Impact of the Emerging Financial Holding Company Model on Small Business Borrowers' Financial Welfare: Contemporary Evidence from Nigeria Based on the Monti‐Klein Approach

This study exploits the adequacy of the Monti‐Klein model to analyse the banking firms' lending behaviour and uses the geometric lag analytic model to detect the lifespan of bank conglomeration impacts on small business financial welfare. We find that, although the impact of emerging conglomerate banks on lending to small businesses is significantly negative (δ = ?0.6897; p < 0.01), the effect reverses to a pre‐conglomerate positive status within one year. Hence, bank conglomeration does not negatively affect the financial welfare of small business borrowers in the long run. Contrary to the widespread belief and fear, the negative effects are not permanent. Large banks are feared to have no time for mid‐sized businesses. We find, however, that mere increases in size, as may be caused by economic or internal growth, do not pose a threat to small businesses. Large‐sized banking firms positively and significantly correlate with small and predictable risks (δ = 1.7935; p < 0.01). Hence, contrary to what regulators fear, there is no real issue surrounding the idea that building diversifying banks will influence small business loans negatively. What matters is the means through which large banks emerge. Therefore, regulators ought to exercise caution so that they do not discourage their emergence.     

Determinants of Nigerian managers’ environmental attitude: Africa's Ubuntu ethics versus global capitalism

We investigate the impact of economic, institutional, and ethical pressures on African managers' corporate social and environmental attitude based on a survey involving 377 Nigerian executives in the extractive industry. We find that environmental orientation and behavior are mostly induced by instrumental economic motives, while ethical considerations exert a weak impact. This finding is significant because it contradicts mainstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature in Africa, which suggests the dominance of the culturally based, altruistic African Ubuntu philosophy. Based on this research finding, we suggest that economic globalization has spurned a transnational capitalist cadre of managers whose values are shaped far more by global capitalist instincts than any putative cultural philosophy. The findings also undercut the fundamental logic underpinning the numerous global initiatives to promote environmental responsibility by multinational corporations in developing countries, which assumes that managers will pursue environmental sustainability voluntarily in the absence of robust regulations and strict enforcement.