Abstract:

Medium-sized companies play a very important role in the development of the economy of a country or region, mainly because of its impact on the generation of jobs and its contribution to economic growth, which is generally measured by its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product. The objective of this work is to determine the contribution of the human dimension in the management of medium-sized enterprises (MEs) in the commercial area of Quito. The methodology applied in this work consisted of a documentary literature review and a cross-sectional empirical study of the MEs of the commercial sector that operates in the capital of Ecuador. The theoretical review focused on conceptualizing the structure of organizations as a set of dimensions distributed in the organizational space and particularly in the contribution of the human dimension in knowledge management. In addition, the relationship between organizational culture and knowledge management to generate innovation processes in companies was analyzed. In the empirical study was determined the added value that the MEs give to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in business management. In addition, the degree of interest that MEs have in the training of their workers in the management of ICT and the budget they dedicate to these activities was established. As important results of the study it was obtained that, for the MEs of the commercial sector, 66% of companies recognize that the use of ICT serves to take advantage of new business opportunities and improve communication in the company with its customers and suppliers. These companies invest 27% of their training budget in occasionally instructing their employees in ICT management. As conclusions of this work it is evident that it is important to strengthen the contribution of the individuals of the MEs based on their knowledge and professional capacities, in the perspective of forming intelligent business organizations that allow strengthening competitive advantages to generate processes of technological innovation.

Keywords:

Organizational space, organizational culture, human dimension, innovation, medium-sized enterprises, information and communication technologies.