Risk factors affecting the sustainability of companies dedicated to commercial activity in Bucaramanga, Santander

Abstract

This project aims to identify what are the risk factors that affect the long-term sustainability of companies engaged in wholesale and retail marketing in the city of Bucaramanga, in order to identify risk factors for closure sudden, to suggest sustainability strategies.  A bibliographic search was performed using national and international references, who have carried out studies on business failure in different economic activities, where key variables were identified to analyze such as: business strategies, market knowledge, customer loyalty, administrative and financial education.  Among the main references are: Llano, Piñeiro and Rodríguez (2016), García-Marí, Sánchez-Vidal and Tomaseti-Solano (2016), Laverde-Verástegui and Rivera-Rodríguez, (2016). The descriptive study type was used, with a mixed approach. The survey was applied to a representative sample of one hundred companies, in three key areas for value generation: administrative, commercial and financial accounting. As a result, it was determined that the risk factors for business failure are: the lack of planning, the absence of customer loyalty programs, the failure to carry out market studies, the lack of periodic performance evaluations, the weaknesses in timely access to financial information. All this allowed us to conclude that the lack of administrative and financial education is a relevant factor, since companies in their daily lives are faced with making decisions, where planning is essential, as a support for the definition of sustainability strategies.