PurposeThis paper presents a university service-learning program as an innovative model of assistance to deliver business development services to Mexican microenterprises.Design/methodology/approachThe main objectives were to deliver business development services in situ at no cost to unprivileged enterprises, conduct research on microenterprises development and build up a service-learning model of teaching and learning for students in the field of economics and surrounding disciplines. It was implemented by the Autonomous University of Baja California. It plays an important role in providing real cases and concepts on business, economics, markets and fiscal regulations. The service-learning approach prepare to students to be generous, selfless, problem solvers and job creators.FindingsThe experience demonstrates that program can play a key role, both in supporting disadvantaged microenterprises and in providing meaningful learning experiences to students. The program has shown its ability to take advantage of institutional, human and financial resources already released to higher educations institutions (HEI) and government, to support social business extensively, as to make less critical the use of resources in the form of subsidies.Originality/valueThis program was employed by the Mexican State Government of Baja California as a compensatory public policy against the unemployment burden created by the global crisis between 2009 and 2013. About ten thousand individuals pushed to necessity-driven entrepreneurship or informal social enterprises were assisted, trained and formalized in the tax authority by 700 university senior students.

A large body of economic literature has established that the primary purpose of any firm assuming unitary and constant elasticity of substitution of production inputs, among other necessary conditions, is profit maximization. However, the prevailing operating conditions of the micro enterprises raise concerns about the applicability of this formalization. Through an empirical study for Mexico using a four-input translog function (capital, labor, energy and supplies), and based on cross-sectional data, we find that the elasticities of substitution between production inputs are not unitary; in fact, some of them are complementary. This forces us to consider that instead of seeking to maximize profits, some types of micro enterprises are looking to optimize their installed capacity or achieve financial survival of the owner and their family, thus relaxing the foundations of economic analysis for the very small-scale and nascent micro enterprises.

RESUMENEl objetivo de este trabajo es discutir dos elementos para el análisis del sector microempresarial: la necesidad de replantear el marco teórico de referencia para representar su comportamiento competitivo y la pertinencia de diferenciarlas según su naturaleza, localización y objetivos. Para ello se utiliza una metodología a partir de contrastes entre evidencias empíricas y supuestos esenciales de la teoría de la organización industrial, así como la aplicación de instrumentos de medida del grado de competencia estratégica y clasificación microempresarial con base en un modelo de elección discreta logístico. De esta forma, se recaban resultados que sugieren que el desempeño competitivo de un subsector importante de las microempresas puede ser asociado a modelos de competencia imperfecta, dando pautas para su pertinente análisis.

We conducted an exploratory multi-case study of female, necessity micro-entrepreneurs in developing contexts to partially validate an existing theoretical model and identify relevant omitted variables. Using a sample of eight female, necessity entrepreneurs in Tijuana (Mexico), we were able to challenge the established pull-push binary framework in entrepreneurship as well as the linear entrepreneurial process. Our analysis suggests that motivations, family embeddedness and gender identity are critical factors impacting the female micro-venture creation process in developing contexts. We summarize our theoretical findings in a new process model that accounts for macro, meso and micro factors, offering contributions to the scholarship on female entrepreneurship in developing contexts.

<p>El presente artículo analiza el impacto de los desalineamientos del tipo de cambio real de equilibrio (TCRE) sobre el comercio internacional y el crecimiento económico de México y China en el periodo 1994-2018. La hipótesis es que la política cambiaria de China fue más efectiva que la de México, dados los resultados que en el comercio y el crecimiento generó. Realizamos modelos econométricos para calcular los desalineamientos del TCRE y su relación con el comercio y el crecimiento económico. Los resultados indican que la política cambiaria de China ha sido más efectiva que la de México y que cualquier desalineamiento del TCRE deteriora el comercio y el crecimiento en ambas economías. Concluimos que México debe propiciar una subvaluación real del tipo de cambio en el corto plazo y generar las condiciones para lograr el equilibrio cambiario en el largo plazo mientras que China debe continuar con su misma política cambiaria.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p align="center">THE EXCHANGE RATE POLICY OF MEXICO AND CHINA IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY</p><p align="center"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p>This article analyzes the impacts that misalignments of the real equilibrium exchange rate (REER) have generated on international trade and economic growth in Mexico and China between 1994-2018. The hypothesis is that China’s exchange rate policy was more effective than Mexico’s, given the results achieved in trade and growth over the period of analysis. To prove the hypothesis, econometric models were used to calculate the misalignments of the REER and their relationship with trade and economic growth. Our results indicate that China’s exchange rate policy has been more effective than Mexico’s and that any misalignment of the REER impairs trade and growth in both economies. The article concludes that Mexico should focus on achieving a real undervaluation of its exchange rate in the short term and generate the conditions to achieve an equilibrium in the long term. As for China the recommendation is to continue with its exchange rate policy.