IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurase/v4y2014i2p177-198.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of scale of operation on financial performance in microfinance

Author

Listed:
  • Trong Ngo
  • Andrew Mullineux
  • Anh Ly

Abstract

Due to the limitations of the extant literature on the impact of scale of operation on microfinance performance, this paper has been written in an effort to fill this major gap by conducting an empirical investigation into the link between scale of operation, sustainability and efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs). It introduces new evidence and possible explanations from an explicit perspective that might be relevant in the context of profit status, regulated status and legal status. First, large MFIs can achieve higher efficiency, profitability, sustainability and outreach (breadth and depth). Second, there is no trade-off between the breadth of outreach and efficiency. Third, larger loan sizes are associated with higher loan costs. Therefore, MFIs need to choose the optimal scale to achieve the greatest efficiency and profitability from economies of scale. Copyright Eurasia Business and Economics Society 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Trong Ngo & Andrew Mullineux & Anh Ly, 2014. "The impact of scale of operation on financial performance in microfinance," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 4(2), pages 177-198, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:4:y:2014:i:2:p:177-198
    DOI: 10.1007/s40822-014-0011-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s40822-014-0011-4
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40822-014-0011-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1994. "The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 299-322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2008. "Finance, Firm Size, and Growth," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(7), pages 1379-1405, October.
    3. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    4. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
    5. Nicolas Krauss & Ingo Walter, 2009. "Can Microfinance Reduce Portfolio Volatility?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(1), pages 85-110, October.
    6. Krishna B. Kumar & Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, "undated". "What Determines Firm Size?," CRSP working papers 496, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    7. Berger, Allen N. & Humphrey, David B., 1997. "Efficiency of financial institutions: International survey and directions for future research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 175-212, April.
    8. Morduch, Jonathan, 2000. "The Microfinance Schism," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 617-629, April.
    9. Hart, Oliver, 1995. "Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288817.
    10. Mr. Ayhan Kose & Mr. Kenneth Rogoff & Mr. Eswar S Prasad & Shang-Jin Wei, 2003. "Effects of Financial Globalization on Developing Countries: Some Empirical Evidence," IMF Occasional Papers 2003/007, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Robert Cull & Asli Demirguç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2007. "Financial performance and outreach: a global analysis of leading microbanks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 107-133, February.
    12. Hermes, Niels & Lensink, Robert & Meesters, Aljar, 2011. "Outreach and Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 938-948, June.
    13. Sudhir Jain & K. Tripathy, 2011. "Micro-Finance and Rural Enterprises: An Analysis of Operational Performance and Constraints in the SHG-Bank Linkage Program in India," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 1(1), pages 29-50, June.
    14. Oliver E. Williamson, 1967. "Hierarchical Control and Optimum Firm Size," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(2), pages 123-123.
    15. repec:phd:dpaper:dp_2009-24_(revised is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Nurullah Gur, 2012. "Financial Constraints, Quality of Institutions and Firm Size: What Do Perceptions Tell Us?," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 2(2), pages 17-36, December.
    17. Titman, Sheridan & Wessels, Roberto, 1988. " The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(1), pages 1-19, March.
    18. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    19. Riordan, Michael H. & Williamson, Oliver E., 1985. "Asset specificity and economic organization," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 365-378, December.
    20. Sherwin Rosen, 1982. "Authority, Control, and the Distribution of Earnings," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 311-323, Autumn.
    21. George J. Benston, 1965. "Branch Banking And Economies Of Scale," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 20(2), pages 312-331, May.
    22. Pierre Mohnen & Bronwyn Hall, 2013. "Innovation and Productivity: An Update," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 3(1), pages 47-65, June.
    23. Fiona Tregenna, 2009. "The fat years: the structure and profitability of the US banking sector in the pre-crisis period," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(4), pages 609-632, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mira Nurmakhanova & Gavin Kretzschmar & Hassouna Fedhila, 2015. "Trade-off between financial sustainability and outreach of microfinance institutions," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 5(2), pages 231-250, December.
    2. Tanweer Hasan & Shakil Quayes & Baqui Khalily, 2019. "Role of governance on performance of microfinance institutions in Bangladesh," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(1), pages 91-106, March.
    3. Sachiko Kazekami, 2017. "Do service sectors need core sectors to improve their productivity?," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 7(3), pages 389-410, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohamed Mekki Ben Jemaa & Sahar Obey, 2018. "On the Trade-off Between Size, Sustainability and Social Outcome of the Microfinance Institutions: A Two Stages Bootstrapped DEA Approach," Working Papers 1246, Economic Research Forum, revised 28 Oct 2018.
    2. Krishna B. Kumar & Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, "undated". "What Determines Firm Size?," CRSP working papers 496, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    3. Staffan Canback, 2004. "Diseconomies of scale in large corporations: Theory and empirical analysis," Industrial Organization 0402001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Staffan Canback, 1998. "Managerial diseconomies of scale: Literature survey and hypotheses anchored in transaction cost economics," Industrial Organization 9810001, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Oct 2002.
    5. Serrano-Cinca, Carlos & Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña, 2014. "Microfinance, the long tail and mission drift," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 181-194.
    6. Alfaro, Laura & Charlton, Andrew, 2006. "International financial integration and entrepreneurship," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19796, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Piot-Lepetit, Isabelle & Nzongang, Joseph, 2014. "Financial sustainability and poverty outreach within a network of village banks in Cameroon: A multi-DEA approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(1), pages 319-330.
    8. Carlos Serrano-Cinca & Begoña Gutiérrez-Nieto & Beatriz Cuéllar Fernández & Yolanda Fuertes-Callén, 2013. "Poverty penalty and microfinance," Working Papers CEB 13-029, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Wheeler, Christopher H., 2008. "Worker turnover, industry localization, and producer size," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 322-334, May.
    10. Macchiavello, Rocco, 2006. "Contractual Institutions, Financial Development and Vertical Integration: Theory and Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 5903, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Simon Cornée & Gervais Thenet, 2016. "Efficience des institutions de microfinance en Bolivie et au Pérou:une approche data envelopment analysis en deux étapes," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 19(1), pages 65-91, March.
    12. Laura Alfaro & Andrew Charlton, 2007. "International Financial Integration and Entrepreneurial Firm Activity," NBER Working Papers 13118, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Yimga, Jules, 2018. "Microfinance expansion and its effects on cost efficiency," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 205-216.
    14. Ayi Gavriel Ayayi & Mahinda Wijesiri, 2018. "Better with age? The relationship between longevity and efficiency dynamics of nonprofit microfinance institutions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 2331-2343, September.
    15. Gibbons, Robert, 2005. "Four forma(lizable) theories of the firm?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 200-245, October.
    16. D’Espallier, Bert & Goedecke, Jann & Hudon, Marek & Mersland, Roy, 2017. "From NGOs to Banks: Does Institutional Transformation Alter the Business Model of Microfinance Institutions?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 19-33.
    17. Md Aslam Mia & V. G. R. Chandran, 2016. "Measuring Financial and Social Outreach Productivity of Microfinance Institutions in Bangladesh," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 505-527, June.
    18. Anderson, Ronald W. & Nyborg, Kjell G., 2011. "Financing and corporate growth under repeated moral hazard," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-24, January.
    19. Lora, Eduardo & Cortés, Patricia & Herrera, Ana María, 2001. "Los obstáculos al desarrollo empresarial y el tamaño de las firmas en América Latina," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 2144, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. Ferguson, Shon & Formai, Sara, 2013. "Institution-driven comparative advantage and organizational choice," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 193-200.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Microfinance; Microfinance institutions; Scale of operation; Financial performance; Sustainability and efficiency; D92; G21; G32;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eurase:v:4:y:2014:i:2:p:177-198. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.