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The Spanish educational system is characterized by the coexistence of three different models of production and provision of education: public, subsidized and private. Within the privately-owned centers not under the subsidized system, private schools of a social nature stand out. These schools, whose main source of financing comes from the fees paid by the students' families, must implement financial strategies that guarantee their economic viability and allow them to develop their educational project. In a highly competitive environment, the implementation of sound financial strategies and the development of educational innovation policies are critical to ensure their survival. In this context, this study analyzes a methodological proposal that can contribute to guide this strategic policy based on two fundamental pillars: the financial viability of the center and educational innovation through the application of new technologies and innovative teaching strategies. To this end, the case method has been used as the main methodology, obtaining results that considerably improve student satisfaction and that represent economic improvements of more than €100,000 per year. From these results it has been possible to identify different possible scenarios that can condition the financial viability of the educational center, the dropout rate and the academic performance of the students.

Objective: This study aims to characterise the phenomenon of depopulation in the rural environment from the point of view of the opportunities offered by technology-based rural entrepreneurship as a lever that promotes population fixation and the economic dynamisation of the most depressed territories subject to the economic and social imbalances generated by depopulation. Research Design & Methods: The research approach is based on the application of case studies as an empirical research technique. In particular, the strategy for the promotion of rural start-ups in CyL - the largest European region and one of the Spanish regions most affected by the negative consequences of depopulation - is analysed. Findings: Empirical evidence has shown that economic conditions have impacted the extent and duration of migration flows from rural areas to a more industrialised urban environment. Thus, in recent decades, the spatial distribution of the population has taken shape characterised by strong concentrations in large cities as opposed to the dispersion and low density of the population in large areas of the territory. Implications / Recommendations: The promotion of rural entrepreneurship through the development of specific actions to encourage the creation of start-up companies could be a solution to the demographic challenge. Contribution / Value Added: The creation of a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem has been possible owing to the financing, growth, scaling, and business internationalisation programmes promoted by the regional government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Nowadays it is an irrefutable fact that economy digitalisation is changing the traditional methods and balances of the current economic and social organisation model. In this context, the incorporation of new digital technologies in the company plays an undeniable competitive role in its strategic business policy. Agri-food cooperatives cannot ignore this opportunity and must face the digital transformation process not only to survive, but mainly to grow in a particularly changing and competitive market. Objectives The aim of this research is to contribute to the analysis of the digital transformation of the economy, paying special attention to Social Economy and, in particular, to the agri-food cooperative sector in Spain as a strategic sector of the country's productive model. Specifically, our main objective is to present an exploratory study on the use that agri-food cooperatives make of new information and communication technologies in two different aspects: Internet presence and web services offered. In light of the results obtained, an inter-territorial and inter-sectorial comparative study is posed as a complementary objective that allows: i) to characterize the degree of maturity of the digitalisation process of the cooperatives under study; ii) to determine their relative positioning within the Spanish business sector; and iii) to identify any conditioning factors that can exert a greater influence on the degree of digital transformation of agri-food cooperative. Methodology The main method used is the analytical empirical method through frequencies and correlations analysis. The population considered is constituted by the agri-food cooperatives operating in Spain having more than ten partners / employees, whose data date after the year 2000 according to the Orbis database. Out of 6,431 registered cooperatives, there is a population of 506 entities meeting these criteria. For the selection of the sample under study, we used stratified random sampling proportionate to the Autonomous Community. The study focuses on cooperative companies with more than 10 partners / employees, the main reasons being summarized in two. On the one hand, since it is based on the hypothesis that agri-food cooperatives present a degree of activity digitalisation below other business legal forms, and therefore focusing on larger ones will help us to position ourselves in the bestcase scenario in order to be able to make a more critical analysis. On the other hand, to be able to compare the study with the one presented by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), which makes this same differentiation by size. For a confidence level of 95% and an error of 7.9%, a sample of 119 cooperatives is obtained. Thus, as Analucia is the community that has the most cooperatives in this sector, it is also the most represented with 20 cooperatives within the sample. The search and data collection were carried out during the month of May 2018 through direct analysis of the contents and design of the Web pages corresponding to each of the 119 food cooperatives making up the sample under study. In particular, 11 variables total have been verified. Three hypotheses will be established to respond to the objectives set: • Hypothesis 1 (H1): The degree of digitalisation of agri-food cooperatives in Spain is below that of the business sector as a whole. • Hypothesis 2 (H2): The size of the cooperative exerts a significant influence on its degree of digital transformation. • Hypothesis 3 (H3): The activity sub-sector determines the level of digitalisation of the agri-food cooperative Results As for the results obtained, the analysis shows that only 55.46% of the agri-food cooperatives under study have a corporate website. Therese results, when compared with all companies -whose percentage rises to 77. 69%-, evidences the existence of some delay in the agri-food cooperative sector in terms of internet presence compared with the average result achieved by the Spanish business sector. Note the existence of a differential greater than 22 percentage points. The most significant point is to verify that the average in the digitalisation level is 2.3 out of 11, being this the maximum reachable value. That is, it would not pass on a scale from 0 to 10. In fact, no cooperative has the highest score possible, being 8 the highest value obtained. We can intuit thanks to the media that there is still much to be done regarding the level of digital transformation. On another note, the variables that have a higher level of correlation with the variables measuring the level of digital transformation are: operating revenue, partners / number of employees and total assets. Therefore, the three variables established to measure the size of the cooperative influence the level of digital transformation, measured by the 11 items. To contrast the third working hypothesis, the sample has been divided into the proposed subsectors following the Spanish Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE-2009). In this case, the outstanding role of the "dairy products" sub-sector, whose cooperatives obtain an average value of 4.67 at the digitalisation level, is verified. On the other hand, 100% of the cooperatives that operate in this subsector have a website. Other sub-sectors that do not go unnoticed are "olive oil" and "animal feed products". In both cases, cooperative companies operating in this activity field that have a website represent a significant percentage of 82% and 71% respectively. In particular, if we compare these figures with the average of all companies in Spain, we can say that only the "dairy products" and "olive oil" sub-sectors have a percentage of companies with a website that is above the national average. On the other hand, the activity sub-sectors that reach a higher score in the posed digitalisation index are, in descending order, "dairy products" (4.67 points), "olive oil" (3.25 points), "meat industry" (2.92 points) and "winemaking" (2.89 points). Although all these sub-sectors present a score higher than the average of the agri-food cooperatives analysed, this rating is far from being considered optimal, which indicates the need to promote measures that intensify the process of digital transformation of the agri-food cooperative sector. Practical conclusions and original value Regarding conclusions, after contrasting the formulated hypotheses, it is verified that the digitalisation degree of the agri-food cooperatives is relatively far, in general terms, from the average digitalisation level observed in all Spanish companies, presenting some "delay" in the digital transformation process. Nevertheless, this deficit position does not appear homogeneous in all sub-sectors that make up the agri-food sector. On the contrary, it is verified that both the activity sub-sector and the organisational dimension are determining factors in the digital transformation process of agri-food cooperatives. Thus, the results obtained reveal that cooperatives with a greater dimension are characterised by presenting a greater digitalisation degree in terms of website development, internet presence, ecommerce and web services offered. Likewise, the dairy, olive oil, wine and meat industries present a global level of digitalisation greater than the rest of the agri-food sub-sectors. Finally, it has not been identified that the territory where the cooperatives carry out their activity exerts any influence on a greater or lesser degree of business digitalisation." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few years, the holding and use of cryptocurrencies, as well as the entire ecosystem of decentralised finance (DeFi), has become popular worldwide. However, their acceptance and use are not equal for various reasons; and it is important to know these limiting reasons. There is a gender gap in the acceptance and use of so-called decentralised finance (DeFi), where females have much lower acceptance and usage rates than men. Our study has focused on analysing why this situation occurs. A structured questionnaire was used, including age, level of education and gender, as well as closed-ended questions and questions with respondent ratings (Likert scale). Replicating the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) model, applied in this case to the study on the use and acceptance of cryptocurrencies by females. This has allowed us to generate a sample of 326 people living in Spain, 168 of whom are females. We obtained as a result that the barriers that limit the acceptance and use of cryptocurrencies by females are several: The lack of investment experience in traditional assets, the general lack of knowledge on the part of females about cryptocurrencies; as well as concepts such as blockchain, how to carry out transactions or what an exchange is and how it works. Also, the fact that cryptocurrencies do not inspire any security in females and risk aversion. In contrast, we found no evidence that females do not accept or use cryptocurrencies due to a lack of trust in traditional money, pressure from social media and influencers, fear of not doing the same as the next guy or speculation, which are mostly present in the motivation of males. Nor do we find that income or lack of digital skills among females are barriers to entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]