Abstract

TOIBER RODRIGUEZ, Ingrid Anaid; VALTIERRA PACHECO, Esteban; LEON MERINO, Aurelio  and  PORTILLO VAZQUEZ, Marcos. Social capital as a success factor in rural microenterprises that produce cactus leaves processed products in Tlaxcala. Estud. soc [online]. 2017, vol.27, n.49, pp.93-119. ISSN 0188-4557.

In Mexico, around 200,000 enterprises are created every year, however, only 35% of them survive after two years of operations. Among the main causes of this problem, we can find the lack of access to financing, labor force with no skills and deficient information about market opportunities. Two strategies commonly used by enterprises are training of its associates and the participation in associations like the National Network of Sustainable Rural Development (Rendrus). The main objective of this study was to identify the success factors of rural microenterprises that produce cactus leaves processed products in the State of Tlaxcala, Mexico, which participated in meetings with Rendrus. The research technique of "Case Studies" was applied to interview to participants in three enterprises. The results show that enterprises have survived in the market because of their social capital, as the main factor of success, manifested trough their organizational process, compromise, dedication, and solidarity that allowed them to face limitations in availability of technology, problems of marketing and commercialization, low levels of sales and limited schemes of innovation.

Keywords : Regional development; social capital; Rendrus; cactus leaves; decision making; human capital; microenterprises; enterprise norms.

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