Recent research:
Across the publications, the researcher advances a cohesive narrative on the digital transformation and financial practices shaping SMEs and industries in emerging economies. The work highlights how AI-enabled e-commerce and digital platforms in Ecuador's textile sector drive consumer customization, logistics efficiency, and competitive advantage, while addressing barriers such as training gaps, change resistance, and implementation costs. Parallelly, the study on university students in southern Guayaquil demonstrates that financial education substantively improves saving behavior, with moderate correlation and practical needs for structured curricula and methodologies (e.g., Kakeibo) to bolster budgeting and financial well-being. A third piece provides a practical operations-management perspective, detailing the end-to-end handling of an overdue portfolio in Plastimet S. A., stressing proactive debtor communication, financial incentives, and digital payment tools to enhance recovery, governance, and efficiency. Together, these works illuminate how data-driven strategies, educational interventions, and process optimization contribute to competitiveness, financial resilience, and sustainable business practices in SMEs and industry contexts. They imply a broader impact on policy and corporate practice, advocating digital training, financial literacy integration, and the adoption of online infrastructure to support timely payments and customer-centric operations.