Search results for "founder"
showing 10 items of 44 documents
The Impact of Entrepreneur-CEOs in Microfinance Institutions: A Global Survey
2013
- Peer reviewed Microfinance is a global high-growth industry, in which entrepreneurship is prevalent and substantial. Based on the theoretical argument that microfinance entrepreneur-CEOs are “motivated agents” with a unique ability to hire and socialize mission-oriented staff, we hypothesize that these CEOs produce more sustainable microfinance institutions with better social performance and lower costs. This study utilizes data from 295 microfinance institutions in 73 developing countries, assessed between 1998 and 2010. Our empirical evidence suggests that entrepreneur-managed microfinance institutions feature higher social performance, greater financial sustainability, and lower costs.
Small family business performance: comparison between family and non-family enterprises
2010
This study compares small family business performance between the Finnish family and non-family enterprises. The sample (2,004 firms) was derived to represent nationally small businesses, in collaboration with the Statistics Finland (Centre) in Helsinki. The answer rate of the study was 90% (data collected by mail questionnaires and telephone interviews). The method of the study was to compare family and non-family enterprises with ROA (return on assets) on an enterprise population level (Finland). The results of the study show that most of the small family businesses are controlled by the founder generation. Founder generation performance was slightly higher than among descendant generatio…
Genetic diversity in Cytisus aeolicus Guss. (Leguminosae), a rare endemite of the Italian flora
1998
ABSTRACT Cytisus aeolicus Guss, is an endemic plant restricted to the isles of Vulcano, Stromboli and Alicudi in the Aeolian archipelago. All known populations were assayed for genetic variability using enzyme polymorphism. Allozyme variation at 16 loci coding for 10 enzyme systems was examined. The great majority of loci turned out to be monomorphic or fixed heterozygous. The observed genetic depauperation is indicative of historical factors, such as the bottleneck effect associated with migration, and the founder effect in population re-establishment. The low genetic diversity is largely partitioned within rather than among populations, indicating that extant populations have not been est…
Recolonization after habitat restoration leads to decreased genetic variation in populations of a terrestrial orchid.
2012
Colonization is crucial to habitat restoration projects that rely on the spontaneous regeneration of the original vegetation. However, as a previously declining plant species spreads again, the likelihood of founder effects increases through recurrent population founding and associated serial bottlenecks. We related Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism markers genetic variation and fitness to colonization history for all extant populations of the outcrossing terrestrial orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata in an isolated coastal dune complex. Around 1970, D. incarnata suffered a severe bottleneck yet ultimately persisted and gradually spread throughout the spatially segregated dune slacks, aided…
Clonal population structure of the chestnut blight fungus in expanding ranges in southeastern Europe.
2008
Expanding populations are often less genetically diverse at their margins than at the centre of a species' range. Established, older populations of the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, are more variable for vegetative compatibility (vc) types than in expanding populations in southeastern Europe where C. parasitica has colonized relatively recently. To test whether vc types represent clones, we genotyped 373 isolates of C. parasitica from southern Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey using 11 sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers. Ten SCAR loci and six vegetative incompatibility (vic) loci were polymorphic in these samples. These population…
Founder mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes
2007
BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline mutations contribute to a significant number of familial and hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancers. The proportion of high-risk families with breast and/or ovarian cancer cases due to mutations in these tumor suppressor genes varies widely among populations. In some population, a wide spectrum of different mutations in both genes are present, whereas in other groups specific mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 have been reported with high frequency. Most of these mutations are prevalent in restricted populations as consequence of a founder effect. The comparison of haplotypes between families with the same mutation can distinguish whether high-frequency alleles derive f…
Modern taurine cattle descended from small number of near-eastern founders.
2012
Archaeozoological and genetic data indicate that taurine cattle were first domesticated from local wild ox (aurochs) in the Near East some 10,500 years ago. However, while modern mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation indicates early Holocene founding event(s), a lack of ancient DNA data from the region of origin, variation in mutation rate estimates, and limited application of appropriate inference methodologies have resulted in uncertainty on the number of animals first domesticated. A large number would be expected if cattle domestication was a technologically straightforward and unexacting region-wide phenomenon, while a smaller number would be consistent with a more complex and challengin…
Analysis ofBRCA1andBRCA2genes in Spanish breast/ovarian cancer patients: A high proportion of mutations unique to Spain and evidence of founder effec…
2003
We screened index cases from 410 Spanish breast/ovarian cancer families and 214 patients (19 of them males) with breast cancer for germ-line mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, using SSCP, PTT, CSGE, DGGE, and direct sequencing. We identified 60 mutations in BRCA1 and 53 in BRCA2. Of the 53 distinct mutations observed, 11 are novel and 12 have been reported only in Spanish families (41.5%). The prevalence of mutations in this set of families was 26.3%, but the percentage was higher in the families with breast and ovarian cancer (52.1%). The lowest proportion of mutations was found in the site-specific female breast cancer families (15.4%). Of the families with male breast cancer cases, …
Genetics of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in the Spanish Gypsy population: the hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy-Russe in depth
2012
Four private mutations responsible for three forms demyelinating of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) or hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (HMSN) have been associated with the Gypsy population: the NDRG1 p.R148X in CMT type 4D (CMT4D/HMSN-Lom); p.C737_P738delinsX and p.R1109X mutations in the SH3TC2 gene (CMT4C); and a G>C change in a novel alternative untranslated exon in the HK1 gene causative of CMT4G (CMT4G/HMSN-Russe). Here we address the findings of a genetic study of 29 Gypsy Spanish families with autosomal recessive demyelinating CMT. The most frequent form is CMT4C (57.14%), followed by HMSN-Russe (25%) and HMSN-Lom (17.86%). The relevant frequency of HMSN-Russe has allowed us to inv…
Molecular variation in the Odh gene in Chilean natural populations of Drosophila subobscura
2008
A 793-nucleotide fragment from the D. subobscura Odh gene was sequenced in 46 lethal chromosomal lines from two South American colonizing populations (18 from Santiago de Chile and 28 from Puerto Montt). Only eight different haplotypes were found and, with just one exception, all had previously been detected in North American samples. The exception probably corresponds to a genetic exchange between two American haplotypes. Our results confirm the loss in genetic variability due to the recent founder event, and the high resemblance between the two colonized hemispheres. One haplotype is entirely associated with the O5 inversion, the same association found in North America. Two different hapl…