Analysis of Key Variables for Ecuadorian Defense Industry Development

Abstract

The present work is a practical application of the theoretical advances developed by the authors about the model or system of the defense industry in Ecuador. After defining the usefulness of the quintuple helix approach for the determination of actors related to the model (government, academia, civil society, business sector, and natural environment), among other elements of contextualization to the Ecuadorian case, in the present work identified the key variables that should be taken into account for the development of the natural defense industry. 9 national and international experts with recognized experience in the subject participated in the exercise, with whom 13 variables were determined to study. The MICMAC prospective method was applied for the processing of the direct relationship matrices completed by the experts, showing that the most important variables are: economy; technology; defense market; consumer needs; quality, productivity, and competitiveness; innovation, and links with the private sector. It was also determined that the most important relationships are established between the economy variable and that of quality, productivity, and competitiveness. The results obtained will allow us to continue deepening the analysis of the particular conditions of Ecuador to develop its defense industry sector and lay the foundations for modeling the relationships between the actors related to these key issues.