Gestión del conocimiento e innovación organizacional para reactivar la cadena productiva del café robusta: Ecuador

The development and welfare of the countries depend on their productivity, it is a performance indicator about the natural resources use, capital and human talent. Ecuador is facing a deep crisis of coffee yield: 640.000 sacks of product per year and 2 200 000 sacks of demand, therefore, there is a deficit of 1 560 000 sacks of Robusta coffee mainly. In this scenario, eleven universities have created the University Network Coffee Research and Development (REDUCAFE, from its initials in Spanish), Cooperative agreements between universities and the National Association of Coffee Exporters (ANECAFË from its initial in Spanish), and two leading companies: Solubles Instantáneos C.A and Dublinsa S.A have been made; in addition, collaborative agreements between companies, unions, universities, and the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIAP from its initial in Spanish) are in process in order to build together a sustainable coffee sector. The uni- versity proposes to implement a knowledge management and organizational innovation based on “government + business + academy + farmers” (GEAP from its initials in Spanish) partnership, within the perspective of seizing the present and future value of the knowledge assets of the coffee chain, and thereby to contribute to increase efficiency in the production, process, and marketing of Robusta coffee, to improve farmers living conditions and to promote economic growth and change of the productive matrix of Ecuador. El progreso del país y bienestar de los pueblos depende de la productividad, como indicador de eficiencia en el uso de los recursos naturales, capital y talento humano. El Ecuador atraviesa una profunda crisis en la producción de café: 640 000 sacos de producto al año y 2 200 000 sacos de demanda, por tanto, 1 560 000 sacos de déficit, principalmente de café robusta. En este escenario, once universidades han conformado la Red Universitaria de Investigación y Desarrollo Cafetalero (REDUCAFÉ), se avanzan acuerdos de cooperación de las universidades con la Asociación Nacional de Exportadores de Café (ANECAFÉ) y dos empresas líderes: Solubles Instantáneos C.A. y Dublinsa S.A. y se gestionan acuerdos colaborativos entre empresas, gremios, universidades e Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIAP) para juntos construir una caficultura sostenible. La universidad propone implementar un modelo de gestión del conocimiento e innovación organizacional basado en la alianza “Gobierno + Empresa + A