Status of international identification standards and self-identification technologies in the Cuban business enterprises

Abstract

In view of the urgent need to promote the development of Cuban business in the current economic context of the country and the support of government policies to direct communication between actors in the chain with greater emphasis, Cuban industry needs to be aligned with globally accepted identification standards such as GS1. The general objective of this article is to establish whether training, legal and economic factors are determining factors for Cuban companies to make use of GS1 identification standards in supply chains and thus achieve adequate synergy among their actors. The specific objective is to diagnose the state of application of standardization in Cuban companies of different sectors. The methods used are the consultation of specialized documentation, the study of GS1 identification standards and the analysis of the results of a checklist. It is concluded that the training on GS1 standards is a topic weakly treated in undergraduate studies, thus limiting the formation of knowledge and awareness of its necessity; that the Cuban regulatory framework has created the conditions for its implementation; despite the high costs, its use is essential if the aim is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the enterprises, and that none of the analyzed enterprises have the complete system of GS1 standards, less than 50% comply with the identification pillar, underutilizing the benefits of these codes.