This thesis is composed of two studies related to gender issues in economics. The first one explores whether companies experience benefits when the firm’s CEO and owner are both women. It employs data from the 2009-2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) to measure firms’ performance through growth in sales and productivity. Potential endogeneity was corrected by using the UN Gender Development Index and the average fertility rate as they comply with the exclusion restrictions. The paper uses the Control Function method with a Probit first stage estimation and an OLS main equation. The findings suggest that a female owner strengthens the female CEO’s business skills and leads to better firm performance than when the CEO is a woman and the owner is a man. The second study analyzes if there are gender differences in the socioeconomic characteristics that impact the risk aversion of a person. Gender differences in risk aversion may explain the gaps between men and women in the professional or labor field. If this situation is to be modified, it is important to understand how actors behave when facing risky situations and which variables could influence this change. In this sense, the paper draws from laboratory experiments associated with risky and uncertain decisions, representative of six cities in Latin America, through two empirical strategies: regression analysis with interactions and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. We conclude that women are more risk averse than men, and that the main variables associated with this behavior are education, age, and whether or not the person is part of the labor market / Tesis

La logística de última milla cada vez está tomando mayor relevancia en todo el mundo gracias al crecimiento del comercio electrónico, en especial en las tiendas departamentales. Del mismo modo, la mejora continua de procesos ayuda a que las empresas puedan afrontar los problemas que puedan generarse en el transcurso de esa parte de la logística. De esta forma, ambos conceptos se han convertido en temas de interés en la investigación en el ámbito logístico. Por ello, este estudio tiene como propósito analizar la aplicación de mejora continua de procesos en la logística de última milla en el comercio electrónico de tiendas departamentales de Latinoamérica. Este análisis surge a partir de una revisión profunda de la logística de última milla, comenzando por los conceptos de la cadena de suministro, logística y logística de distribución, para así comprender de mejor manera qué es la logística de última milla. Además, se aborda teóricamente el concepto de la mejora continua y las herramientas que pueden ser aplicadas en la logística de última milla. La presente investigación se ha llevado a cabo a partir de bibliografía secundaria y estudios empíricos sobre la aplicación de la logística de última milla en el comercio electrónico y su relación con la mejora continua de procesos, tanto de América Latina como de Europa. Si bien el objetivo es analizar el contexto latinoamericano, es importante establecer cierto nivel de comparación con países que poseen mayor desarrollo y conocimiento en las temáticas a estudiar. En base a estas fuentes, se detallaron las principales tendencias logísticas, con la finalidad de resolver los problemas que se presentan en los procesos de las tiendas departamentales. Sin embargo, si bien existe un surtido de soluciones, cada organización deberá aplicar la más apropiada de acuerdo a sus procesos. Así, el resultado de la presente investigación indica que el enfoque de la mejora continua en la logística de última milla es importante porque permite mapear a profundidad el proceso y encontrar qué actividades son necesarias o no para lograr un buen sistema logístico que facilite alcanzar la satisfacción al cliente.

This thesis is composed of two studies related to gender issues in economics. The first one explores whether companies experience benefits when the firm’s CEO and owner are both women. It employs data from the 2009-2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) to measure firms’ performance through growth in sales and productivity. Potential endogeneity was corrected by using the UN Gender Development Index and the average fertility rate as they comply with the exclusion restrictions. The paper uses the Control Function method with a Probit first stage estimation and an OLS main equation. The findings suggest that a female owner strengthens the female CEO’s business skills and leads to better firm performance than when the CEO is a woman and the owner is a man. The second study analyzes if there are gender differences in the socioeconomic characteristics that impact the risk aversion of a person. Gender differences in risk aversion may explain the gaps between men and women in the professional or labor field. If this situation is to be modified, it is important to understand how actors behave when facing risky situations and which variables could influence this change. In this sense, the paper draws from laboratory experiments associated with risky and uncertain decisions, representative of six cities in Latin America, through two empirical strategies: regression analysis with interactions and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition. We conclude that women are more risk averse than men, and that the main variables associated with this behavior are education, age, and whether or not the person is part of the labor market