Gå til hovedinnhold
0
Hopp til hovedinnhold

Eierstyring og selskapsledelse i mikrofinans-selskaper

Muluneh Hideto Dato disputerer for ph.d.-graden med avhandlingen «Essays on corporate governance in microfinance” torsdag 8. februar 2018. (Foto: Privat)

Overall, the thesis adds to the growing body of empirical literature on corporate governance and highlight the characteristics of effective internal and external governance mechanisms. By addressing this link, we also address an issue that concerns the ability of microfinance to contribute to social progress.

Muluneh Hideto Dato

Cotutelle ph.d.-kandidat

I avhandlingen «Essays on corporate governance in microfinance” forsker Muluneh Hideto Dato på prinsipper for eierstyring og selskapsledelse i mellomstore mikrofinans-institusjoner i utviklingsland.

Debatten og forskningen på prinsipper for eierstyring og selskapsledelse har hittil vært fokusert på større og mellomstore bedrifter i industri-land. Det har vært mindre oppmerksomhet om selskaper i utviklingsland, og særlig på mindre bedrifter.

Blant funnene i avhandlingen er at flere medlemmer i styrene gir positiv effekt. Når i tillegg flere kvinner er med i ledelsen og styremøtene holdes ofte, blir effekten at flere fattige låntakere blir nådd – og det økonomiske resultatet blir bedre.

Muluneh Hideto Dato (se også på LinkedIn.de) disputerer for ph.d.-graden med avhandlingen «Essays on corporate governance in microfinance” torsdag 8. februar 2018.

Muluneh Hideto Dato er en Cotutelle PhD research fellow, og har fulgt doktorgradsprogrammet ved Handelshøyskolen ved UiA, samtidig som han har fulgt doktorgradsprogram ved Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Doktorgraden er finansiert av Marie-Christine Adam Foundation ved ULB, Sørlandets kompetansefond  og Handelshøyskolen ved UiA.

Slik beskriver kandidaten selv essensen i avhandlingen:

Corporate governance in microfinance institutions

Corporate governance has been a mainstream concern and a staple of discussion in academic and policy circles. Over the past two decades, a large body of research has documented both the importance and the impacts of corporate governance.

Most research devoted to large firms

However, considerable governance research has been devoted to large, publicly listed firms and mostly conducted from the perspective of agency theory. Research has also been uneven and rarely focus on emerging markets, and much work still refers to circumstances in developed countries.

This PhD thesis, in contrast, explores the design and role of governance in modest-sized microfinance institutions, MFIs, in emerging markets. In these institutions, we argue that the impact of individual actions is more salient.

Thesis contributes to current debate

Until recently corporate governance did not seem to be a topic of relevance to the microfinance due to its origin as a social industry. Much of the governance literature in microfinance has been prescriptive that aimed to address the perceived shortcomings of governing bodies. However, this approach has been criticized for underestimating the conflicting demands and pressures that governing bodies face and presenting “idealistic” solutions that are consequently difficult to implement in practice.

The way microfinance should be governed and what theoretical and empirical frameworks can be used are currently under debate.

We believe that this thesis contributes to this debate. We frame the concern for corporate governance as a question of board structure, ownership and other governance mechanisms and investigate their moderating effects on MFI’s performance.

Three papers

The thesis includes three papers.

The first one, a case study on the impact of boards in Ethiopia. It analyzes the performance benefits of hierarchal boards in cases where board members form subcommittees. It shows that board committees help mitigate the magnitude of the agency problems in a firm associated with poor attendance of directors.

The second paper compares the governance of non-profit and for-profit enterprises. In this paper we demonstrate that nonprofit enterprises with bigger board size, more female directors, and that make frequent board meetings, exhibit relatively better financial performance and reach more poorer clients.

The third paper addresses the association between corporate governance and social performance using microfinance social rating scores––a unique innovation of the microfinance industry––as a summary social performance metric. Our findings confirm that MFIs with higher social performance ratings associate significantly with larger board size, international directors, and internal auditors reporting to the board.

Thesis highlights effective governance mechanisms

Overall, the thesis adds to the growing body of empirical literature on corporate governance and highlight the characteristics of effective internal and external governance mechanisms. By addressing this link, we also address an issue that concerns the ability of microfinance to contribute to social progress.

Finally, this thesis leaves much room for further analysis of the topic of governance, for alternative methods including interviews, surveys and exhaustive case studies with even better internal and external validity.

Disputasfakta:

Kandidaten: Muluneh Hideto Dato (se også på LinkedIn.de)  (1983), Bale Robe in Ethiopia tok bachelorgrad ved Mekelle University og mastergrad ved Addis Ababa University og Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Han er Cotutelle PhD research fellow ved Université libre de Bruxelles og UiA.

Prøveforelesning og disputas finner sted i Auditorium Sørlandet, Kunnskapsparken, Gimlemoen 19, torsdag 8. februar 2018

Disputasen blir ledet av instituttleder Bjørn-Tore Flåten, Institutt for strategi og ledelse, UiA

Prøveforelesning kl 11:15 – 12:00

Disputas kl 12:00

Oppgitt emne for prøveforelesning: “Corporate governance models in African microfinance perspective”.

Tittel på avhandling: «Essays on corporate governance in microfinance”.

Søk etter avhandlingen i AURA - Agder University Research Archive, som er et digitalt arkiv for vitenskapelige artikler, avhandlinger og masteroppgaver fra ansatte og studenter ved Universitetet i Agder. AURA blir jevnlig oppdatert. Avhandlingen vil være tilgjengelig til utlån ved Universitetsbiblioteket. Det vil bli også lagt ut noen eksemplarer av avhandlingen til utlån i lokalet hvor disputasen finner sted.

Opponenter:

Førsteopponent: Professor Arvind Ashta, Accounting, Finance and Law Department, Burgundy School of Business, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France

Annenopponent: Associate professor Annette Krauss, Department of Banking and Finance, University of Zürich, Switzerland

Bedømmelseskomitéen er ledet av professor Lars Christer Oxelheim, UiA

Veiledere i doktorgradsarbeidet var professor Marek Hudon, Université libre de Bruxelles og professor Roy Mersland, CERSEM, UiA