The commercial micro and small enterprise as a complex adaptive system. A management model

Abstract

This research proposes a management model based on complex adaptive systems (CAS) for micro and small commercial enterprises (MSMEs) in the city of Chiclayo. It is a mixed methodological approach. In the qualitative phase, the MSME was defined as a CAS and through an interview with 30 microentrepreneurs, the elements of self-organization and emergence in the interactions of the system were identified; this allowed proposing a conceptual model that led to the construction of the theoretical model of management of commercial mypes; which, in the quantitative phase, was used to develop a questionnaire that was applied to 267 microentrepreneurs. With the data collected and using structural equations, the theoretical model was validated and showed good fit indices (RMSEA = 0.028; GFI = 0.976). This evidenced that the management of a MSME is based on interactions with its suppliers, customers, competitors and regulators. Being the interactions MSME - clients and MSME - regulators (p<0.05), fundamental for the fulfillment of the MSME management objectives.