The sustainable development of countries is associated with a set of actions that must be implemented in the long term. In this process, society must be a valid partner in the decisions that are made. Studies show the interrelationship between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which increases uncertainty and makes decision-making more difficult. On the other hand, the Quintuple Helix of Innovation Model (QHIM) provides an analytical framework to explain the systems’ interactions. The motivation of the study lies in knowing the relationships between the variables that affect SDGs. The manuscript aims to broaden the discussion on sustainable development and propose two models to support decision making. The first one suggests 20 indicators linked to the QHIM with the SDGs in Latin American countries. The second identifies the forgotten effects through the application of a Fuzzy Logic algorithm. The main contribution is to know these effects and to support decision-making. The research carried out can be classified as applied, with the explanatory objective and the combined approach (quantitative-qualitative), modeling and simulation, and case study methods. The QHIM results indicate that Chile leads the ranking, followed by Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. Also, it reveals the importance of correctly identifying cause-effects by seeking harmony between systems. A limitation would be the number of variables used. The study indicates promising lines of research.

Purpose: Innovation has been recognized as one of the main sources of competitive advantage for organizations and nations. The purpose of this study is to present an innovation management measurement approach by applying fuzzy techniques to small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises.Design/methodology/approach: This study presents a survey focusing on seven innovation measurement areas: innovation strategy, knowledge management, project management, portfolio management, internal enablers, organization and structure and external enablers. A total of 91 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in the city of Morelia, Mexico, participated in the study. Furthermore, the data collected were analyzed under a multi-criteria decision-making approach using the theory of expertons and the induced generalized ordered weighted averaging operator.Findings: The results show that the most valued areas are innovation strategy, organization and structure, knowledge management and project management. Furthermore, portfolio management, external drivers and internal drivers are the areas with the lowest valuations.Originality/value: This paper presents an original methodological structure based on an expertise process designed to achieve well-founded results from uncertain and subjective opinions directly from the managers of the surveyed SMEs.

The main aim of this paper is to study how economic environment and logic reasoning guidance the decision-making process to start-up a new business by potential entrepreneurs. The study proposes a new method using the family of selection indices with OWA operator, which allows aggregating information according to the level of importance and their level of objectivity and subjectivity in the same formulation within the decision-making process. To develop case study, we have taken into account some industries of the sports sector and some critical environmental factors that influence the competitiveness and entrepreneurship in Colombia to start a new business. The results show in an orderly way all information aggregated, which can help potential investors and entrepreneurs to make a decision based on their preferences. Finally, the applicability of this method in real case can be given in aggregation different sources of information to help at dealing decision-making processes.