Sustainability as a key factor in bakery sector startups

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in countries as they generate employment, contribute to production development, and provide societal benefits. Businesses typically emerge through small ventures, which, from a sustainable perspective, should be capable of creating a positive impact economically, politically, socially, and environmentally to ensure their sustainability. The main objective of this research is to determine the level of sustainability of entrepreneurial ventures in the pastry sector in the city of Quevedo. The study is framed within a descriptive and field research approach, adopting the deductive method as a logical reasoning strategy. A survey was used as the data collection instrument, applied to a total of 30 entrepreneurs through a non-probabilistic sampling technique. The data was collected electronically and processed using Google Forms tools. The sustainability level, according to the analyzed dimensions, is low. From a social perspective, while employment is generated, there are no motivation and reward strategies, and evidence suggests that some employees are not insured and work on a daily basis. In the environmental dimension, although there are initiatives for water and energy conservation, they are primarily aimed at reducing service costs rather than preserving resources. There are no clearly defined strategies within the processes to ensure environmental care. Finally, regarding the economic dimension, most entrepreneurs do not maintain accounting records, and although they claim to be profitable, it is impossible to verify this without an actual financial overview of income and expenses.