A New Index of the Business Environment for Microfinance

Cull, Robert; Navajas, Sergio; Nishida, Ippei; Zeiler, Renate

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.11.023

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In many developing countries, capacity building is one such policy (Farazmand, 2009;Tjosvold, Peng, Chen, & Su, 2008). In general, such policy is consistent with findings from prior studies that have highlighted the view that governments can play a role in firm-level capacity building (Cammett, 2007;Cull, Navajas, Nishida, & Zeiler, 2015;Farazmand, 2009;Ha & Kang, 2015;Shao, Hernández, & Liu, 2015;Tjosvold et al, 2008). In many instances, governments in collaboration with companies, industries, customers, and suppliers have engaged in capacity-building initiatives to create a sustainable business model (see also Suntikul & Dorji, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Business and government interdependence in emerging economies: Insights from hotels in Ghana

Amankwah‐Amoah

Debrah

Honyenuga

et al. 2017

Journal of Tourism Research

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Although social science research is replete with scholarly works on capacity building, relatively few studies have focused on how government can induce capacity building among privately owned enterprises in emerging economies. We seek to fill the lacuna in our understanding by examining how a government can induce capacity building among privately owned enterprises.The study adopted a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with hotel owners, employees, and managers, as well as government officials in Ghana to examine the issue. We identified three unique stages through which such capacity-building initiatives unfold encompassing diagnosing, renewal, and customer centricity. The study revealed that capacity building through collaborative partnership was partly motivated by desire to overcome societal resistance to services seen as "tainted." The concluding section outlines a number of theoretical and practical implications. KEYWORDSAfrica, capacity building, Ghana, government, hotels | INTRODUCTIONOver the past four decades, accelerated globalization has been accompanied by the increasing contribution of services to the global economy (Jayaraman & Luo, 2006;Vargo & Lusch, 2004). In parallel, many governments have formulated and implemented industrial policies geared towards opening up their economies to capture the benefits of globalization. In many developing countries, capacity building is one such policy (Farazmand, 2009;Tjosvold, Peng, Chen, & Su, 2008). In general, such policy is consistent with findings from prior studies that have highlighted the view that governments can play a role in firm-level capacity building (Cammett, 2007;Cull, Navajas, Nishida, & Zeiler, 2015;Farazmand, 2009;Ha & Kang, 2015;Shao, Hernández, & Liu, 2015;Tjosvold et al., 2008). In many instances, governments in collaboration with companies, industries, customers, and suppliers have engaged in capacity-building initiatives to create a sustainable business model (see also Suntikul & Dorji, 2015).Yet a closer look at the existing literature suggests that, despite some research on business and government interdependence and collaboration (Tian, Shi, Hafsi, & Tian, 2017;Tjosvold et al., 2008;Wong, Wei, & Tjosvold, 2015) and capacity development (e.g., Farazmand, 2009;Stephens et al., 2017;Victurine, 2000), our understanding of capacity building through collaborative partnership between government and business remains severely limited (see Shao et al., 2015). By capacity building through collaborative partnerships, we are referring to a situation where multiple stakeholders are mobilized and resources marshalled towards building firms' capabilities and fulfilling their role within the national economy.Against this backdrop, the main purpose of this study is to examine how a government can induce capacity building among privately owned enterprises in an emerging economy. We focus on Ghana and the hotel industry for a number of reasons. Since the late 1950s, when Ghana gained independence, it has been touted as a "Bea...

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Business and government interdependence in emerging economies: Insights from hotels in Ghana

Amankwah‐Amoah

Debrah

Honyenuga

et al. 2017

Journal of Tourism Research

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“…Then again, current research suggests that economic development affects microfinance as they utilize economic development indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) growth and gross national income (GNI) per capita when modeling microfinance and MFIs' performance (e.g., Assefa et al, 2013;Vanroose & D'Espallier, 2013). A clear deficiency of existing empirical studies is, however, that although they imply the causality of effects between MFIs' performance and their macroeconomic environment (e.g., Ahlin et al, 2011;Cull et al, 2015;Imai et al, 2012) they do not ISSN 1923-4023 E-ISSN 1923 causality is of extraordinary economic importance as it is relevant for developing targeted microfinance strategies and for empirical research. In other words, in the case of a richer household that has obtained a larger loan, did the loan make the household richer or did the richer household simply have easier access to credit?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Causal Relationship of Microfinance and Economic Development: Evidence from Transnational Data

Lopatta¹,

Tchikov²

2017

IJFR

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the so far underexamined statistical causality of the relationship between microfinance and economic development. For a representative transnational dataset covering the period 1995 -2012 we instrumentalize pairwise vector autoregressive (VAR) estimation models and the Granger approach. We utilize prevalent microfinance institutions' (MFI) performance indicators as measures of microfinance as well as relevant economic development indicators that not only measure economic and capital growth but also poverty, income inequality and labor participation. We find bidirectional causal interactions between both MFIs' social and financial performance and economic development. Based on our results important implications for microfinance theory, research and practice can be derived. Future empirical research should account for the statistical causality between microfinance and economic development. In practice, purposeful and progressive action that considers the directions of causality between microfinance and economic development verified within our study should be taken to promote economic growth and poverty alleviation.

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“…Although prior research has demonstrated a close link between the regulatory context and MFI behaviour (Cull et al, 2011;Cull, et al, 2015), the dynamics of the regulatory story and their unintended consequences are rarely told. Therefore, we contribute to discussion in the literature concerning microfinance and failure (Siwale & Ritchie, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other research on this topic, although limited in scope, has argued that well developed regulatory frameworks supervising the microfinance sector hinders outreach but improves financial performancethis effect being particularly prominent amongst for-profit MFIs (Cull, et al, 2015). In this context, "good" regulations can actually make it more costly for MFIs to comply but these are also intertwined with other features of the institutional contextrule of law, corruption, governance and so forth (Ahlin, Lin, & Maio, 2011).…”

Section: Background Literature: Microfinance Institutions (Mfis)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, we focus on the microfinance sector in Zambia to highlight how institutional change in Sub-Saharan Africa is a contested space of ideas and discourse between key institutional actors. One critical aspect of the institutional environment outlined by researchers is the legal and regulatory context, which has been shown to have significant implications for the performance and outreach of MFIs (Cull, Demirgüç-Kunt, & Morduch, 2011;Cull, Navajas, Nishida, & Zeiler, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The discourse of institutional change in the Zambian microfinance sector

Siwale

Kimmitt

2019

Africa Journal of Management

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This paper investigates the discourse of key actors instigating institutional change in the Zambian microfinance sector. It draws from the institutional story of Zambia, which has experienced regulatory and legislative flux since drafting its first microfinance act in 2006. Building on the ideas of discursive institutionalism and interviews with key stakeholders, it identifies three levels of discourse (ideas) that explain institutional change: policy, programmatic and philosophical. It highlights how ill-conceived discourse at a policy level shapes practices of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and ultimately challenge their worldviews; offering a cautious tale of institutional change in Zambia. More broadly, it discusses the implications of using discourse to understand institutional change in Sub-Saharan Africa and offers an opposing cautious narrative to many of the successful microfinance stories in the continent which tend to dominate the literature.

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A New Index of the Business Environment for Microfinance

Cited by 14 publications

References 22 publications

Business and government interdependence in emerging economies: Insights from hotels in Ghana

Business and government interdependence in emerging economies: Insights from hotels in Ghana

The Causal Relationship of Microfinance and Economic Development: Evidence from Transnational Data

The discourse of institutional change in the Zambian microfinance sector

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