The first round of the presidential elections in Colombia took place last May 27^th and the result, at first glance, offers little hope, since the two candidates who passed to the second round can be considered to represent opposite views, which suggests a high polarization and confrontation between the left and the right political blocks. However, the foregoing also constitutes a partial reading of the electoral event, since that day also demonstrated there is an important group of the population that privileges policy alternatives located more in the "center", and seeks to be conciliatory in topics such as the future of the peace process and the treatment that must be given to the humanitarian conflict in Venezuela. This is confirmed by the difference in the number of votes between Petro and Fajardo, that was just around 250,000.

It may well be that for the second round both candidates shall build bridges with the political center in order to appeal to those who voted for Fajardo or De la Calle; something that became clear in the speeches by Duque and Petro once results were known. In this regard, while Petro in his first communications after the elections clarified, for example, that his government would not follow the "lessons" of "Castrochavism", and that, among other things, will promote a better use of unproductive assets -which means getting away from concepts such as expropriation-, Duque streamlined his position against the Havana agreements and welcomed proposals by other candidates.

In addition, the following presidential term will be characterized by a limited participation of the government party in the Congress, regardless who obtains the victory in the second election round. Centro Democrático Party earned 19 seats in the Senate and 32 in the House of Representatives, while La Lista de la Decencia reached 4 and 2 seats, respectively; numbers that are in any case small when compared to a total of 108 seats in the House of Representatives and 172 in the Senate ("Así quedó conformado el Congreso 2018-2022", 2018). This reality suggests that the implementation of government plans will be restrained, given the need to reach agreements in the legislature so that presidential initiatives are approved, as taught by Political Science literature (^{Cheibub, Przeworski, & Saiegh, 2004}; ^{Calvo, 2014}).

In such a context, the above implies that the government to be elected next June 17^th will be a moderate one.

Nevertheless, independently of any political preferences, it is for citizens to demand a more leading role of the State in the construction of peace, since this should not be understood as a mere agreement or an end itself, but as a means to reach a better living in society; an issue that demands to solve long-standing problems in Colombia, such as inequality, poverty, lack of opportunities for the most humble citizens, and corruption.

To that effect, the public provision of quality education at all levels is a strategy to deal with these misfortunes (^{Gupta, Davoodi, & Alonso-Terme, 2002}; ^{Castañeda, 2016}). Regrettably, proposals on this area by the two running candidates are the weakest in depth and technical support, in comparison with those presented at the time by the other presidential contenders (Bayona, 2018). This will require of greater citizen participation in the definition of guidelines on the subject for the next four years.

A total of eleven articles by national and foreign researchers are presented in our current issue, which develops around five well-known sections for our readers: Accounting and Finance, Strategy and Organizations, Management and Organization, Marketing, and Research and Teaching Contributions.

The first section, Accounting and Finance, includes two papers. The first, titled "Relevant Factors in Public Services Optimization to Support Entrepreneurs and the Survival Rate of Companies", was written by Professors Manuel Chaves Maza, Eugenio M. Fedriani and José Antonio Ordaz Sanz from Pablo de Olavide University (Seville, Spain). This paper explores the factors related to entrepreneurs' survival rate after carrying out a literature review and an econometric exercise based on data from "Andalucía Emprende, Fundación Pública Andaluza". The study establishes that support services for entrepreneurs are positively related with their chance of survival, considering for example affiliation and the number of services an entrepreneur receives during the first months of operation. In addition, this work identified other factors affecting entrepreneurs' survival, concluding it is more difficult for one of them to survive when being an individual entrepreneur or when located in a saturated geographical area.

Cristina Gonçalves, Georgette Andraz, José Guerreiro and Santana Fernandes, from the University of Algarve (Faro, Portugal), present the work "Usefulness of the Overall Result for Market Value: The Case of Euronext Lisbon". This paper examines the explanatory power of the income statement and the integral result in the market value of a company, based on the annual reports of 36 firms listed on Euronext Lisbon during the 2010-2015 period. Findings suggest that the "other integral result" is not important in the creation of market value for stocks when incorporating the economic sector and the year in its analysis, which does not mean some particular sources, such as revaluation policies, are not relevant.

The section Strategy and Organizations also introduces two research papers. One of these, "Responsible Innovation: New Entrepreneurship Strategy for MSMEs", is an interinstitutional collaboration among Professors Elva Esther Vargas Martínez, Irene Liliana Bahena Alvarez and Eulogio Cordón Pozo, from the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico and the University of Granada. Their work studies the factors underlying the entrepreneurship of responsible innovations in MSMEs through a literature review that focuses on the period 2010-2015. The authors find that MSMEs, unlike large companies, concentrate innovation activities in a small number of products, although their limited human resources and materials can become a major obstacle to responsible innovation. In this way, public-private partnerships, university-business agreements and the support of business incubators, for example, become necessary.

In another interinstitutional collaboration, Professors Nadya Regina Galo, Priscilla Ribeiro, Ricardo Mergulhão and José Geraldo Vida Vieira, from the University of São Paulo, the Fluminense Federal University, and the São Carlos Federal University (Brazil), signed the paper "Selection of a Logistics Service Provider: Alignment Between Criteria and Indicators". Using five case studies -four contracting parties and one transportation logistics operator- the article shows there are few times when common hiring criteria are used. In addition, results find that quality management is neglected and there is a dislodgment between criteria and indicators. The aforementioned hinders the evaluation of logistics service providers and supposes a failure in outsourcing processes, particularly as regards distribution.

The section Management and Organization is made up of three research papers. In the first work of this section, titled "Scientific Knowledge Management at the University of Antioquia: Integration of Tools for Articulating a Strategy", Professors Adriana María Mejía Correa, Alejandro Vesga Vinchira and Margarita María Gaviria Velásquez integrate three knowledge management tools, such as the measuring of the maturity level, the identification of knowledge gaps and the construction of Topographic Knowledge Maps, for later application in the particular context of the research groups at the University of Antioquia. This process not only allows identifying the state of the research in an institution, but also its position before other actors in the same field. Authors conclude that the university under study is characterized by sporadic and non-formalized research actions, and that a large part of their research groups have shortcomings when it comes to typifying knowledge gaps, generating restrictions to the improvement of their positioning in particular knowledge areas.

Additionally, this section introduces the study "Relationship between Corporate Governance, Family Control and Financial Performance in Colombian Companies", by researchers Diógenes Lagos Cortés, José Betancourt Ramírez and Gonzalo Gómez Betancourt, from the Inalde Business School, the University of La Sabana and Legacy & Management Consulting Group, respectively. This paper studies the relationship between financial performance (measured by the return on assets and the return on equity), the practices referring to corporate governance (particularly those recommended in the Country Code), and family control. The research is carried out using a data panel with observations of 104 Colombian companies included in the National Registry of Securities and Issuers between 2008 and 2014, and establishes that characteristics such as size, family control, and corporate governance practices by the board of directors are positively related to the financial performance of an organization.

National University of Colombia Professors Martha Liliana Correa Ospina and Beatriz Helena Díaz Pinzón present their paper "Information Technologies Capacities and Organizational Performance: A Study of The Colombian Context". This work shows that information technologies capacity is significantly related to organizational performance through the ability to manage customers. These authors used a sample of 102 MSMEs and structural equations to underpin their results.

In our Marketing section we first present the work "Emotion and Reason: The Moderating Effect of Gender in Online Shopping Behavior", which is the result of an interinstitutional collaboration by Professors Nathalie Peña-García (School of Higher Management Studies), Irene Gil-Saura (University of Valencia) and Augusto Rodríguez-Orejuela (University of Valle). This research states that the formation of consumers' purchase intentions is associated with their gender, so that symbolic value (e.g. the entertaining features of a product) has a significant effect over women while functional value and trust are more important for men. These findings are of the outmost importance for marketing-related activities. The study was carried out with data from 262 online consumers in Colombia using structural equations.

Within this section, researchers Osiris María Echeverría-Ríos (Higher Technological Institute of Poza Rica), Demian Abrego-Almazán, and José Melchor Medina (Autonomous University of Tamaulipas) sign the paper "Corporate Social Responsibility in Affective Brand Image and Brand Reputation". This empirical research was performed in the sel fservice sector, and explains that social responsibility in its ethical-legal dimension positively affects brand image and reputation in companies belonging to this sector.

Closing this current issue, the section Research and Teaching Contributions introduces two research papers. The first is titled "The Pharmaceutical Sector in Tunja (Boyacá, Colombia) as an Axis of Strategic Development. A Local Perspective", and was written by Professor Sonia Janneth Limas Suárez, from the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia. This work presents a strategic business diagnosis of retail pharmaceutical establishments in the city of Tunja performed in a sample of 51 companies. The study demonstrates these businesses exhibit outstanding strengths in all of their functional areas, although they must undertake some actions in order to take advantage of these particular strong points in areas such as marketing, human resources and financial management, for which the paper provides some recommendations.

The second contribution of this section is a paper by Professors Julián Andrés Valencia, from the Catholic University of Manizales, José Gabriel Carvajal, from the National University of Colombia at Manizales, and Juan Manuel Castellanos-Obregón, from the University of Caldas, titled "Strategies for the Accumulation of Prestige by Group Leader Researchers in a University Organization: The Case of the National University of Colombia at Manizales". This work studies prestige accumulation strategies adopted by researchers, through interviews with 27 research groups' leaders classified by Colciencias. Findings suggest the existence of two strategies influenced by factors such as the degree of success achieved in the accumulation of prestige and the characteristics of the researcher (e.g. age and academic experience). These two strategies are the simple role reproduction -generally associated with an academic production limited to the minimum required-, and the extended role reproduction -related to a specific internationalization and specialization agenda followed by researchers.

The Editorial Team truly hopes this eleven papers might be of interest for our readers, and that they contribute to academic discussions within Social and Management Sciences.