News

Dear Colleagues,

Do you know what savings groups are, how they are structured, how they perform and where they flourish? In fact, saving groups are one of the World’s largest banking systems. Here at CERSEM, we find savings groups fascinating and have therefore initiated a large new project where we will research what drives the performance of these groups. The project is sponsored by FAHU foundation and we have gotten access to the SAVIX database covering 250 thousand groups worldwide. Our first output is a descriptive report on the content in the SAVIX database. Read the report and learn about savings groups.

Check it out at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333238735_Global_Indicators_of_Savings_Groups

Best wishes

Professor Roy Mersland

Director Center for Research on Social Enterprises and Microfinance – https://cersem.uia.no/news/

UiA School of Business and Law

University of Agder, Norway

Tel: +47 924 34 333

https://www.uia.no/en/kk/profile/roym

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roy_Mersland

Dear Colleagues,

Europe’s largest microfinance newsletter – The Microfinance Platform – has a long article reviewing our paper on Mission Statements in Microfinance. You can read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gHnBEiN
The full article can be requested here: https://lnkd.in/gRcK8n2

Best wishes,
Professor Roy Mersland

Director Center for Research on Social Enterprises and Microfinance – https://cersem.uia.no/news/

UiA School of Business and Law

University of Agder

https://www.uia.no/en/kk/profile/roym

Dear colleagues

In our most recent paper accepted for publication in Journal of World Business we study whether knowledge of a world language like English, Spanish and French have an influence on the performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). And indeed it has. After controlling for country effects etc. we find that MFIs operating in English/Spanish/French-speaking countries have higher performance than MFIs operating in other markets. Moreover, we find that language also has an effect on partnerships between MFIs and international partners in Europe and North America. A closer language relationship between the international partner and the MFI has a positive effect on the MFI’s performance. We think our study is of relevance also outside the microfinance context. You can download and read the full study here: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1Ypmi3u3RtdUg6    

Other CERSEM articles can be downloaded here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roy_Mersland/publications

Best wishes

Professor Roy Mersland

Director Center for Research on Social Enterprises and Microfinance – https://cersem.uia.no/news/

UiA School of Business and Law

University of Agder, Norway

Tel: +47 924 34 333

https://www.uia.no/en/kk/profile/roym

Dear Colleagues

Happy to announce our latest research which I think is novel. We are the first to study “mission statements” of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and assess whether MFIs “walk the talk”. To our surprise only one fifth of MFIs mention in their mission statements that they focus on women. However, the results show a significant coherence between what MFIs say in their mission statements and what they do in practice, suggesting that “missions drift” is no serious concern in the microfinance industry. You can download and read the full paper here: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673418301574?dgcid=author

Best wishes,

Roy Mersland

Professor

School of Business and Law

University of Agder, Norway

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roy_Mersland

At CERSEM we are very proud these days. On Thursday 13th of December two of our PhD students successfully defended their theses. We are also very thankful to FAHU foundation for funding their studies. Stephen Zamore and Kwame Djan, both from Ghana, have been brilliant students finishing their theses in only three years. Stephen has now been hired by us in a postdoc position. Kwame is in the job market so let us know if you are hiring. Both Stephen and Kwame have already published several interesting studies like this one by Stephen on whether it is beneficial for MFIs to integrate nonfinancial in their business models https://lnkd.in/dcD7bG8 and this one by Kwame on whether Christian MFIs are governed differently than secular MFIs https://lnkd.in/g4vZFBB.   Let us also take the opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas. Stay posted in 2019 for more news from the Center for Research on Social Enterprises and Microfinance. Best wishes, Professor Roy Mersland Director CERSEM Director PhD program School of Business and Law University of Agder, Norway https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roy_Mersland

In the second paper, published in Strategic Change we observe that the capital structure of the MFIs varies a lot. Some have easy access to international funding while others struggle in getting into international investors’ pockets. At the same time, some MFIs are strong in mobilizing local deposits while others are weak. In this paper, we look at the experience of the CEO and how this influence the capital structure of the MFI. Check it out: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327229255_Capital_structure_and_CEO_tenure_in_microfinance_institutions

The first, published in International Business Review, is about the geographical and cultural distance between MFIs and their international partners. We observe that MFIs have lots of international partners. In this paper, we study whether it matters from where the international partners come from.

Are some partnerships more effective than other partnerships?

Check it out:  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327624142_The_Performance_Impact_of_Informal_and_Formal_Institutional_Differences_in_Cross-Border_Alliances_The_Case_of_the_Microfinance_Industry

Dear research colleague
I kindly remind about the following call for papers for our Oslo research workshop:

• Organizers: Oslo Business School at Oslo Metropolitan University and CERSEM at the University of Agder, Norway
• Topic “The Business and Finance of Microfinance”.
• Place and time: Oslo, Norway, 27-28 September 2018
• We aim at creating a special issue in a well-known finance journal for publication of the best papers from the workshop.
• Only 20 papers will be accepted for presentation. The main selection criteria is the scientific quality of the paper. Unpolished working papers are fine as long as they have potential to become a top publication.
• All papers must be of interest to the microfinance community as well as for a wider community of finance and banking scholars.
• Scientific committee: Niels Hermes (University of Groningen, Netherlands), Roy Mersland (Director CERSEM, University of Agder, Norway) and R. Øystein Strøm (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway).
• Send your paper to  oystein.strom@hioa.no
• Submission deadline: June 15, 2018.

CERSEM scholars already publish in finance journals. For example, check out:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260250774_Female_leadership_performance_and_governance_in_microfinance_institutions

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257211782_Scale_economies_and_input_price_elasticities_in_microfinance_institutions

CERSEM is pleased to announce a new research project on Savings Groups: Identifying Micro and Macro-Economic Determinants of Success of Savings Groups: A Global Analysis Using the ‘Savings Groups Information Exchange’. With funding from FAHU Foundation and in cooperation with the microfinance group VSL Associates, this initiative aims to advance the empirical knowledge on savings groups worldwide through the analysis of the Savings Groups Information Exchange (SAVIX) database, which contains information on nearly 200000 savings groups in 50 countries around the world.

Linda Nakato                                                                          Rolando Gonzales

Two astounding PhD students, Linda Nakato and Rolando Gonzales, are currently working on this project under the supervision of PhD Prof. Roy Mersland (University of Agder) and PhD Prof. Bert D’Espallier (KU Leuven).

Dear research colleague

Please share widely the full call for papers found here:  Oslo workshop

Summary of the call:

• Organizers: Oslo Business School at Oslo Metropolitan University and CERSEM at the University of Agder, Norway
• Topic “The Business and Finance of Microfinance”.
• Place and time: Oslo, Norway, 27-28 September 2018
• We aim at creating a special issue in a well-known finance journal for publication of the best papers from the workshop.
• Only 20 papers will be accepted for presentation. The main selection criteria is the scientific quality of the paper. Unpolished working papers are fine as long as they have potential to become a top publication.
• All papers must be of interest for the microfinance community as well as for a wider community of finance and banking scholars.
• Scientific committee: Niels Hermes (University of Groningen, Netherlands), Roy Mersland (Director CERSEM, University of Agder, Norway) and R. Øystein Strøm (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway).
• Send your paper to oystein.strom@hioa.no
• Submission deadline: June 15, 2018.

CERSEM scholars already publish in finance journals. For example, check out:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260250774_Female_leadership_performance_and_governance_in_microfinance_institutions

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257211782_Scale_economies_and_input_price_elasticities_in_microfinance_institutions

Best wishes,

Professor Roy Mersland

Director CERSEM

Director PhD program

School of Business and Law

University of Agder, Norway

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roy_Mersland