The Impact of Technology on Sustainable MSEs in Turbulent Environments

Introduction

Digital economy is becoming increasingly important in the business world because a greater access to information and communication technologies (ICT), especially the use of the Internet, facilitates information flows, thus significantly improving the performance of companies (Valladolid and Mayela, 2019). In this sense, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has proven that globalization and information and communication technologies (ICT) have a strong impact on the composition of the economic activity and the patterns of social interaction, especially entrepreneurial competitiveness (ECLAC, 2000)

In 2019, Colombia ranks 57th among 141 economies in the ranking of the global competitiveness index (World Economic Forum, 2019) and showed an improvement of three positions with respect to the study of 2018 period (position 60 among 140 last year), after Brunei Darussalam (position 56) and followed by Azerbaijan (position 58). The country moves up one position in Latin America ranking, for the first time in 14 years, as the fourth most competitive country in the region (taking into account the change in methodology made in 2018). In addition, Colombia along with Dominican Republic (moved up four positions) and Brazil (moved up 1 position), were the only countries that improved their ranking in the region. Colombia’s improvement is highlighted because it raised its score in 10 of the 12 pillars measured by the index, in which health, macroeconomic stability, infrastructure and size stand out. However, the main weaknesses continue being those related to adoption of technologies, institutions, ability to innovate, product market and infrastructure. In the business sphere, those weaknesses are more noticeable in the segment of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) than in that of the medium and big enterprises.

Yamakawa, Del Castillo, Baldeon, Espinoza, Granda and Vega (2010) state that:

For Yamakawa et al., (2010), it is decentralized because a large number of economic units can be present in different regions of the country, thus contributing to generate wealth and flexibility because MSEs can easily adapt to the new needs and demands of the market.

Taking into account the abovementioned, the purpose of this research is to know if the components of technology with emphasis on TIC´s for the recording and management of information, technology for the processes of the company and technology to access information affect the increase in sales, increase in profit, and the risk of closure of the establishment (sustainability) in the MSEs located in the neighborhoods of Candelaria, Bosa, Puente Aranda and Tunjuelito in Bogota, although they are in turbulent environments.

Mses (Micro And Small Enterprises)

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are economic units set up by a natural or legal person, under any form of organization or entrepreneurial management as set forth under the legislation in force, which aims to develop activities related to the extraction, transformation, production, marketing of goods or provision of services. Grimaldo, Agudelo and Hernandez (2011) indicate that MSEs are important for economies because they are one of the main sources of employment, they usually require a small initial investment and can potentially become an important support for large companies.

According to Law 905 of 2004, micro enterprises have a staff of not more than ten workers or total assets, excluding housing, worth less than 500 legal minimum monthly wages in force; small enterprises have a staff between eleven (11) and fifty (50) employees, or total assets worth between 501 and less than 5,000 legal minimum monthly wages in force (Civil Service, 2021). The criterion used to select the MSEs of this research was that of having 50 employees.