Gestión del conocimiento en los emprendimientos de la provincia de Cotopaxi en el marco del desarrollo social rural en Ecuador

Social development is considered as a direct consequence of the implementation of development programs that emphasize the application of social policies aimed at improving social welfare. Within the framework of the various development strategies for the case of territories with agricultural potential, Ecuador has begun to promote territorial development programs, specifically focused on the categories of analysis of knowledge management and entrepreneurship. This article aimed to interpret the main contributions of knowledge management in undertakes in the province of Cotopaxi (Ecuador), as part of the country's rural social development initiatives. Methodologically, the research has based on the qualitative paradigm, under a phenomenological approach, using hermeneutics to understand, interpret and know the researched phenomenon in its own context and from the perspective of the same actors considered as key informants. The first part examined relevant aspects of local development, the new rurality, knowledge management, and innovation, as well as their main links with entrepreneurship in rural territories. In the second phase, a semi-structured interview with 59 questions was applied to three rural entrepreneurships, and thisinformation was analyzed by using Atlas.ti® software, complemented by participant observation. The main findings underline the need to strengthen the social development of the population studied, particularly through rural training programs, as a key productive factor for such development. The field study identified the following as significant units: i) innovation in activities, products, and processes; ii) institutions as key to innovation processes, based on territorial potential; iii) the family business as a productive unit and its enterprises as determining factors for improving the income of the nucleus; and, iv) cooperativism, to strengthen rural enterprises and improve the competitiveness of their products. Finally, a proposal for strengthening the social development of the territory studied is presented, which was structured in the social, economic, environmental, and cultural dimensions of rural territorial development, and based on activities of production, management, transfer, and use of knowledge.