Search results for " GOVERNANCE"
showing 10 items of 824 documents
El Derecho internacional de las migraciones: entre la crisis y la renovación
2019
The international migration regime currently in force is manifestly insufficient for the regulation and governance of migration flows. The irreducible collision between the right of persons to leave their country and the right of States to reject the admission of migrants in its territory has led, in practice, to a vicious circle resulting in an increase in irregular migration and the multiplication of dramatic situations that hurt humanitarian feelings. In view of this situation, the United Nations promoted the adoption in January of 2019 of two instruments seeking to establish a new framework for international cooperation in this field: a Global Compact on Refugees and a Global Compact on…
What Explains Governance Structure in Non-Profit and For-Profit Microfinance Institutions?
2009
This paper aims to explain the choice of board and CEO characteristics in microfinance institutions (MFI). Explanations are sought in substitution or complementarity between the characteristics, external governance variables, and financial performance and outreach performance to the poor. The data are from 290 MFIs in 61 countries, and the logit regressions methodology is employed. The board and CEO characteristics are board size, CEO-chairman duality, international directors, and female CEO. We find relationships among these variables, and also that the external governance variables ownership type (shareholder owned) and international initialization induce smaller board, less duality, more…
Myths in microfinance
2008
Microfinance – the provision of financial services to the poor – is high on the public agenda. We discuss and evaluate three myths regarding microfinance based on new data from rated microfinance institutions (MFIs). The first myth is that an efficient MFI needs to be shareholder owned; second that its governance should first and foremost address the potential conflict between owners and managers; and third that MFIs are drifting away from their poorer customers towards serving the wealthier. The data do not support any of these myths. We conclude that microfinance is a viable business model.
Do Powerful CEOs Have an Impact on Microfinance Performance?
2009
In this study we show that Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) with more powerful CEOs have higher performance variability. A powerful CEO is defined as one that also chairs the board of directors. CEO power is reflected in higher performance variability if CEOs have more latitude of action, i.e. managerial discretion. Managerial discretion can be limited by having stakeholder electives on the board. We find that CEO power only has an effect on MFI performance variability when there are no stakeholder electives on the board. Furthermore, we argue that CEOs in non-profit MFIs have more discretion, because their dual mission implies their CEOs are harder to control. We find that CEO power increa…
Governance and Scope Economies in Microfinance Institutions
2013
This paper studies the relation between board size and composition and cost savings (scope economies) from combining savings mobilization and lending by Microfinance Institutions. The findings support the hypothesis that employee representation on the board is associated with positive scope economies, possibly due to internal knowledge. However, CEO Chairman duality is associated with equal or larger probability of scope diseconomies, which is consistent with previous findings. Representation of other stakeholders on the MFI board does not affect scope economies. The results seem to support the notion that, in highly uncertain environments, group cohesion may be an advantageous mechanism of…
The governance of non-profit micro finance institutions: lessons from history
2009
Published version of an article in the journal: Journal of Management & Governance. Also available from Springer: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10997-009-9116-7 Microfinance is high on the public agenda, and better corporate governance has been identified as a key factor for enhancing the viability of the industry. However, recent literature on the subject struggles to identify the corporate governance mechanisms that influence the performance of the Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs). Guided by stakeholder and agency theories, this paper uses a historical parallel found in savings banks to present corporate governance lessons for MFIs, particularly non-profit MFIs, today. The findings indicate…
Governance and scope economies in microfinance institutions
2013
This paper studies the relation between board size and composition and cost savings (scope economies) from combining savings mobilisation and lending by Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). The findings support the hypothesis that employee representation on the board is associated with positive scope economies, possibly due to internal knowledge. However, CEO-Chairman duality is associated with equal or larger probability of scope diseconomies, which is consistent with previous findings. Representation
Audit Quality and Corporate Governance: Evidence from the Microfinance Industry
2015
This study uses a unique hand-collected sample of for-profit and nonprofit microfinance institutions from 70 developing countries to analyse the relationships between audit quality and governance mechanisms. We examine two measures of audit quality, namely, the use of Big Four auditors and the presence of internal auditors. The empirical analysis of this study reveals that these two quality metrics are highly related, although we also demonstrate that these metrics capture distinctive aspects of audit quality. In particular, the presence of internal auditors is related to other indicators of stricter governance, whereas the use of Big Four auditors is generally unrelated to other governance…