Academia–enterprise collaboration is understood as a determinant that improves innovation and competitiveness. The mechanisms by which this collaboration occurs have awakened increasing interest among academics, as well as in the business sector. This research aims to identify how open innovation communities can mediate the academia-enterprise relationship, as well as the factors that are more affected by this mediation. Based on the literature, the article addresses the definition of open innovation communities (OICs), university–enterprise cooperation, knowledge transfer (KT), as well as an understanding of OICs as a mechanism for academia–enterprise transfer. An analysis of twelve OICs, conformed by professors, students, graduates, and experts from a Colombian higher education institution is performed. For the data analysis, a factor analysis involving structural equation modeling is carried out. Our results highlight the most important characteristics to take into account in the study of knowledge transfer when OICs are involved, and they also indicate the level of connection between these factors.

The concept of sustainable consumption has been described in the literature from different perspectives, but few have focused on defining the consumer perspective and strategies to appropriate this knowledge and behaviors in the classroom, which becomes a major challenge in times of Covid 19 and confinement. This article proposes an approach to the concept by university students from the implementation of a pedagogical strategy, which involved the implementation of a virtual learning community and the evaluation of the understanding of this concept through the use of mind maps (pre and post). Through the mind maps, data were collected to evaluate the understanding of the concept, the analysis of semantic richness and systemic complexity. The results show the associations established by the students, proposing a categorization system arising from the data and the previous literature review. The study concludes that the students broadened their vision of sustainable consumption in terms of the actors involved, consumption decisions and the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

IntroductionThe rapid advances in technology, market pressures, globalization, and, recently, the COVID-19 pandemic show the need to find educational models that respond to these realities while improving the employability levels of young people and promoting economic growth. This research analyzes how the professional formation model, where two learning spaces, the academy, and the company, are combined, promotes the closing of gaps and economic growth, through the development of intellectual capital that arises from this relationship, in an emerging economy such as Colombia.MethodsThe methodology used corresponds to a qualitative approach, where the vision of the actors involved in the training process at the undergraduate level in Colombia is analyzed through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and documentary analysis.Results and discussionThe results show five major elements to consider for the formation of the intellectual capital required for the success of the relationship and the reduction in the gaps between academia and business: decision-making mechanisms, inter-organizational coordination, knowledge.

MSMEs were facing major challenges driven by uncontrollable macro-environmental factors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper shows the strategies that a sample of Colombian start-ups developed for their survival in the first months of the COVID-19 crisis and the close relationship between these strategies and the aid policies deployed by the Colombian government. This study involved 220 Colombian enterprises from different sectors of the economy (agriculture, commerce, services, and industry) and different stages of the life cycle. Our statistical analysis was based on a deep survey of highly significant rank correlation, the qualitative association between variables, a structural equation model, and mediation analysis. Among our results, we highlight a high dependence on ICT technologies, varied access to economic aid, and strong dependence on negative crisis impacts with the need for aid and deep business changes. Concerning the last conclusion, we found a significant mediating effect of the adaptability of the start-ups in order to explain why older, bigger, and more necessary enterprises were the ones that obtained aid.

Incluir la sostenibilidad en la estrategia de negocios en las Mipymes (Micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas) se convierte en un reto, más allá de los mecanismos que deben ser abordados para su implementación y es un tema aún poco explorado. Este artículo se centra en analizar las implicaciones financieras que representan para las mipymes incurrir en la implementación de propuestas de Valor compartido en sus organizaciones. La evidencia empírica y de validación de la hipótesis, se realizó mediante la aplicación de un cuestionario autogestionado, en la que se indagaba por los principales factores que inciden la creación de valor compartido en las empresas, y el análisis de la información financiera correspondiente a los años 2018 y 2019. Para el análisis se construyó un Modelo de Ecuaciones Estructurales, el cual permitió identificar las estrategias de valor compartido e Ingresos operacionales, costos y utilidad. Este estudio concluye las empresas que deciden invertir en la creación de valor compartido, deben hacer inversiones cuyos beneficios económicos se ven solo en el mediano o largo plazo. Sin embargo, resulta fundamental que las estrategias sean evaluadas no sólo en relación con los retornos de su inversión, sino a través de sus efectos futuros sobre las ventas y los flujos de efectivo.