The Influence of Organizational Culture and Market Orientation on Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Kenya | Chapter 09 | Current Perspective to Economics and Management Vol. 4

Firms operating in highly competitive industries strive to bolster their performance by building sustainable competitive advantage. Organizational culture and market orientation are considered sources of competitive advantage. Organizational culture creates competitive advantage only when it is strong, encourages creativity and adaptation to changing conditions in the market. Organizational culture creates behaviors such as market orientation that ultimately leads to superior performance of the firm. Competition in the microfinance industry is intense as microfinance institutions compete with each other, commercial banks, savings and cooperative societies and informal money lenders. In such competitive markets, understanding the drivers of firm performance is necessary. Therefore, our study was designed to assess the influence of organizational culture and market orientation on performance of microfinance institutions in Kenya. The population of the study comprised microfinance institutions that were members of the Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI) in Kenya. We used descriptive cross-sectional survey design. We collected primary data using structured questionnaire. Our hypotheses were tested through linear regression analysis. Our results demonstrate that organizational culture significantly and positively influence performance of microfinance institutions. The partial mediation effect of market orientation on the relationship between organizational culture and performance was confirmed. The complimentary effect of organizational culture on market orientation implies that organizations need to spend more resources in nurturing market orientation to create sustainable competitive advantage through delivery of superior customer experience. We conclude that the influence of organizational culture and market orientation on performance is more plausible for mature industries regarded as diverse in terms of customer needs.

Author(s) Details

Owino O. Joseph [Ph.D]
Department of Business Administration, University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Prof. Kibera Francis [Ph.D, OGW, CBS]
Department of Business Administration, University of Nairobi, Kenya.

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Data Analysis Using Venn Diagrams | Chapter 08 | Current Perspective to Economics and Management Vol. 4

Data analysis is the process of evaluating data using analytical and statistical tools to discover useful information and aid in business decision making. There are several data analysis methods. However, one area that has been left out in the analysis of data is the analysis involving intersections and overlapping relationships between two or more sets of items. The intersection of two or more sets of data is a new set that contains all of the elements that are in both sets. This chapter introduces the use of Venn diagrams in the analysis of data sets involving intersections and overlap. This method will be of benefit analysis of data sets that involve mixed financing strategies in finance and economics by showing all possible logical allocation and intersection of strategies in the “Mixed Financing Strategies.”

Author(s) Details

Raude John O. Messo
Department of Business Management, School of Business and Economics, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya.

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Building a Comparative CFA and ADB & Hermes’s Corporate Governance Standards after Financial Crisis, Corporate Scandals and Manipulation – Implications for Developing Countries | Chapter 07 | Current Perspective to Economics and Management Vol. 4

Corporate governance is rising as a subject for debates and an MBA course at many business schools all over the world. Whereas it is developed as one of key functions at headquarters at medium and big companies. Esp., it can be combined with ISO and quality management system toward a better leadership and management roles in various industries. After our previous paper of “A set of limited Asian Pacific comparative corporate governance standards”, this one concentrates on several comparative international standards, so-called a limited comparative set of standards on corporate governance.

First, it looks at some groups of findings on corporate governance subjects in the post-crisis period. It found out that companies in these periods need to oversight their legal or compliance activities, besides suitable policies.

Second, it identified different points in latest corporate governance standard principles and systems in groups: CFA Corporate Governance Standards and ADB & Hermes’s Corporate Governance Codes. Third, this paper provide with a summary of evaluation of current corporate governance systems in these above countries which may enable relevant organizations in re-evaluating their current ones.

Last but not least, it aims to illustrate a limited comparative set of standards of International corporate governance, so-called backbone and give proper recommendations to relevant governments and institutions.

Author(s) Details

Dinh Tran Ngoc Huy
Banking University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and Graduate School of International Management, International University of Japan, Niigata, Japan.

Bui Thi Thu Loan
Hanoi University of Industry, Ha Noi, Vietnam.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Hong
University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Nguyen Dac Anh Chuong, MBA
Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

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Internal Governance Mechanisms: Evidence from Islamic Banks | Chapter 06 | Current Perspective to Economics and Management Vol. 4

The impact of institutional corporate governance on the financial performance of Islamic banks, with a specific focus on Shari’ah Supervisory Boards and corporate boards. The findings of this study indicate that Islamic banks with Shari’ah Supervisory Boards outperform Islamic banks without such boards, as measured by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), asset growth (AG), and interest margins (IM). Further findings of this study indicate that the financial performances of Islamic banks with Shari’ah Supervisory Boards and corporate boards are influenced by several board characteristics, including the size of the board and the education of the board members. Moreover, Shari’ah Supervisory Boards provide tighter monitoring and control, as well as more advising and counseling, as compared with Islamic banks without Shari’ah Supervisory Boards. Later findings indicate that Shari’ah Supervisory Boards’ affiliations with international Islamic financial institutions motivate the positive relationship between the Shari’ah Supervisory Boards and Islamic bank performance. Overall, this study provides strong evidence that Shari’ah Supervisory Boards benefit shareholders by complementing corporate boards and thus mitigating agency problems and agency costs.

Author(s) Details

Majdi Anwar Quttainah
College of Business Administration, University of Kuwait, P.O.Box 5969, Safat – 13060, Kuwait.

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