Are microfinance markets monopolistic?

Do microfinance institutions (MFIs) operate in a monopoly, monopolistic competition environment or are their revenues derived under perfect competition markets? We employ the Panzar–Rosse revenue test on a global panel data to assess the competitive environment in which MFIs of five selected countries operate: Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Peru and Philippines, over the period 2005–2009. We estimate the static and the dynamic revenue tests, with analyses of the interest rate and the return on assets. We control for microfinance-specific variables such as capital-assets-ratio, loans-assets and the size of the MFI. The analyses also account for the endogeneity problem by employing the fixed-effects two-stage least squares and the fixed-effects system generalized method of moments. Our results suggest that MFIs in Peru and India operate in a monopolistic environment. We also find weak evidence that the microfinance industry in Ecuador, Indonesia and Philippines may operate under perfect competition.     

Renewable and nonrenewable energy production and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: a hidden cointegration analysis

The objective of this article is to investigate the hypothesis of asymmetric effects between economic growth and renewable and nonrenewable energy production. To this end, both the linear cointegration and the hidden cointegration methodology are employed, with the latter allowing a straightforward delimitation of the data in an economically sensible way. We test for the presence of hidden cointegration across 12 sub-Saharan African countries spanning the period 1971–2011. The empirical results confirm the growth hypothesis for a subset of countries, suggesting that their growth could be adversely affected by conservation policies, while for a second subgroup of countries they confirm the conservation hypothesis, indicating that conservation policies could enhance the growth process in these countries. The differentiation of the results could be captured entirely by the linear approach, indicating that the lack of cointegration between renewable energy production and economic growth found in previous studies may be due to failures to properly delimit the nonlinearity property in the data.     

Planning food services for a campus setting

Providing appropriate food services in a campus setting is increasingly important due to more demanding customers and because clients have less time to go off-campus when they need to eat. Using a university campus as an example, this research looks at customer satisfaction with existing food services and explores various methods for determining where to locate new facilities. This campus currently has great needs for additional food services, and it is shown clearly where additional food services are required. Also, the methods used are compared in terms of their effectiveness in finding the solution.     

Is education the panacea for economic deprivation of Muslims?: Evidence from wage earners in India, 1987–2005

Few researchers have examined the nature and determinants of earnings differentials among religious groups, and none has been undertaken in the context of conflict-prone multi-religious societies like the one in India. We address this lacuna in the literature by examining the differences in the average log earnings of Hindu and Muslim wage earners in India, during the 1987–2005 period. Our results indicate that education differences between Hindu and Muslim wage earners, especially differences in the proportion of wage earners with tertiary education, are largely responsible for the differences in the average log earnings of the two religious groups across the years. By contrast, differences in the returns to education do not explain the aforementioned difference in average log earnings. In conclusion, we discuss some policy implications.     

Are exchange rates interdependent? Evidence using wavelet analysis

We examine the co-movement in daily returns of USD–INR, EUR–INR, GBP–INR, and JPY–INR currency pair futures contracts traded on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) using the wavelet cohesion approach. This study contributes to the literature by examining the scantly studied area of co-movement in exchange rates and using the wavelet approach, which allows us to analyse time–frequency-wise co-movement of the time series. The empirical results indicate that the currency futures markets are nearly perfectly integrated in the long run (monthly, quarterly and biannual scales) offering little potential gains from international portfolio diversification. The discrepancies between currency futures markets are small and almost fade away within 3–6 months. Moreover, international currency diversification might offer relatively higher potential gains at intraweek, weekly, and fortnightly time horizons owing to lower correlations among the currencies under consideration. Finally, our multiple-wavelet correlation and cross-correlation analysis shows that GBP acts as a potential leader/follower across scales. The results of our analysis indicate the dynamic pattern of co-movement among the major currency futures contracts, which provides several implications for portfolio managers and international investors participating in the Indian market.     

Stakeholder prioritization and reporting: Evidence from Italy and the US

This study investigates the considerations that might be made by managers when choosing between mutually exclusive stakeholder expectations and reaching and engaging in a dialogue with them. In addition, the study also examines if there are systematic differences across countries (Italy and the US) in the decision to address the concerns of various stakeholder groups. Data was collected from 244 managers and 72 companies simultaneously in two different national business contexts, Italy and the US. The results of the study provide some evidence that managerial perception of three stakeholder group characteristics – power, legitimacy, and urgency – form a parsimonious group of variables that explain the process of stakeholder prioritization. However, only limited support was found for the relationship between salience accorded to a stakeholder group and engagement efforts directed toward the group. The results of the study also show that the managerial decision as to which of the stakeholder groups’ demands to address will be influenced by society-specific expectations. The significance of this study lies in investigating the stakeholder prioritization and engagement process, as it is being practiced, which, one could argue, would help in developing guidelines for effective stakeholder management that stands a realistic chance of being adapted and followed.     

Social Media Index Valuation: Impact of Technological,Social, Economic,and Ethical Dimensions

Marketing practitioners have recognized a growing need to measure consumer-generated social media in a standard way since there are numerous social media indicators in use, making intra- and inter-company comparisons difficult. This paper identifies four social media dimensions for measurement and evaluation: technological, social, economic, and ethical; and, subsequently, measures social media. The study makes a contribution to social media literature by using analytic hierarchy process of developing a mathematical model for social media index valuation. The “social media composite index number” will serve as an industry benchmark signifying the organization's share and commitment to social media.     

Environmental Certification and Technical Efficiency: A Study of Manufacturing Firms in India

Obtaining environmental certification (such as the ISO-14,001) has become a status symbol for adopting greener practices for the corporate sector in emerging economies. Such certification can help improve the global visibility of firms and is mandated in international trade. This paper attempts to examine the impact of such certifications on technical efficiency of firms belonging to the manufacturing sector in India. In analyzing the impact of ISO Certification on technical efficiency, this paper uses data from the CMIE Prowess from 2007 to 2012. In the first step, the paper estimates technical efficiency for the sample firms and then examines the determinants of inter-firm differences in technical efficiency using firm specific characteristics. The results of this study conclude that there are substantial inter-firm differences in technical efficiency and they are systematically different based on firm age, firm size, debt capital, MNE affiliation, and ISO certification. ISO certification, especially maintaining the standards associated with it, turned out to be an important factor in making the firms achieve higher technical efficiency. In addition, the results of this study also confirm that firms that are ISO certified and doing R&D are better off in technical efficiency as compared to others.