were focused on how to strengthen the monetary model of 

dollarization and recover what was lost, in productive terms, by the financial crisis at the end 

of the previous decade. At this stage, there is a consolidation of the new monetary model, in 

which “the growth of the Ecuadorian economy has improved […] due largely to high oil prices, 

increased remittances, the depreciation of the dollar, low international interest rates” (BCE 

2010, 72).  

In this first half of the decade, a more active role of local governments in productive 

development is observed; a good example of this is what has been done by the Municipio de 

Quito (Municipality of Quito) and the Consejo Provincial de Pichincha (Provincial Pichincha 

Council), in order to generate spaces for competitive improvement of the local economy. In this 

line of action, an instance that stands out is Conquito—the agency for the economic 

development of Quito (Araque 2010). Something similar happened in Ambato (with 

Corpoambato Corporation) and in Cuenca (with Acudir Agency), initiatives that were later 

replicated in other cities. 

Also noteworthy are the efforts made to strengthen the technical education system for company 

workers, through the action of the so-called Consejo Nacional de Capacitación y Formación 

(CNCF, National Training and Education Council), which was proposed to replace the SECAP 

in promoting this type of service for the private sector. Unfortunately, the implementation 

model was modified in the second half of the decade, the expected results were not achieved, 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
136 

and it became a failed project. However, with the access to the Presidency of Ecuador by Rafael 

Correa in 2007, a change of vision begins in the development model that will finally be based 

on the guidelines of the new constitution promulgated in 2008. 

At the level of the small industry guilds, in this period one of the most important chambers, that 

of Pichincha (Quito), had a fracture that affected the influence of SMEs in public policies, since 

the national association, FENAPI, was also affected. When the situation was resolved, the guild 

was weakened anyway. Since the end of the 90s, the main private entities that support SMEs 

(INSOTEC and Swisscontact) had expanded their scope of action to the provision of direct 

services to microenterprises, as a result of the importance that this segment was taking in public 

policies and international cooperation. But there was also a change in focus in order to 

encourage small industry chambers to generate their own business service initiatives or that 

they be undertaken by those chambers, after a boost from the aforementioned entities. For 

instance, in the case of INSOTEC, an entity was created to provide training services to the 

textile clothing industry, with support from the IADB and the participation of the Municipio de 

Quito (Municipality of Quito) and Cámara de Pequeña Industria de Pichincha (CAPEIPI, Small 

Industry Chamber of Pichincha); the latter institution was left in charge of the entity once the 

project with the IADB was completed. Additionally, INSOTEC promoted the creation of the 

aforementioned local development agencies: Conquito, Corpoambato, and Acudir. In the case 

of Swisscontact, there was important work to strengthen savings and credit cooperatives, some 

of them started in the provincial chambers of small industry, and to promote professional 

training programs (they supported the creation of the above-mentioned CNCF and generated 

other initiatives), additionally they supported local development agencies in various provinces. 

3.4. 2009 to 2019 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
137 

With the new development plan, the Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir 2009 - 2013 (National Plan 

for Good Living), issued after the re-election of Rafael Correa due to the validity of the new 

constitution of 2008, a strategy towards an internal and sustainable economy is proposed  

“through a process of selective import substitution, promotion of the tourism sector and 

strategic public investment [...] the foundations are laid to build a domestic industry and 

produce substantial changes in the energy matrix […] In this period, the protection of generating 

sectors that are intensive in work and employment will be a priority” (SENPLADES 2009, 96). 

Economically, thanks to the high price of oil, GDP maintained positive growth rates until the 

beginning of 2015, although at a decreasing rate. In 2015 - 2016 the economy decreased, the 

following year of it showed slight recovery and then it fell again and became stagnant (see 

figure 2). 

A change of the productive framework was proposed in the development plan—inserted within 

the Agenda para la Transformación Productiva presented in 2010 (Ministerio de Coordinación 

de la Producción, Empleo y Competitividad. 2010)—but it did not materialize in terms of 

achieving its main objective, which was to reduce the Ecuadorian economy’s dependence on 

products such as oil and other traditional non-oil products as much as possible. The idea was to 

develop an innovative industry, with sophisticated products, with greater added value, capable 

of being sold in the different markets of the world. As part of this Agenda—which generated 

great expectations in the national productive sector—at the end of December 2010, the COPCI 

was approved; however, it would be of little use if a long-term strategy was not adopted to 

insert the national production fabric in a real way into the international context, which meant 

changes to the focus of the productive and commercial policies of the current Administration 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
138 

(Luna 2014, 26), which did not happen because the government maintained an anti-business 

discourse. 

At this stage, some initiatives to support the SME sector were generated, but always under the 

control of the State. International cooperation was centralized and controlled, which made some 

initiatives from private foundations and even from the corporate guilds themselves extremely 

limited. The protection of national production, through tariffs on imports, favored some sectors, 

but affected others and ultimately harmed the final consumer by not providing the option to 

choose higher quality. This return to import substitution, without a clear definition of its 

temporary duration, determined an approach between the government and certain leaders of 

small industry, micro-enterprises, and the social and solidarity economy. Figures 3 and 4 show 

that the growth rate of the manufacturing industry and the economy, in general, has resumed. 

Due to the aforementioned policies and the new oil price bonanza (Figure 1), the average growth 

rate of manufacturing was 4.8% between 2009 and 2014, while in the 1990s it had been 1.4%. 

At the guild level, the government managed to formally divide the small industry sector (which 

also happened in other areas of national institutions). Only a few provinces remained in 

FENAPI, while the others formed a national chamber, close to the government. Despite this 

and the calls for agreement and dialogue to define policies, one of the representatives of the 

sector close to the government (interview with the Executive Director of CAPEIPI, in 

November 2017) recognized that they had little actual influence on the final decisions made by 

the government. Ultimately, as in other Latin American countries, “the absence of a clear 

analytical framework has favored the shift of policy emphasis towards objectives focused on 

reducing poverty and increasing employment, causing export competitiveness and development 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
139 

objectives to lose relevance. The segment of medium-sized enterprises runs the risk of being 

marginalized within the support policies” (CEPAL 2013, 57). 

The slowdown in the economy as of 2015 (figures 2 and 3), due to the decrease in oil prices, 

the strong earthquake of 2016 and the wrong economic policies (excessive debt, lack of control 

over spending, lack of an emergency fund, regulations unattractive for private and foreign 

investment, lack of stability regarding tax regulations) affected the support initiatives that the 

government had proposed. 

4. Evolution of Analysis of the Sector in the Historic Periods Referenced 

In 1965, through the issuance of the first Small Industry and Handicraft Promotion Law, the 

legal life of this sector formally begins, establishing in the codification and reform issued in 

1973, that “Small Industry is considered to be that in which there is a predominance of 

machinery operation over manual activity; it is devoted to transformation activities, including 

casting, raw materials or semi-finished products, into final or intermediate articles” (EC 1973, 

art. 5) and reference is made to a certain investment value in fixed assets, excluding land and 

buildings, a value that has changed over time.  

For research and analysis purposes, some public and private institutions have taken the number 

of employees as a reference and on some occasions, the sales value or the level of investment 

have accompanied that reference. Sometimes it has happened that, in the same period, two 

government institutions have had different definitions. With the issuance of Executive Decree 

757 in 2011 (EC 2011, art. 106) a single definition was established. The historical use of the 

number of employees, as the main reference, originates from the fact that the information from 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
140 

the INEC was easier to process, especially in previous years when digital support was scarce, 

but also for ease of comparison with other countries with similar situations. 

4.1 Initial State Research into the Sector 

In the 1970s, the public entities related to productive development: CENAPIA, CENDES, 

FONAPRE, and CEBCA, were the ones that generated information about and for the small 

industry sector, especially the first of those, whose direct objective was focused on small 

industries. It can be stated that this information was descriptive of the sector and supportive to 

the entrepreneur, for example, with certain investment profiles. However, the scope of action 

of all these entities covered other topics (training, technical assistance, marketing support) so 

the study of small industry was limited. 

4.2 Research from the Private Sector, INSOTEC 1980-2005 

Due to the limitations stated about the need to know the sector and its needs in-depth, in 1980 

INSOTEC was created on the initiative of a group of small industry entrepreneurs and 

technicians connected to this issue, for the purpose of contributing to Ecuador’s economic, 

social, technological and educational development, with an emphasis on small industry 

requirements, for which it had the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Lines of 

research, support for business associations development, proposals, and policy dialogue for the 

sector were generated and, later, also direct action projects. 

Between 1980 and 2005 there was relevant INSOTEC activity with studies on small industry 

of a general, descriptive type, focusing on productive subsectors by branch of activity, on issues 

of technology, human resources training, policies for the sector, and occasional environmental 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
141 

issues, for specific geographic regions, cities or provinces, but also for the country as a whole, 

on current issues and time-sensitive issues. 

Support along these lines was received from other cooperative entities such as IDRC of Canada, 

the Inter-American Foundation, IADB, USAID, CAF, OAS (Organization of American States). 

Nearly 100 publications and internal documents were generated at the request of the small 

industry chambers or state agencies or to guide these institutions’ courses of action, and those 

of INSOTEC or other entities. 

In the aforementioned years, especially until 1995 when the institutional framework created 

under the import substitution approach was dismantled (which was partially justified because 

some of these entities became a bureaucratic burden instead of supporting the productive 

sectors), there was also some research activity on the sector by CENAPIA and SECAP. As of 

the year 2000, with the new institutional framework and the role of local governments, other 

research initiatives on the sector were generated, e.g. in the capital of the country with the 

CONQUITO Corporation; this was also done in some chambers of small industry, but not with 

the same volume and significance as INSOTEC’s efforts. 

4.3 SME Observatory and its Influence from 2010 

The gap left by INSOTEC from approximately 2005, when it became an entity providing direct 

services to companies, was compensated for in September of 2010 by the creation of the 

Observatorio de la PyME (also “SME Observatory”) of Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, 

sede Ecuador (UASB-E). This made it possible to strengthen the institutional framework with 

the presence of an organization that, from the realm of research and generation of information, 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
142 

supports all the actors who, from different perspectives, are interested in the situational 

improvement of such a key sector of the national production fabric as SMEs. 

With the launch from the UASB-E’s SME Observatory, as a key element of the University’s 

strategic action was “breaking down the walls that, for years, have prevented the generation of 

a fluid and interconnected true link between universities and the other actors that integrate and 

coexist in a society” (Araque 2019). 

Something to be highlighted in the operation of the SME Observatory is that, from its 

beginnings, it took the tenets of systemic thought and action as a major philosophical referent, 

thereby allowing the work to be oriented towards the collection, analysis, and socialization of 

information ranging from macro variables to micro information regarding the sectoral and 

organizational behavior of entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Additionally, to achieve an integrated 

understanding of the sector, information of a social, political, technological, legal, and cultural 

nature is processed and disseminated (Araque 2019). 

The Observatory’s strategic model of operation is summarized in seven thematic courses of 

action: discussion spaces on the problems of entrepreneurship and SMEs; activities on the 

exchange of knowledge and domestic and international experiences related to entrepreneurship; 

windows into business reality intended to motivate entrepreneurs; specialized training programs 

in the field of entrepreneurship and business creation; training programs for entrepreneurs and 

small enterprises; bibliographic production specialized in entrepreneurship and the productive 

sector; spaces for the development of research and the generation of information on 

entrepreneurship and SMEs (Observatorio de la PYME UASB-E 2014). 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
143 

5. Contributions of SMEs to the Country’s Socioeconomic Development 

In this section, the analysis focuses on companies related to the manufacturing sector in 

Ecuador. To do this, the importance of small and medium-sized industries in the Ecuadorian 

economy is analyzed, based on their contributions in the number of establishments, employed 

personnel, and production. The data used comes from the BCE’S National Accounts and the 

INEC’s Manufacturing and Mining Survey.3  

5.1 The 90s 

The 1990s are characterized by the economic opening of the Latin American region and the 

liberalization of markets, which had repercussions on the countries’ industrialization processes, 

affecting the participation of the industry within total production (Geymonat 2020). It comes 

after a lost decade for Latin America due to economic and social deterioration, driven by the 

fall in oil prices, the external debt crisis, and the fall in investment. 

This fact affected Ecuador, with a brake on the industrialization process that took place in the 

seventies, generating instability in the behavior of the national industry (Durán and others 

1992); along these lines, the evolution of the manufacturing industry had some limitations 

during the eighties (Samaniego 1993). During the nineties, the contribution of the 

manufacturing industry to GDP averaged 12% (removing the processing of oil products), where 

for 1990 the share was 12.4%, with slight drops and a close of 11.7%. Thus, there was a certain 

                                                           
3 The data that comes from the BCE’S National Accounts uses base year 2007 as a reference. The data that comes 

from INEC’s Manufacturing and Mining Survey uses data available from the 1998 to 2015 surveys. It must be 

noted that, standardizing with the figures presented above, manufacturing has excluded the manufacture of oil-

related products in order to ensure the analysis is not influenced by the oil-related industry, which has a different 

dynamic. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
144 

stability in the share of the manufacturing industry during the 1990s (Araque 2002), as 

presented in the following figure. 

FIGURE 6. Manufacturing Industry’s Contribution to the GDP 1990-1999 in Constant Prices 

(2007=100) 

Source: Own elaboration with BCE data. 

The structure of the Manufacturing Industry according to the number of establishments reflects 

the importance of SMEs in the national industrial fabric. In the 1998-1999 period, on average, 

Small Industry represented 66% of all establishments, Medium Industry 25%, and Large 

Industry 9%. That is, nine out of 10 industries are SMEs, as shown in the following figure. 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
145 

FIGURE 7. Structure of the Manufacturing Industry by Business Size 1998-1999 

 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

 

Regarding the employed personnel, during the nineties, SMEs contributed about 49% of the 

total. Small Industry generates employment for 19% of all workers, Medium Industry 30%, and 

Large Companies 51%. With this, one out of every two workers works in an SME, as presented 

in the following figure. 

Taking into account production, SMEs contribute 40% of the total. Small Industry contributes 

11%, Medium 29% and Large Businesses 60%; Thus, this indicator is where SMEs have the 

lowest share, as shown in the following figure. 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
146 

FIGURE 8. Employment by Business Size 1998-1999 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

FIGURE 9. Production by Business Size 1998-1999 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
147 

5.2 2000 to 2008  

The new century in Ecuador begins after a social and economic crisis that affects the well-being 

of the population, with the presidential overthrow of Jamil Mahuad in January, the product of 

“economic deterioration, a social crisis, and a popular uprising” (Larrea 2008, 215). This period 

is characterized by the change of official currency in the country, dollarization, which brings 

economic stability, although there is still political instability within the State. The contribution 

of the manufacturing industry to GDP in the 2000-2008 period remains on average at 12% 

(removing the processing of oil products). It begins in 2000 with a 12.1% share, reaching its 

lowest point in 2004, due to an increase in the share of the oil sector, and is at 12.2% in 2008. 

In that sense, during this period, there was relative stability in the share of the manufacturing 

industry in GDP, as shown in the following figure. 

FIGURE 10. Manufacturing Industry’s Contribution to the GDP 2000-2008 in Constant Prices 

(2007=100) 

Source: Own elaboration with BCE data. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
148 

The main components of the manufacturing industry show dynamic behavior within their shares 

in the sector. Over the period, the five main subsectors are; food processing and manufacturing 

(32.1%), the manufacture of chemical substances and products (10.6%), the manufacture of 

textile products, clothing, leather manufacture, and leather articles (9.6%), the manufacture of 

metal products, furniture, machinery and equipment (8.8%), the manufacture of paper, printing 

and paper products (7%). 

FIGURE 11. Structure of the Manufacturing Industry by Business Size 2000-2008 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

During this period of the new century, the importance of SMEs is slightly reduced in terms of 

the number of establishments, personnel employed, and contribution to production. This is 

related to a concentration process of large companies, which have higher rates of profitability 

and stability within a competitive environment such as that of the manufacturing industry, 

reducing volatility in terms of their entering and leaving the sector, where in this country “when 

a company matures it achieves a relevant share in the market” (Coello 2017, 66). 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
149 

With this, the importance of SMEs within the manufacturing industry is close on average to 

88% of all establishments, which represents a slight decrease of 3 percentage points in 

comparison to the previous decade. Small Industry on average represents 61% of all 

establishments, Medium Industry 27% and Large Industry 12%, as shown in the following 

figure. 

In reference to employed personnel, during the 2000-2008 period, SMEs contributed close to 

40% of the total, which represents a decline of 9 percentage points in comparison to the 1990s. 

With this, Small Industry on average generates employment for 14% of total workers, Medium 

Industry for 26%, and Large Companies for 60%, as shown in the following figure. 

FIGURE 12. Employment by Business Size 2000-2008 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

Concerning production, in the 2000-2008 period, SMEs represent around 30% of the total, with 

a reduction of 10 percentage points in comparison to the nineties; Small Business contributes 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
150 

9%, Medium-Sized Businesses 21%, and Large Business 70%, as shown in the following 

figure. This reflects improved productivity in larger establishments. 

FIGURE 13. Production by Business Size 2000-2008 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

5.3 2009 to 2019 

Latin America had significant economic growth and improvement in social indicators, reducing 

gaps and increasing the provision of services related to well-being. This fact was promoted by 

an economic bonanza due to the increase in the prices of primary products, called commodities, 

generated by a period of world expansion and growing demand from China. In 2008 Ecuador 

passed the latest Constitution of the Republic, within a favorable economic environment, driven 

by high oil prices. Similarly, during this period there was political stability, with the same party 

at the helm of the national government. The manufacturing industry’s contribution during this 

period is close to 11.8% (removing the processing of oil products), with a slightly lower share 

of GDP than in previous decades. It begins the year 2009 with a contribution of 12.0%, reaches 

its lowest point in 2016, and stands at 11.7% for the year 2017. Thus, the share of the 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
151 

manufacturing industry within the national production remained relatively stable, as shown in 

the following figure. 

FIGURE 14. Manufacturing Industry’s Contribution to the GDP 2009-2017 in Constant Prices 

(2007=100) 

Source: Own elaboration with BCE data. 

In accordance with the previous paragraph and as has been presented in previous sections, it 

can be said that since 1975 manufacturing has been among the three sectors of economic 

activity (Figure 5) with the highest contribution to GDP and since 2010 it has been the sector 

that contributes the most, in contrast to the oil extraction and refining sector which, despite 

having had the highest share in several periods, has declined in others and, as of 2010, the 

average contribution to GDP is 10.6%. Something similar has happened with the trade sector 

which, since the year indicated above, has contributed 10.2%.   

In this period five major subsectors of the manufacturing industry are; food processing and 

manufacturing (33.2%), manufacturing chemical substances and products (10%), 

manufacturing of non-metallic mineral products (9.1%), manufacturing of metal products, 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
152 

furniture, machinery, and equipment (8.9%), manufacturing of textile products, clothing, 

manufacture of leather and leather goods (7.7%), revealing some changes in comparison to the 

prior period. 

According to the number of establishments, the participation of SMEs within the structure of 

the manufacturing industry is close to 83%, which is an important percentage but reflects a 

reduction in its contribution when compared to the two previous decades. In the 2009-2015 

period, on average, Small Industry represents 52% of all establishments, Medium Industry 31%, 

and Large Industry 17%, as shown in the following figure. 

FIGURE 15. Structure of the Manufacturing Industry by Business Size 2009-2015 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

If we take employed personnel as a reference, SMEs contribute 29% of the total, which is a 

reduction of 11 percentage points in comparison to the previous period. Small Industry 

generates employment for 8% of all workers, Medium Industry for 21%, and Large Companies 

for 71%, as shown in the following figure. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
153 

FIGURE 16. Employment by Business Size 2009-2015 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data. 

Finally, the share of SMEs within production has also reduced its magnitude, contributing 23% 

of the total, being 7 percentage points lower than the previous period, where on average Small 

Business contributes 6%, Medium-Sized Business contributes 17% and Large Businesses 

contributes 77%, as shown in the following figure. 

The information in the three previous figures and the comparison with prior periods reflects the 

concentration of companies within the manufacturing industry, favoring the larger ones since 

there has been a growing trend of their share in terms of the number of establishments, 

employed personnel, and production (Coello 2017). In addition to improvements in 

productivity, this occurs due to market power, which creates entry barriers and has been 

enhanced by accumulation processes (Solano, Camino and Alvarado 2017). This process is 

associated with greater efficiency of large companies and greater liberalization of the economy 

that could affect the survival of smaller companies (Aguiar 2013). 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
154 

FIGURE 17. Production by Business Size 2009-2015 

Source: Own elaboration with INEC data.. 

However, despite the above, the contribution of SMEs to the development of Ecuador's 

provinces as a whole should be recognized, since large companies are mainly in the economic 

attraction poles, while in intermediate and small cities it is the SMEs that generate employment 

and income for the population. Thus, according to the Directorio de Empresas—Company 

Directory (INEC 2019)—, the number of companies per 10,000 inhabitants tends to be higher 

in smaller provinces. Another important issue is that traditionally (Hidalgo 1999) the Sector 

Specialization Coefficient shows that SMEs carry out activities related to satisfying basic needs 

(food, clothing),4 to providing inputs for households (cleaning and simple chemical products, 

wooden furniture), but they are also suppliers of other companies with inputs and parts 

(chemical products, general metal products, and some electrical machinery). 

                                                           
4 For a specific subsector it is calculated as the ratio between its share in the value added of SMEs and the share 

of the same subsector in the value added of the total industry. If the result is greater than 1, it means that SMEs 

have a specialization in that subsector and, the larger the result, the greater the specialization. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
155 

6. Characterization of the Evolution of Internal Operations in Small and Medium-Sized 

Enterprises (SMEs) 

The internal functioning of Ecuadorian SMEs throughout the three periods of this study shows 

a series of evolutionary characteristics that have adapted to certain national and international 

historical milestones, as described in the previous sections. As in other countries, the share of 

SMEs in industrial development processes is seen as “the hope of growing dynamism” 

(Cardozo 2005, 118). In the Ecuadorian case, even industrial development policies have tended 

to remain stable in the national development plans of the 1970s and early 1980s (Insotec 1987). 

Among the main effects felt at the beginning of the 1990s was the lag in institutional matters 

accumulated in the country as a result of having operated based on a productive model of 

industrialization that, rather than promoting exports - a key requirement for a secure opening—

prioritized the substitution of imports using tariff barriers to prevent the entry of products from 

foreign markets. This legal framework and public policies rather had an anti-export bias and an 

oversizing of the state role that, in the end, limited SME's competitive potential (Fernández 

1990). 

With the changes in institutions and policies detailed in section 3, among the positive effects of 

this decade was the improvement in exports of non-traditional products, where small and 

medium-sized companies played an important role together with the support that was offered 

by the CFN, CORPEI and non-governmental organizations at the time, through programs such 

as the Promoción de Exportaciones Agrícolas no Tradicionales (PROEXANT, Promotion of 

Non-Traditional Agricultural Exports). In any case, the Small and Medium Industry sector had 

an orientation to increase its presence more in the local market, hence the export levels 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
156 

registered did not reach more than 5% of the total establishments (Universidad Eafit, Insotec 

and CAF 1996) and only four out of ten Ecuadorian SMEs had knowledge about the key factors 

behind the management of foreign trade. For this reason, the scant trend towards 

internationalization, despite government efforts to open the economy to new markets with 

products other than oil and other traditional ones such as bananas, coffee, and cocoa, was held 

back by SMEs internal operations; their behavior limited the possibilities of insertion in foreign 

markets. 

For example, significant weaknesses were found in fields such as the creation of competitive 

advantages, due to the lack of concern for incorporating good organizational practices aligned 

with competitive improvement requirements such as; quality, productivity, and innovation. In 

terms of quality management, there was a trend towards little widespread use of certification 

processes through international quality standards. During this decade only 13% had been 

concerned about using ISO 9000 series standards (Universidad Eafit, Insotec and Caf 1996). 

Therefore, as expected, “the quality standards of their products are relatively low, if not 

deficient, in the absence of genuine competition, both internal and external” (Lanusse 1993, 

32).   

Regarding the concern for innovation as a permanent practice to face the challenges of a 

changing and increasingly globalized market, there was a trend of high weakness, since only 

14% of SMEs indicated that they were doing any kind of investment in research and 

development; this is later reflected in scant product innovation - about 4 out of every 10 SMEs 

tend to make changes in what they produce - and in processes, only 21% tend to make 

efficiency-oriented improvements (Universidad Eafit, Insotec and Caf 1996). This weak quality 

and innovation behavior ended up influencing the value registered in terms of productivity, 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
157 

which, in the Ecuadorian case, shows a heterogeneous behavior when comparisons are made 

between different company sizes, while in countries like Colombia productivity is more 

homogeneous when companies of different sizes are compared (Araque 2002). 

Finally, in the last year of the 90s, with the freezing of the population's deposits and the serious 

crisis of the financial system, which, as expected, had an impact on the lack of money 

circulating and caused a drop in consumption, the SME sector was one of the most affected, 

despite its flexible capacity for productive adaptation. This macroeconomic blow even 

dismantled the availability of workers who began to migrate in large numbers to countries such 

as Spain, Italy, and the United States. 

During the next historical period—from 2000 to 2008—chosen as the object of study for 

understanding the evolution of Ecuadorian SMEs, began with a series of economic policy 

decisions that sought to stop the rampant inflation and devaluation that was destroying the 

currency in effect in Ecuador up to that date, the Sucre, and determined the adoption of 

dollarization as the monetary model. This macro decision had a direct impact on the behavior 

of meso- and micro-realms; where companies, specifically SMEs, felt the effects of the change 

in the monetary model in their cost structure and in the price-setting process. This began to 

cause havoc over time, above all in those SMEs oriented towards exports, faced with the 

impossibility of a monetary devaluation to improve the competitive position of national 

products in international markets, they saw an increase in the price of their export products in 

relation to those of other countries; testing adaptive and creative flexibility that generally 

characterizes a company classified within the size of SME. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
158 

In the context of that time and concerning the operation of SMEs in the financial field, a need 

that remained unmet in that period was that of specialized financial products for the sector. 

Thus, a healthy structure of business finances was hindered, since the definition of terms, 

interest rates, and amounts—on the part of public and private financial institutions—was 

established without considering the real profile of small and medium-sized companies’ 

productive needs. Therefore, oftentimes, that profile matched the reality of micro-enterprises - 

with products such as microcredit - or that of large companies - with products such as corporate 

credit. This excluded small and medium-sized enterprises from access to financial products 

specialized for their productive and business needs (Araque 2010). The aforementioned is 

ratified in the report prepared by OECD (2019) on policies for SME development in which it 

stated that “Ecuador has one of the lowest scores in the LA7 in the dimension of access to 

finance, which finds that it is particularly important to address financial education initiatives 

and strengthen procedures for dealing with bankrupt businesses” (OECD 2019, 394). 

Something important to highlight is that, as of 2007, a change of focus took place in government 

matters, with the inauguration of Rafael Correa as President of the Republic, in terms of 

supporting the country's productive actors. Great emphasis was placed on strengthening the 

SME sector and what began to be made visible and known as the Social and Solidarity 

Economy. At this historical moment in the country, the National Development Plan also 

recognized the importance of supporting SMEs. Unfortunately, at the time of putting written 

plans into action, a series of obstructing distortions appeared, linked, above all, to the 

implementation efforts regarding Ecuador’s productive policies. 

Regarding the third period (2009 to 2019) of this historical study of Ecuadorian SMEs, despite 

the fact that a large amount of money circulated in the domestic economy as a result of the new 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
159 

oil boom—2011 to 2014—the real strengthening of industrial production—which includes 

SMEs—unfortunately, remained as merely good intentions written in the National 

Development Plan. Hence, according to the Quarterly Survey of SMEs of the Observatory of 

Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, national SMEs’ concerns with making new investments, 

growth, and innovation were left on hold until support to strengthen the sector improves. 

Thus, during this period, in the end, certain indicators have remained largely unchanged within 

the evolution process of domestic small businesses. For instance, the export trend remains 

similar to that registered in the mid-1990s—between 2017 and 2019—exporter SMEs 

accounted for around 5% of total SMEs (Observatorio de la PYME UASB-E 2019). This can 

be explained by the fact that—according to a study on the internationalization of Latin 

American SMEs in the European market, carried out by CERALE (2017)—in countries with 

weak economies, such as Ecuador, SMEs depend more on export support programs to achieve 

internationalization. Additionally, Ecuadorian SMEs indicate that what they most require is 

access to information and communication technologies, information on foreign markets, and 

validity of free trade agreements, among a list of eleven factors (CERALE 2017, 34). 

Incidentally, free trade agreements with the USA and Europe was one of the issues opposed by 

the government that was in power between 2006 and 2016. 

Along the same lines of identifying issues in which there is stagnation, in the use of operating 

capacity—measured by the hours of daily work and by the weekly days worked—the trend for 

2019 is similar to that recorded at the beginning of 2000: 8 hours a day and 5 days a week, 

which indicates the underutilization of operating capacity, generating a drop in productivity 

levels (Lanusse 1993). On innovation issues, the OECD report determines that “the industrial 

strategy of Ecuador […] notes the particularly important role of innovation in the diversification 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
160 

and productivity efforts of the country. However, there are few support schemes for innovation 

in SMEs and start-ups, compared to other countries” (OECD 2019, 395), corroborating the 

weakness and need for coherent policies in the country. 

Finally, this last period in the history of SMEs - amid periods of prosperity and scarcity of state 

resources as drivers of economies with profiles similar to the Ecuadorian - can be defined as a 

segment in the economic history of Ecuador where perceptions and pro-growth actions of 

sectors such as small and medium-sized industry were put into the maintenance category; the 

expectations were that the conditions of the political, economic, social and legal environment 

would change and, thus, perception would stimulate growth in investments by business owners. 

This trend is reflected in SMEs pro-investment passivity—between 60 and 70% of businesses 

indicate that they have not invested (Observatorio de la PYME UASB-E 2019). This means 

they have kept their internal productive structure without major changes, despite the positive 

perception of sectoral variables such as ease of access to production factors - nearly 90% view 

access to raw materials and machines and equipment as positive - (Observatorio de la PYME 

UASB-E 2019). On the other hand, a negative perception - which influences passivity for 

productive investment - is observed in the behavior of macro variables such as; the country’s 

general economic performance, legal certainty, the business and investment climate, and the 

political climate (SME Observatory UASB-E 2019). The uncertainty observed in SMEs is 

understandable because “Ecuador has yet to develop a complete SME policy, including the 

design of programs for direct SME and entrepreneurship support, such as Business 

Development Services (BDS). Because the country’s strategies are geared to capital-intensive 

industries, they contain few specifics on BDS for SMEs and entrepreneurs” (OECD 2019, 395). 

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
161 

7. Conclusions 

Within the three periods analyzed, the Manufacturing Industry sector reveals one of the greatest 

contributions to Ecuador’s GDP, with an average 12% share (removing the processing of oil 

products). This share has remained relatively steady, with a slight, though not significant, 

reduction. Since 1975, manufacturing has been among the three sectors of economic activity 

with the highest contribution to GDP, and since 2010 it has been the largest contributor, in 

contrast to the oil extraction and refining sector which, despite having had the largest share in 

several periods, has declined in others and, as of 2010, the average contribution to GDP is 

10.6%. Something similar has happened with the trade sector which, since the year indicated 

above, has contributed 10.2%. 

The structure of the manufacturing sector, according to the companies’ size, makes it possible 

to highlight the contribution of SMEs to Ecuador's social and economic development; on 

average, SMEs have contributed 87% of the number of establishments, 37% of staffing, and 

29% of total production. In this sense, considering the Sector Specialization Coefficient, it 

contributes with products that help to satisfy basic needs (food, clothing), to provide inputs for 

households (simple cleaning and chemical products, wooden furniture), but it also provides 

other companies with supplies and parts (chemical products, general metal products, and some 

electrical machinery), to which is added their contribution in generating employment in the 

provinces of lower economic development. However, their relative share has been decreasing 

over time, in favor of large companies, as a result of a process of improved productivity and 

greater concentration of market power by large companies and because of the lack of coherent 

public policies for SMEs, as recognized in the OECD report (2019). 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
162 

In the periods analyzed, the operational performance of SMEs reveals structural situations that, 

for years, have been highlighted as opportunities for integrated improvement of the sector, but 

which in practice have remained unfortunately unchanged. As an example, the exporting trend 

of SMEs has varied little over the past 20 years, despite a series of programs and projects to 

this end, which have been promoted from several public and private entities, domestic and 

international, but which unfortunately have not been accompanied by proper international trade 

policies—for example, by not promoting free trade agreements with the main commercial 

partners. 

In the end, the greater or lesser availability of state resources, in an economy that is highly 

dependent on oil prices, and the lack of stability and priority in terms of policy and support 

mechanisms, has affected the drive of SMEs. Yet, this sector has shown its ability to be flexible 

to adjust to ever-changing and negative conditions, in addition to its ability to innovate - perhaps 

not at higher levels—in light of adverse circumstances. From the perspective of their 

contribution to the economy as a whole, we may highlight the important presence of SMEs 

throughout the country, which contribute jobs and fulfil the basic needs of the population, 

because the main economic activities where SMEs have relevant participation are in the food, 

beverage and clothing sectors. Thus, it is a catalyst for development within the country. We 

should not ignore the role of the sector as an important part of production chains, where it has 

a role as a supplier of parts and intermediate raw materials. SMEs are a relevant participant in 

the domestic economy, which requires clear and coherent policies and support mechanisms, 

with medium- and long-term vision to promote entrepreneurship and innovation while avoiding 

overprotection.  

  

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
163 

References 

Aguiar, Víctor. 2013. “Análisis de la evolución del sector manufacturero 1990-2008.” In Estudios 

industriales de la micro, pequeña y mediana empresa compiled by Hugo Jácome and Katiuska 

King, 23-44. Quito: FLACSO. 

Araque, Wilson. 2002. Competitividad de las pequeñas empresas de la confección de Quito. Quito: 

Insotec. 

Araque, Wilson. 2010. Plan de mejoramiento competitivo de las pequeñas y medianas industrias del 

sector de la confección textil de la provincia de Pichincha. Quito: Escuela Politécnica del Ejército 

(ESPE). 

Araque, Wilson. 2019. “Observatorios como medio para poner en interacción a la docencia, 

investigación y vinculación con la colectividad.” In Observatorios de turismo: conceptualización 

y experiencias prácticas, Thiago Duarte et al., 55-75. Quito: Editorial UTE. 

Ayala, Enrique. 2012. Resumen de historia del Ecuador. Quito: Corporación Editora Nacional. 

Ayala, Enrique. 2014a. Historia, tiempo y conocimiento del pasado - Estudio sobre periodización 

general de la historia ecuatoriana: una interpretación interparadigmática. Quito: Corporación 

Editora Nacional. 

Ayala, Enrique. 2014b. El oficio de historiar: estudios sobre historiografía nacional. Quito: 

Corporación Editora Nacional. 

British Petroleum. 2020. Statistical Review of World Energy. Last modified September 11 

https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-

energy.html  

CAN – Comunidad Andina de Naciones. 2008. Decision 702: Sistema Andino de Estadística de la 

PyME. Lima: CAN. 

Cardozo, Alejandro. 2005. Pequeña y mediana empresa, intuición y método. Buenos Aires: Editorial 

Temas. 

CEPAL. 2013. Perspectivas Económicas de América Latina 2013: Políticas de SMEs para el cambio 

estructural. Santiago de Chile: CEPAL – OCDE.  

CERALE. 2017. The Internationalisation of Latin American SMEs and their Projection in Europe. 

Hamburg: EU-LAC, CERALE, Institute des Amériques. 

Coello, David. 2017. “¿Poder De Mercado o Eficiencia? Determinantes de la Rentabilidad del Sector 

Manufacturero Ecuatoriano Durante el Periodo Post-Dolarización.” X-Pedientes Económicos 

1(1): 56-77. 

DiMaggio, Paul, and Walter Powell. 1999. “Introducción.” In El nuevo institucionalismo en el análisis 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
164 

organizacional, edited by Paul DiMaggio and Walter Powell, 33-75. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura 

Económica. 

Durán, Fidel, Pablo Mateus, Roberto Hidalgo and Carlos Palán. 1992. Opciones de la pequeña y 

mediana industria en la apertura económica. Quito: Insotec. 

EC. 1973. Decreto Supremo 921. Registro Oficial # 372, Agosto 20. 

EC. 2011. Decreto Ejecutivo 757. Registro Oficial # 450, Suplemento, Mayo 17. 

Fernández, Fernando. 1990. Condiciones del entorno de la pequeña industria en el Ecuador. Quito: 

Fundes-Insotec. 

Geymonat, Juan. 2020. “Industrial business groups in a context of deindustrialization. The Uruguayan 

Case, 1980-2015.” Journal of Evolutionary Studies in Business 5(2): 150-176. doi: 

10.1344/jesb2020.2.j079. 

Hidalgo-Flor, Roberto. 1999. Evolución y Situación Actual de la PYMI en el Ecuador. Quito: Insotec. 

INEC – Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos. 2019. Directorio de Empresas y Establecimientos 

2018. Quito: INEC. 

INEC – Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos. 2019. Directorio de Empresas y Establecimientos 

2018. Quito: INEC. 

INSOTEC. 1986. Pequeña y mediana industria en el Ecuador, situación y políticas de fomento 1978-

1982. Quito: Insotec.  

INSOTEC. 1987. La gestión tecnológica de la gerencia en la industria ecuatoriana. Quito: Insotec. 

INSOTEC. 1996. Diagnóstico de la Pequeña Industria en la Provincia del Guayas. Quito: Insotec.  

Lanusse, José. 1993. Diagnóstico de la Pequeña y Mediana Industria en el Ecuador. Quito: Insotec–

Fundación Konrad Adenauer. 

Larrea, Carlos. 2000. “La Transición hacia una Economía Post-petrolera en el Ecuador.” In El Ecuador 

Post Petrolero, edited by Alberto Acosta, Alexandra Almeida and Milton Balseca, 89-105. Quito: 

Acción Ecológica. 

Larrea, Carlos. 2008. “Crisis, dolarización y pobreza en el Ecuador.” In Retos para la integración social 

de los pobres en América Latina, edited by Carlos Barba, 215-233. Buenos Aires: Clacso. 

Luna, Luis. 2014. Lecturas sobre macroeconomía, desarrollo y comercio internacional. Quito: Colegio 

de Economistas de Pichincha. 

Meyer, John and Brian Rowan. 1977. “Institutionalized Organizations: formal structure as myth and 

ceremony.” American Journal of Sociology 83 (2): 340-363. 

MICIP – Ministerio de Industria, Comercio, Integración y Pesca. 2002. Diagnóstico de la Pequeña y 

Mediana Industria en el Ecuador 2002. Quito: MICIP 

Ministerio de Coordinación de la Producción, Empleo y Competitividad. 2010. Agenda para la 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB
https://doi.org/10.1344/jesb2020.2.j079


 
Volume 7, Number 2, 121-165, January-June 2022           doi.org/10.1344/jesb2022.1.j101 

 

Online ISSN: 2385-7137                                                                                                      COPE Committee on Publication Ethics 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB  Creative Commons License 4.0      
165 

transformación productiva. Quito: Ministerio de Coordinación de la Producción, Empleo y 

Competitividad. 

North, Douglas. 1991. “Institutions”. Journal of Economic Perspectives 5 (1): 97-112. 

Observatorio de Energía y Minas de la Universidad de Las Américas. 2020. Last modified September 

11. http://www.observatorioenergiayminas.com/  

Observatorio de la PYME de la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, sede Ecuador (UASB-E). 2014. 

Catorce años de contribución al fomento del emprendimiento y las MIPYME. Quito: UASB. Last 

modified September 11. https://www.uasb.edu.ec/web/observatorio-pyme/  

Observatorio de la PYME de la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, sede Ecuador (UASB-E). 2019. 

Encuesta de conyuntura de la PyME -con énfasis en la PYMI-. Quito: UASB. Last modified 

September 11. https://www.uasb.edu.ec/web/observatorio-pyme/  

OECD. 2019. Latin America and the Caribbean 2019: Policies for Competitive SMEs in the Pacific 

Alliance and participating South American countries. Last modified September 11. 

https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/latin-america-and-the-caribbean-2019_d9e1e5f0-en 

Peres, Wilson, and Giovanni Stumpo. 2002. Las pequeñas y medianas empresas industriales en América 

Latina y el Caribe. Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores. 

Rivera, Jairo. 2018. “Pequeños toques hacen grandes rasgos: análisis de los determinantes de las micro, 

pequeñas y medianas empresas, PyME.” Revista Empresarial 46: 42-51. doi: 

10.23878/empr.v12i46.141. 

Samaniego, Pablo. 1993. Situación de la Industria Ecuatoriana en los 80. Quito: Insotec.  

SENPLADES. 2009. Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2009-2013. Quito: Senplades. 

Solano, Javier, Segundo Camino and María Alvarado. 2017. “Análisis del entorno competitivo en el que 

operan las MISMES del sector manufacturero en Ecuador.” Revista Empresarial 11(4): 54-63. 

doi: 10.23878/empr.v11i44.115.  

Universidad Eafit, Insotec and Corporación Andina de Fomento. 1996. La gestión de la pequeña y 

mediana industria en los países andinos. Mimeo Insotec. 

Urmeneta, Roberto. 2018. “Policies, institutions and instruments supporting the internationalisation of 

SMEs in Latin America.” In Innovation and SME internationalization in Korea and Latin 

America and the Caribbean, edited by Sebastián Herreros, Keiji Inoue and Nanno Mulder, 81-

96. Santiago de Chile: CEPAL. 

 

 

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No 
Derivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-comercial re-use and 
distribution, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered or transformed in any way. 

http://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/JESB
https://doi.org/10.23878/empr.v12i46.141
https://doi.org/10.23878/empr.v11i44.115
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/