Cooperatives have the potential to develop an economic, social and environmental activity in a sustainable manner. In particular, social management is aimed at meeting the needs of its partners, families and community in an efficient and effective way. A study of social management was carried out in 60 savings and credit cooperatives in Pichincha, Ecuador, to determine if this is carried out under sustainability principles, with the determination that the recognition of social responsibility and the integral management of the economic and social issues, depends on the segment to which they belong, in which the non-definition of the social budget has a negative influence. The ignorance of the partners about the principles of Cooperativism; the inexistence of Cooperative Education Committees, specifically environmental education and action programs; the lack of granting credits for partner undertakings and the non-application of the cooperative social balance sheet are also other issues that damage the correct functioning of these associative forms. There were recognized areas to be strengthened to guarantee the sustainability of cooperatives as an associative form, such as the definition of social objectives; the active participation of the partners in decision-making and of another two interest groups (families and community).
The use of social responsibility as a business management strategy was defined, from a theoretical point of view, was studied to determine its utility to the change of the productive matrix for Ecuador sustainability. A descriptive correlational research was carried out in four companies in the Pichincha province, demonstrating that there are significant differences in the integral performance of Corporate Social Responsibility regarding the change of the productive matrix; that the eight indicators that influence the most these differences were found. There was a positive correlation with the two indicators related to the change in the productive matrix, which provided empirical evidence that the companies that perform better in Social Responsibility have better conditions to develop the required production transformation.