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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Vol. 02 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance
Vol. 02 No. 2 Journal Of Microfinance, Journal Of Microfinance
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Replication: Regressive Reproduction Or Progressive Evolution?, Graham Wright
Replication: Regressive Reproduction Or Progressive Evolution?, Graham Wright
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Increasing numbers of organizations are "replicating" the programs of successful microfinance institutions (MFIs). This approach allows rapid start-up using tested models and systems. These strengths are also weaknesses, though, since the models being replicated usually require substantial modifications to make them appropriate for local conditions. Furthermore, close adherence to "blueprints" is likely to substitute for careful research into the needs and opportunities for the provision of financial services to the poor--and thus the design of appropriate systems. Replication also risks the suppression of innovative ways of providing still better financial services--particularly when promoted by powerful apex funding organizations, as is …
Credit Scoring For Microfinance: Can It Work?, Mark Schreiner
Credit Scoring For Microfinance: Can It Work?, Mark Schreiner
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
In rich countries, lenders often rely on credit scoring--formulae to predict risk based on the performance of past loans with characteristics similar to current loans--to inform decisions. Can credit scoring do the same for microfinance lenders in poor countries? This paper argues that scoring does have a place in microfinance. Although scoring is less powerful in poor countries than in rich countries, and although scoring will not replace the personal knowledge of character of loan officers or of loan groups, scoring can improve estimates of risk. Thus, scoring complements--but does not replace--current microfinance technologies. Furthermore, the derivation of the scoring …
Book Review- Microfinance And Poverty: Questioning The Conventional Wisdom By Hege Gulli, Lisa M. Jones
Book Review- Microfinance And Poverty: Questioning The Conventional Wisdom By Hege Gulli, Lisa M. Jones
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Front Matter, Journal Of Microfinance
Front Matter, Journal Of Microfinance
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
No abstract provided.
Banking On Customer Loyalty, Craig Churchill
Banking On Customer Loyalty, Craig Churchill
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Enhancing customer loyalty is a microfinance institution's most important business strategy. Every critical element involved in managing microfinance operations--from product pricing to staff incentives, from marketing to eligibility requirements, from client screening to the menu of available services--can (and should) be formulated to promote loyalty. While most MFIs recognize the importance of client retention, few have designed business strategies to maximize customer loyalty. Hopefully that will change. This article details the economic impact that customer loyalty has on a microfinance institution (and the negative effect of desertion).
Impact Assessment Of Microfinance And Organizational Learning: Who Will Survive?, James G. Copestake
Impact Assessment Of Microfinance And Organizational Learning: Who Will Survive?, James G. Copestake
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
To what extent is it possible for organizations to reflect honestly on their own performance, draw appropriate conclusions, and then act on them? For many microfinance organizations this is now a question of survival. This paper argues that formal impact assessment can assist in the transition from donor-controlled replication projects to autonomous and adaptable organizations--but it often fails to do so. Pitfalls include inadequate attention to methodological detail and to the links between impact assessment and wider aspects of organizational change. The paper starts by highlighting the complexity of the overall task to which impact assessment is expected to contribute. …
Microfinance In The United States: The Working Capital Experience— Ten Years Of Lending And Learning, Jeffrey Ashe
Microfinance In The United States: The Working Capital Experience— Ten Years Of Lending And Learning, Jeffrey Ashe
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Working Capital is the United States' largest peer-group lending program. This article reviews what Working Capital has learned about the market, its customers, program impact, and service delivery over its ten year history. It presents a model for understanding how participating in peer lending groups develops “social and economic capital” in poor communities. The article then discusses how participants judge the group model as they identify the characteristics of successful groups and the impact of the group on their businesses, on themselves personally, and on the larger community. The rest of the article discusses how Working Capital evolved from a …
Capital Enhancement Guarantees And Risk Management By Capital-Constrained Lenders, J.D. Von-Pischke
Capital Enhancement Guarantees And Risk Management By Capital-Constrained Lenders, J.D. Von-Pischke
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Commercial lenders require capital to bear risk. The capital enhancement guarantee (CEG) encourages lenders to make loans they would not otherwise make, such as microenterprise loans. The CEG is auctioned and awarded to bidders who promise the greatest amount of new lending for a given increment of permanent capital. Whether the incremental lending causes losses or gains for the lender, the incremental capital is free. The CEG subsidizes innovation in risk management. It places the analytical focus on risk and its cost, supports the key party to the lending decision, promotes skill in managing risk, is transparent, minimizes moral hazard, …
Moving Microenterprises Beyond A Subsistence Plateau, Beth C. Haynes, Kristie K. Seawright, William C. Giauque
Moving Microenterprises Beyond A Subsistence Plateau, Beth C. Haynes, Kristie K. Seawright, William C. Giauque
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
Enthusiasm for microcredit programs has increased during the past decade. The attention these programs have drawn stems philosophically from progress in cultivating self-sufficiency among those in abject poverty, and practically from the viability and high loan repayment rates of many microfinance institutions. The programs assume that lack of capital is the main barrier to the economic progress of the poor. The lack of entrepreneur business management experience and training, however, may create a barrier equally powerful and limit the growth potential of microenterprises. Microcredit programs could foster even greater economic progress by ensuring that clients receive appropriate human capital development. …
In Search Of "Sound Practices" For Microfinance, Christopher Dunford
In Search Of "Sound Practices" For Microfinance, Christopher Dunford
Journal of Microfinance / ESR Review
The notion of "best practices" for all microfinance is challenged in favor of "sound practices" that are appropriate for particular organizational strategies and situations. A simple conceptual framework is offered to facilitate understanding of the current diversity of experiments with product-market pairs (e.g., group-based lending to poor women struggling to earn enough for family survival). Since the microfinance movement is still in a mode of intensive learning, we should not presume too soon what will be "best" for all product-market pairs. We can expect to discover a somewhat different set of sound practices for each distinct product-market pair.
Agro-Socio-Economic Evaluation Of Three Rural Communities In The Colta Canton Of The Chimborazo Province, Ivan Asaquibay Paucar
Agro-Socio-Economic Evaluation Of Three Rural Communities In The Colta Canton Of The Chimborazo Province, Ivan Asaquibay Paucar
Theses and Dissertations
The faculty of natural resources, School of Agricultural Engineering of ESPOCH, with an agreement since 1992 with the Benson Institute of Brigham Young University has been working with the development of small scale production before its diffusion it is necessary to know the real social- economic conditions and the technological levels of the most important harvests of the communities, that when this model is involved in the aspects that affect the production. For this reason this investigation was made necessary in which the following objectives were raised: 1. Evaluate the social-economic conditions of the communities of San Lorenzo of Cahuiña, …