A Baseline Study of Ghanian Microfinance Institutions

We conducted a baseline study of the historical performance of 34 rural and community banks (RCBs), 27 credit unions (CUs), and 2 savings and loans companies (S&Ls), which are licensed microfinance institutions in Ghana, for future comparisons. The study also investigated their potential for long-term survival. The RCBs and CUs were drawn from five political administrative regions. We found that RCBs and CUs have done reasonably well. Regional differences, however, exist in the performance of both RCBs and CUs, and there are significant differences in performance of RCBs vis-à-vis CUs. Both have good potential for long-term survival, but CU appears to be better positioned. We identified disparate levels of performance and future potential between the two S&Ls studied.     

Regulation,Outreach, and Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Multilevel Analysis

The paper examines the effect of regulation on microfinance institutions’ (MFIs) sustainability and outreach in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). Using unbalanced panel data from 2002 to 2012 for 30 countries and a multilevel estimation technique, we find that regulation helps improves the sustainability and breadth of outreach but not the depth. We also find that MFIs that accept deposits have better sustainability but tend to serve the marginal poor. Finally, regulatory quality has a positive impact on outreach and sustainability. Overall, the paper casts new light on the contribution of regulation to the dual objectives of microfinance.     

A Study of Codes of Ethics for Mexican Microfinance Institutions

Most scholarly interest in codes of ethics or conduct has focused on traditional companies. Little is known about the codes of social enterprises or hybrid organizations such as microfinance institutions (MFIs). Our paper provides a comparative case study of the codes of a Mexican microfinance network and seven MFIs. Using the corporate integrity model, we analyze the content of MFIs’ codes compared to those of traditional organizations. We then examine to what extent some specific features of MFIs such as their mission, target group, and applied credit methodologies, are factors that determine the content of their code. We find that MFIs’ codes, like those of traditional companies, include traditional stakeholder principles. Nevertheless, they put greater emphasis on ‘socially-oriented’ principles or on terms such as ‘people’ and ‘common good’. MFIs’ codes differ with respect to the items they include and exclude and the size of the covered sections. We also find that these codes attempt to address prevailing concerns in microfinance but rarely tackle two critical debates, namely levels of interest rates and of profitability. We finally argue that it is difficult to move toward a global code, owing to regional disparities and the variety of organizational models and missions.     

Directors' Diversity and Board Performance: Evidence from East African Microfinance Institutions

Active board participation is one of the main challenges faced by microfinance institutions. This article sets out to explore the effect of board of directors' characteristics (age, gender, and education) on their ability to effectively perform their board roles (monitoring and resource provision). Microfinance policy makers are concerned with the role of boards in terms of the performance of the industry. This study used the agency theory and resource dependence theory to test the relationship between directors' characteristics and boards' performance. The empirical analysis is based on a survey conducted with 105 board directors representing 63 microfinance institutions from three East African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda). The results show a positive relationship between directors' age and their ability to monitor and provide the board with resources. The study also shows that the effect of directors' level of education on boards' performance is positive, while no evidence was found with regard to the effect of female directors on boards. The findings imply that board directors need to be appointed based on their personal characteristics and their ability to perform their roles.     

Measuring Social Performance in Social Enterprises: A Global Study of Microfinance Institutions

Journal of Business Ethics - Social enterprises in the microfinance industry need to adhere to both financial and social demands. Critics argue that there is a mission drift away from the social...     

印度小额信贷的发展及启示

印度小额信贷的发展主要是以自助团体为基础的联系银行计划(LBP)所推动。小额信贷联系银行计划(LBP)的运作关键在于组建自助团体,建立自助团体与银行的联系。经过十多年的发展,印度拥有了发展中国家最大和成长最快的小额信贷项目。中国与印度都是发展中的人口大国,剖析印度小额信贷的经验可以为我国小额信贷的发展提供重要启示。     

The Value Relevance of Reputation for Sustainability Leadership

This study investigates whether the market valuation of the two summary accounting measures, book value of equity and net income, is higher for firms with reputation for sustainability leadership, when compared to firms that do not enjoy such reputation. The results are interpreted through the lens of a framework combining signalling theory and resource-based theory, according to which firms signal their commitment to sustainability to influence the external perception of reputation. A firm’s reputation for being committed to sustainability is an intangible resource that can increase the value of a firm’s expected cash flows and/or reduce the variability of its cash flows. Our findings are according to expectations and show that the net income of firms with good sustainability reputation has a higher valuation by the market, when compared to their counterparts.     

Putting Responsible Finance to Work for Citi Microfinance

This paper develops an ethical framework for responsible finance and then applies it to Citigroup (Citi), a major financial actor in the microfinance sector, to see whether it meets with such obligations. The framework consists of two categories of responsibility. The first category is the special social responsibility of financial institutions; and the second is the fundamental principles of ethical behavior in financial services. From Citigroup’s microfinance model, scope of business, and multiple roles in the market, the company seems to be fulfilling its responsibility in inclusive finance. However, judged in term of the principles of integrity, objectivity, fairness, professionalism, and diligence, it falls short of its ethical responsibility. In view of this shortcoming, Citigroup should recall its obligation to avoid conflicts of interest, to provide responsible advice, to protect clients from over-indebtedness, and most importantly, to act with integrity.     

小额信贷机构目标偏离影响因素实证研究——基于固定效应模型的检验与比较

小额信贷一直被联合国、世界银行等国际组织看作减缓贫困的有效工具.然而,以服务低收入人群、小微企业为宗旨的小额信贷机构近年来却出现了“嫌贫爱富”、“垒大户”等目标偏离问题,这对国际小额信贷的可持续发展形成了严峻的挑战,找到小额信贷机构目标偏离的影响因素无疑是应对这一挑战的重要举措.为此,基于中外488家小额信贷机构的面板数据,本文建立固定效应模型进行了实证检验和比较分析,发现机构类型、风险水平以及经营年限是导致目标偏离的主要因素,其中,机构类型和风险水平对中国小额信贷机构目标偏离影响显著.最后,本文指出了上述结论对治理我国小额信贷机构目标偏离问题的政策启示.     

事业单位财务管理的新思路

在经济改革的不断深化和社会主义市场经济建立的过程中,事业单位的内外环境发生了根本变化,特别是原有资产、技术和人力的作用方面已不同于过去,因此,事业单位的财务管理也应适应更广泛的市场经济需要,本文将具体探讨如何创新事业单位财务管理的思路.     

The Uptake of Sustainability Reporting in Australia

In this paper, we identify and discuss how sustainability reporting has spread throughout the Australian business community over the past twenty years or so. We identified all Australian business organisations that have produced a sustainability report since 1995, and we undertook an interview survey with managers of reporting companies. By incorporating a wide range and large number of reporting companies, we offer insights beyond those obtained from traditional report content analysis and from close analyses of singular case-study organisations. We reveal that sustainability reporting has deepened in a few high-impact industries, and it has spread to a small number of firms in a wide range of low-impact industries. We tested whether there were any relationships between the drivers of reporting and the experiences of different types of reporting firms. Many of the relationships we observed were not as clear or as consistent as expected. Sustainability reporting is, however, of strategic importance to reporting companies. Given the small number of reporters in Australia, we raise the possibility of strategic differentiation as a key driver of reporting behaviour and suggest further studies to explore institutional fields that may be shaping sustainability reporting practice.     

The Promotion of Renewable Energies and Sustainability

The Renewable Energies Act (Erneuerbare–Energien–Gesetz – EEG) is the German governments main instrument for implementing the energy objectives of its sustainability strategy. Is the EEG really an adequate instrument for this purpose? Does it consider both effectiveness and efficiency? Are the different aspects of sustainability evenly addressed? What possible alternatives are there regarding changes towards other promotional systems or shifting from a national to a European framework?

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Verena Leïla Holzer, Research Assistant, Department of Economic Policy, University of Potsdam, Germany.     

Before Microfinance: The Social Value of Microsavings in Vincentian Poverty Reduction

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss the values and limits of microfinance within the context of poverty reduction, international development, and community empowerment. The main thesis is that microfinance requires a more complex strategy than simply the provision of credits. The development of financial capital depends on the increase in human capacity and social capital. Microfinance is revisited under the ethical lenses of global responsibility for alleviating poverty and developing community sustainability. Through a critical review of the literature and case studies from the Philippines, the author suggests a value-based Vincentian approach to integrate microfinance into community empowerment. In connection with the main thesis the author argues that the achievement of economic self-reliance through microfinance is contingent upon the development of capacity building, social capital, and empowerment at the individual, collective, and systemic levels.     

Eco-Enterprise Strategy: Standing for Sustainability

Enterprise strategy provides an accepted theoretical framework for integrating the moral responsibilities of organizations into their strategy formulation and implementation processes. We argue that, when extended to the ecological level of analysis, enterprise strategy provides a sound theoretical framework for ethically and strategically accounting for the ultimate stakeholder, planet Earth. Within the framework of enterprise strategy, a value system based on sustainability can provide a sound ethical basis for developing ecologically sensitive strategic management systems which allow organizations to satisfy the demands of the myriad green stakeholders that represent the planet in the immediate business arena. This provides a new "flavor" of enterprise strategy in which organizations "stand for sustainability." We call this new flavor "eco-enterprise strategy."     

小额贷款公司的绩效问题研究述评

对小额贷款公司绩效问题的研究,主要包括经济绩效、社会绩效、制度绩效等。关于小额贷款公司经济绩效问题的研究,主要集中在小额贷款公司的经济绩效水平、经济绩效影响因素等问题上。对小额贷款公司社会绩效问题的研究,主要集中在小额贷款公司的社会绩效评估体系构建、社会绩效水平及社会绩效影响因素等问题上。对小额贷款制度绩效问题的研究,主要有两种相反的看法。关于小额贷款公司经济绩效问题的研究,成果较为丰富,而关于小额贷款公司的社会绩效、制度绩效的研究,则相对较为薄弱。     

Preparing Students to Work for Sustainability

Preparing students to contribute to the development of a sustainable economy is proposed as the fundamental goal of business- environment courses. This requires attention to the principles of sustainable development, organizational responsibility, and personal responsibility. Development of associated knowledge, attitudes and skills will enable students to contribute to sustainable development by successfully engaging in environmental problem recognition and problem analysis, developing proposals for improving organizations' environmental performance, and participating in efforts to implement such proposals. Specific concepts consistent with these goals are identified, involving students in projects in which they attempt to affect the environmental performance of an organization, and one such assignment is described.