https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE <p><em>Cuadernos de Estudios Empresariales</em> (ISSN 1131-6985, ISSN-e 1988-2610) strives to contribute to scientific development in different aspects related to Business Economics, Trade and Tourism, and is also used to transfer knowledge from Academia to the business, trade and tourism world. Although its main target audience is academic, it aims to raise interest among business management professionals. Its includes areas such as commercial management, business organisation, marketing and commercial research, finance, accounting, human resources, production, entrepreneurship, the tourism phenomenon, tourism planning, tourism company management, digital transformation of organisations, eCommerce, and anything related to these areas.</p> Ediciones Complutense es-ES Cuadernos de Estudios Empresariales 1131-6985 In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal <em>Cuadernos de Estudios Empresariales </em>is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode" target="_self">summary </a>and the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode">complete legal text</a> of the licence.<p><strong> </strong></p> https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE/article/view/57367 Mª Francisca Blasco López Copyright (c) 2017-09-29 2017-09-29 27 9 10 10.5209/CESE.57367 https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE/article/view/57368 While many studies have widely worked out on finding out the different relationships underlying the birth and prompt development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), we argue that getting an in depth approach to the problematic scene that takes place once they are keen on having a successful internationalization plan may have been understudied. Therefore, the aim of this research is that of identifying critical challenges faced by Spanish SMEs during an internationalization process. We do so by taking a qualitative approach. The current research contributes to the literature by adding new and renewed perspectives to the field, thanks to the qualitative analysis carried out through four in-depth interviews made to internationalization experts. The results are of significant importance and value for the field as well as for practitioners of future SMEs keen on developing an internationalization plan in a competent manner. Finally, we detail a list of critical factors for SMEs, identifying success and failure determinants that should be highly taken into account by practitioners. Paula Martínez-Sanchis Copyright (c) 2017-09-29 2017-09-29 27 11 26 10.5209/CESE.57368 https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE/article/view/57369 This study aimed to analyze the small and medium industrial supply distribution companies’ financing strategies in the Maracaibo municipality. It was field, descriptive, cross-sectional, non-experimental research. It was established that this sector is dominated by family businesses, featuring high sales, led by professional staff. In the short-term, they use internal and external financing. In long-term, they do not use external financing. As for working capital, current assets are financed with current liabilities and also with permanent liabilities. As strategies, accelerated collections, delayed payments and taking advantage of discounts for prompt payments. In conclusion, these organizations are quite closed to external influences; so far they have preferred to maintain almost complete financial control, without leveraging, which in turn limits their expansion. They do not use financial evaluation techniques, indicators, or financial ratios. Their high profitability, compared with their small size, has reinforced traditional practices. On the other hand, the high legal, social, and economic, uncertainty in the country, guides them towards a very short-term horizon, without expectations. Even if this research cannot be generalized to the industry at large, it showcases how the low usage rate of the bank system follows a lack of demand rather than an absence of supply. On the other hand, it suggests that in family-owned businesses, decisions do not follow technical criteria, even if they have staff with financial expertise. Jazmín Díaz-Barrios Claudia Velazco Copyright (c) 2017-09-29 2017-09-29 27 27 42 10.5209/CESE.57369 https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE/article/view/57370 In order to analyze the relationship between usability and billing in the Spanish e-food sector, a heuristic evaluation of the ten billing leaders e-commerce websites in Spain (Mercadona, El Corte Inglés, Carrefour, Día, Alcampo, Eroski, Caprabo, Ulabox, Tu Despensa and HiperDirect). The definition and operationalization of the research variables is done according to the Web Usability Model proposed by Fernández (2009) based on the ISO/IEC 25000 (SQuaRE, Software, Quality Requirement Evaluation) usability standard because it decomposes the generic and abstract subcharacteristics defined by SQuaRE in attributes of the web domain and includes web metrics that allow us to detect usability problems and quantify the attributes, which guarantees a greater objectivity, fundamental criterion in the qualitative investigations. The benchmarking resulting from applying this technique allows us to know the best usability practices and apply them to the analyzed sector. This allows us to reduce the gap between academic research and business practice, because it helps companies to know what characteristics of each of the usability dimensions must improve and, therefore, where they have to invest their resources to improve the quality of the experience of its customers. In addition, it allows companies to know which variables should improve and in which competitors can be set in each case. In addition, it allows companies to know which variables should improve and in which competitors can be set in each case. Nuria Puente Copyright (c) 2017-09-29 2017-09-29 27 43 64 10.5209/CESE.57370 https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE/article/view/57371 This research was carried out to examine the role of brand capital in higher education through the administration and service employees. For this purpose, the main contributions of the literature related to the study of brand capital and its application in the educational sector were analyzed, identifying which variables determine brand capital in the higher education sector. Once the susceptible brand capital in the higher education sector was established, an empirical study was realised using a valid sample of 416 responses from administrative and service employees. The results show the repercussion of each variable of the brand capital on the mentioned employees, being: brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality and brand loyalty. Javier Casanoves Boix Inés Küster Boluda Natalia Vila López Copyright (c) 2017-09-29 2017-09-29 27 65 86 10.5209/CESE.57371 https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE/article/view/57372 Geographical location of enterprises has hardly been taken into account in competition models as a decisive variable to reach the competitive equilibrium. In this investigation a spatial analysis has been done in order to optimize the location of a net of sales points under the conditions for Bertrand ´s competition. The main target is to study if the best location of each sales point (strategy of location) matches with the optimal location of the whole net of dealers of a commercial network. To achieve this, location-assignment models have been applied along with p-median algorithms and maximizing the spatial competition, through a Geographical Information System called Flowmap on 25 dealer network located along 1240 postcodes. The results show that the optimal solution for each dealer does not match with the optimal solution for the whole network. This study reveals a new line of research where the results can be widely applied in the business and academic fields. Vicente Rodríguez Cristina Olarte-Pascual Manuela Saco Copyright (c) 2017-09-29 2017-09-29 27 87 105 10.5209/CESE.57372 https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CESE/article/view/57373 En este trabajo, se presenta el biocomercio como una oportunidad de desarrollo empresarial y social que favorece la preservación del medio ambiente. Adicionalmente, se presenta como una estrategia prioritaria para preservarlo. Para esto se profundiza en la posible génesis del término Biocomercio, los compromisos que adquieren las naciones como consecuencia de la devastación del medio ambiente, que llevan a la definición de políticas y estrategias para incentivar la explotación y conservación de la biodiversidad. Finalmente, se identifican los países más biodiversos, resaltando los más dotados naturalmente y con mayor potencial para desarrollar el Biocomercio. Para el caso de Colombia, se presenta una evolución de las políticas relacionadas con el medio ambiente, las trasformaciones dadas en la materia, hasta los compromisos adquiridos desde la cumbre de Río y el impacto que ha tenido en la protección del medio y el crecimiento del negocio biodiverso. Para ello, se toman hallazgos documentales sobre la historia del comercio entre Europa y oriente durante la edad media. Adicionalcmente, se documentan con los principales compromisos históricos del siglo pasado y las implicaciones que tendrían en los países menos desarrollados. De la misma forma se documenta históricamente la evolución de la legislación colombiana en materia ambiental. Finalemnte, mediante datos estadísticos se muestran la distribución mundial de la biodiversidad, destcando las diferencias diferencias notables entre los paise, para luego mostrar el potencial que tienen estos y Colombia para el desarrollo de actividades de Biocomercio. Wilfrido de Jesús Primo Tapia Copyright (c) 2017-09-29 2017-09-29 27 107 124 10.5209/CESE.57373