Challenges in Micro and Small Food Enterprises during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ecuador

Clara Orellana-Rojas, Carolina Chávez-Campuzano, Andrea Herrera-Cervantes, Yndira Guevara, Yereth Romero, Mariana Moyano, Rafael Rentería-Ramos and Mario Chong
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Clara Orellana-Rojas: Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial and Instituto de Innovación en Productividad y Logística CATENA-USFQ, Colegio de Ciencias e Ingenierías, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito 170901, Ecuador
Carolina Chávez-Campuzano: Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial and Instituto de Innovación en Productividad y Logística CATENA-USFQ, Colegio de Ciencias e Ingenierías, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito 170901, Ecuador
Andrea Herrera-Cervantes: Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial and Instituto de Innovación en Productividad y Logística CATENA-USFQ, Colegio de Ciencias e Ingenierías, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito 170901, Ecuador
Yndira Guevara: Departamento de Ingeniería, Universidad del Pacifico, María 15072, Peru
Yereth Romero: Departamento de Ingeniería, Universidad del Pacifico, María 15072, Peru
Mariana Moyano: Departamento de Ingeniería, Universidad del Pacifico, María 15072, Peru
Rafael Rentería-Ramos: Instituto Técnico Profesional, Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia de Colombia, Bogotá 730006, Colombia
Mario Chong: Departamento de Ingeniería, Universidad del Pacifico, María 15072, Peru

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-19

Abstract: Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) play a significant role in developing countries such as Ecuador. The food and beverage industry is essential for Ecuador’s economy, contributing approximately 5% to its GDP. Focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, this mixed research takes a qualitative and quantitative approach involving four stages: foundation, prefield, field, and reporting. The fieldwork was carried out when Ecuador’s economy reopened in September 2020, which saw demand increase gradually, production capacity recovering, mobility return to normal levels, and curfew restrictions reduced. As far as biosecurity protocols were concerned, communities were allowed to resume pre-pandemic activities, provided they complied with social distancing, permanent mask wearing, and strict cleaning procedures. The effect on each company’s process depends on the activities they adopted to mitigate the risk of the COVID-19 pandemic risk, e.g., service companies experienced, on average, a 22% cost increase due to the purchase of cleaning supplies, while manufacturing companies were more likely to have related measures in place and so the effect on them was on a comparatively smaller scale.

Keywords: resilience; micro and small firms; process improvement; operations; productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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