In the first part of the thesis I focus on credit markets in developing countries, and describe the competitive interaction between Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). Microfinance has recently attracted a lot of attention from investors, politicians, scholars and, most of all, people working on development. As a results, a huge number of MFIs are being created all over the world so that, as of today, practitioners reckon that about 100 millions of customers are being served. Remarkably, about 67% of them are women. The reason of this extraordinary effort is that Microfinance is considered the most promising development tool currently available. This belief is based on two important features of Microfinance: (i) It promises to be financially viable (and in some cases even profitable) since poor people have proven to be reliable clients. As a result, Microfinance is potentially a zero-cost development tool. (ii) It hinges on the entrepreneurial abilities of the poor. It is designed to help the poor to help themselves, in their own home countries, by allowing them to use their skills, ideas and potentials. This should progressively make developing countries independent of rich ones' help. The growth of Microfinance has been so fast that many issues and related research questions are still not answered. In my thesis I try to address one of them, that I believe particularly important: the increase of competition between MFIs. As economic theory predicts, competition can have dramatic consequences in terms of borrower welfare, profitability of the institutions and, therefore, on the attractiveness of the business for potential investors, donors and entrants. I use the tools of industrial organization and contract theory to understand these effects, measure them, and give some interesting policy advice. In the first paper, I analyze the effects of entry of a new MFI in a previously monopolistic microcredit market. In order to catch the salient features of financial markets in developing countries, I use a model of asymmetric information and assume that institutions can offer only one type of contract. I consider different behavioral assumptions for the MFIs and study their influence on equilibrium predictions. The model allows showing that competition can lead to equilibria in which MFIs differentiate their contracts in order to screen borrowers. This process can, unfortunately, make the poor borrowers worse off. Interestingly, the screening process we describe creates a previously unexplored source of credit rationing. I also prove that the presence in the market of an altruistic MFI, reduces rationing and, via this channel, affects positively the competitor's profit. In the second paper, I study the effects of competition in those markets in which, due to the absence of credit bureaus, small entrepreneurs can simultaneously borrow from more than one institution. As in the first paper, I analyze an oligopolistic microcredit market characterized by asymmetric information and institutions that can offer only one type of contract. The main contribution is to show that appropriate contract design can eliminate the ex-ante incentives for multiple borrowing. Moreover, when the market is still largely unserved and particularly risky, a screening strategy leading to con- tract differentiation and credit rationing is unambiguously the most effective to avoid multiple borrowing. The result of this paper can also be read as important robustness checks of the findings of my first paper. In the last part of the thesis, I depart from the analysis of developing countries to consider, more generally, the corporate governance of financial infrastructures. The efficient functioning of financial markets relies more and more on the presence of infrastructures providing services like clearing, settlement, messaging and many others. The last years have been characterized by interesting dynamics in the ownership regime of these service providers. Both mutualizations and de-mutualizations took place, together with entry and exit of different players. Starting from this observation, in the last paper (with Joachim Keller), we analyze the effects of competitive interaction between differently owned financial providers. We mainly focus on the incentives to invest in safety enhancing measures and we describe the different equilibrium market configurations. We use a model in which agents need an input service for the financial market they operate in. They can decide whether to provide it them selves by forming a Cooperative or outsource it from a Third Party Provider. We prove that the co-existence of differently governed infrastructures leads to a significant reduction in the investment in safety. In most cases, monopolistic provision is preferable to competition. Moreover, the decision rule used within the Cooperative plays a central role in determining the optimal market configuration. All in all, throughout my thesis, I use the tools of industrial organization and contract theory to model the competitive interaction of the different actors operating in financial markets. Understanding the dynamics typical of developing countries can help in gaining a deeper comprehension of the markets in richer countries, and vice-versa. I am convinced that analyzing the differences and the similarities of financial markets in different regions of the world can be of great importance for economic theorists, in that it provides a counterfactual for the assumptions and the results on which our predictions and policy advices are based.

Microfinance and micro credits are concepts that are used frequently when talking about poverty reducing actions. This paper is a case study of the poverty alleviation impacts of microfinance institutions and it contrasts the effects of Grameen Bank and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) operating in Bangladesh. The case study examines the organisations effects in the 21st century since most of the reports have compared the effects in the past not reflecting on future conditions. The questions at issue are if Grameen Bank and BRAC can affect the poverty status of its members in a positive way and if there is a positive effect, which of the approaches are the best to use? To analyse the non monetary dimension, concepts such as health and education has been used as indicators for poverty reduction and the monetary indicator used is income through employment. Simultaneously economic models and concepts have been considered throughout the paper. The findings of this case study implied that both organisations have positive effects on reducing poverty among its members, but BRAC has the broadest view seeing to all factors investigated and therefore its approach is the best to use. Nevertheless, as previous studies have implied sustainability and cost-effectiveness within the microfinance programme is important for the long-run poverty reduction. Evaluating the economic performance of the two organisations Grameen Bank is more efficient in using its resources than BRAC, but Grameen Bank show a decreasing rate of efficiency while BRAC is improving significantly. With this in consideration BRAC is still showing the best poverty reducing result for its members today, but if the organisation does not find a way to improve its economical performance its actions will not be sustainable in the long run.

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000183 EndHTML:0000003190 StartFragment:0000002393 EndFragment:0000003154 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/benjaminhudgens/Desktop/Final%20Thesis.docx This thesis will use data from 2009 to examine two questions about the Microfinance industry. First, why do firms charge interest rates well beyond their cost of funds and second, are there important differences at the national level that can help us to understand the high interest rates in Microfinance? I find that interest rates are primarily a result of operating expenses, but profit-status has large effects in developed Microfinance markets. I also find that the Economist Intelligence Unit’s measures of regulatory environment and industrial development explain a large portion of the variation in interest rates across countries.

Over two billion people are currently living in poverty (less than $2 a day) around the world. 15 percent of this group is of indigenous backgrounds. Similar to the overall composition of the world, 10 percent of Latin America’s population is indigenous, yet one quarter is living on less than $2 a day. Approximately forty years ago the modern day microfinance movement began in Bangladesh and has since spread throughout the world. Microfinance strives to provide financial services to those who do not have access to the traditional financial sector. Making capital available helps alleviate poverty by providing the poor with credit and other financial services that can help generate income through smart investments. Bolivia and Peru currently have the most advanced microfinance sectors, which is in large part attributed to the financial reforms of the 1990s. However, regardless of the quality of the microfinance sectors in Bolivia and Peru, the indigenous people remain untouched by their services. Specifically, the Quechua and the Aymara, who live in the highlands of the Andes and around Lake Titicaca, are among the poorest people in both countries. The Quechua and the Aymara would greatly benefit from access to microfinance by utilizing their traditional cultures to make income-generating businesses.

Ce mémoire de recherche est une étude descriptive dont le but est d'évaluer comment l'accès au microcrédit permet aux femmes de Tchibanga bénéficiaires du Programme d'appui au développement du microcrédit au Gabon (PADMG) d'améliorer leurs conditions de vie. Notre démarche tente de répondre à la question suivante : comment se développe la microfinance au Gabon, et quel est son rôle dans la promotion de la condition des femmes, en particulier les bénéficiaires du PADMG? Dans cette optique, nous dressons un portrait de la microfinance au Gabon et présentons des éléments clés du contexte économique, social et politique. À partir d'une analyse du concept d'empowerment, ainsi que d'une recherche terrain qui a permis de recueillir des données qualitatives, notamment grâce aux entrevues menées dans la ville de Tchibanga, cette étude est parvenue à mieux cerner l'impact du projet sur les femmes. Certains éléments socio-économiques sont présentés dans le but de mieux comprendre le contexte local, particulièrement la dynamique entrepreneuriale des Gabonaises. Il est également mis en évidence, l'émergence et la structuration récentes du secteur de la microfinance. Les différentes mutations de la société gabonaise, introduisent des comportements nouveaux chez les populations et entraînent un essor de l'entrepreneuriat féminin. À partir d'une analyse des principaux établissements de microfinance (EMF) et de la situation des bénéficiaires du PADMG, ce travail fait ressortir deux principaux résultats. Les initiatives de microfinance menées au Gabon, ne permettent pas encore d'assurer la couverture du territoire en matière de services financiers décentralisés. Ensuite, les bénéficiaires de Tchibanga parviennent à entreprendre des activités rémunératrices, sur lesquelles plane un risque de saturation notamment à cause de l'étroitesse du marché, la concurrence et des difficultés d'écoulement vers d'autres centres urbains. Ainsi, les possibilités de rentabilité à long terme et de pérennité s'en trouvent compromises. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Microfinance, microcrédit, Gabon femmes, empowerment

L'Afrique depuis des décennies est le théâtre d'une multitude de projets d'aide extérieure. Un vaste programme de coopération internationale a été appliqué entre les institutions de ce continent et celles des États développés. Diverses organisations participent concrètement à l'amélioration des conditions de vie des populations africaines en fournissant des fonds pour des projets divers. Les effets de ces projets sont souvent analysés par les bailleurs de fonds eux-mêmes pour évaluer la pertinence des sommes octroyées. L'analyse de l'impact de ces projets pourrait toutefois être approfondie pour inclure les effets directs sur le citoyen. C'est dans cette optique que la présente recherche veut soulever l'effet communautaire d'une action de coopération internationale. Nous étudierons le partenariat entre une organisation non gouvernementale (ONG) canadienne et une ONG malienne qui a permis à des projets de microcrédit de prendre place dans une région rurale au Mali. Quatre villages se sont succédés annuellement depuis 2005 pour bénéficier de cette collaboration, laquelle a permis à des femmes d'amorcer des initiatives devenues économiquement rentables. L'impact de ces projets au niveau individuel pour les personnes bénéficiaires est évident, mais qu'en est-il de ses conséquences à long terme au niveau de la communauté entière, ce qui inclut les gens n'ayant pas participé directement aux projets. On ne peut ignorer l'échelle locale et la dimension temporelle dans l'analyse des impacts du microcrédit, étant donné que les projets concernent des communautés territorialement circonscrites et qu'ils mettent en place des réseaux multisectoriels à diverses échelles où ces communautés sont amenées à s'insérer. La perception qu'a la population de ce type de projet est ainsi pertinente à étudier afin de saisir son intégration dans le milieu. L'analyse de l'effet de ces projets sur la collectivité locale permettra d'évaluer l'efficacité des outils fournis par la microfinance. De plus, l'analyse du suivi après la mise en place de ces projets permettra d'évaluer de façon plus fine la durabilité de leur impact sur le développement de la communauté locale. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Afrique, développement local, genre et développement, Mali, microfinance, microcrédit et pays en développement.

Le présent travail de recherche est une étude exploratoire dans un contexte de pays en développement sur les technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC) dans les institutions de microfinance au Burkina-Faso. Cette étude, sous la forme d'une enquête, a visé toutes les institutions de microfinance membre du réseau de microfinance du Burkina-Faso. La recherche s'est centrée sur le modèle de Sein et al., (2004) qui indique que la perception des TIC et la manière de les utiliser peuvent apporter un impact de trois ordres pouvant influencer le développement humain. L'un de ces impacts est l'émergence possible d'une nouvelle structure de réseau de microfinance riche en collaboration et coopération. Nous faisons une description des TIC et de leur utilisation dans un contexte de microfinance. La microfinance est un facteur important du développement humain. Mais cette recherche ne porte pas sur l'impact des TIC sur le développement humain, mais sur la description des TIC existant dans les institutions de microfinance (IMF), sur leur utilisation et les obstacles rencontrés lors de leur déploiement. L'enquête par questionnaire administré sur le terrain a été la méthode choisie pour collecter les données. Nous avons ainsi effectué un séjour au Burkina-Faso pour effectuer une administration face à face du questionnaire. Cette façon de faire permettait de s'assurer que le questionnaire était bien compris et rempli du début à la fin. L'étude a concerné toutes les IMF membres du réseau de microfinance. Ce sont des IMF offrant au minimum des services financiers aux personnes à faibles revenus et elles sont situées dans des localités différentes à la grandeur du pays. Une présentation des résultats de façon descriptive a été effectuée. Celle-ci a été complétée par une analyse qualitative. En fait, les résultats indiquent qu'il existe des IMF informatisées. Cependant, cette informatisation est relative du fait qu'une IMF peut être informatisée et ne posséder qu'un seul ordinateur. De plus, le nombre de clients auquel I'IMF rend des services financiers influe sur l'informatisation. Les résultats indiquent la présence d'outils de collaboration, mais leur utilisation dans ce domaine est faible. Un des obstacles majeurs dans l'existence et l'utilisation des TIC est le manque de moyen financier. Ces résultats ont permis de recommander la mise en place d'application ASP pour les IMF. Une autre recommandation concerne l'intervention des bailleurs de fonds, qui représentent une des ressources financières externes pour les IMF. Ces bailleurs de fonds pourraient soutenir les IMF dans la mise en place de nos recommandations. En fait, nous pensons que les bailleurs de fond pourraient intervenir sur le plan technologie de l'information et de la communication et formation dans leur utilisation. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : technologie de l'information et de la communication, systèmes d'information, utilisation des systèmes d'information, collaboration, communication, partage d'information, Internet, pays en développement

Microfinance has spread rapidly since the 1970s and gained a lot of international attention. Advocates mean it is a good way to reduce poverty, but still there is no consensus within the research about the impacts of microfinance and its contribution to poverty reduction.The aim of this study is to assess the members’ perceptions about the impacts of the rural member-based microfinance institutions (MFIs), Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) and Village Community Bank (VICOBA), on members’ socio-economic situation as well as their perceptions about the contribution to poverty reduction and to identify potential obstacles. The study is mainly based on individual semi-structured interviews with members of SACCOS and VICOBA conducted between February and April 2012 in Babati district Tanzania and earlier research and studies within the area of microfinance and poverty reduction make up the theoretical framework. There is a general agreement among the members interviewed that these MFIs have positive impacts on their socio-economic situation. The results show that it helps to meet consumption needs, pay school fees, run small businesses, increase and diversify the income and the majority also believes that it can be a useful tool for poverty reduction. However, it doesn’t lead to poverty reduction automatically, it depends on how the loans are used and this study identifies several obstacles for SACCOS and VICOBA to be more effective and contribute more to poverty reduction. The main obstacles found are low repayment status, lack of capital and lack of education in both entrepreneurship and how these MFIs operate.

In this paper we are exploring the field of microfinance; financial services given to poor and low-income individuals who do not have access to formal financial markets. The purpose of our study is to investigate if the Credit with Education program provided by the microfinance institution RCPB in Burkina Faso has had an effect on the participating women concerning their empowerment, knowledge about management/micro enterprises and knowledge about child nutrition and health. We are using data from two surveys made in 2003 and 2004 by the consultant bureau Sud Consult that we are analysing in a qualitative manner in order to respond to our investigation question. This paper treats theories concerning the financial market and the importance of education, health and women’s empowerment. We present facts about microfinance in general and in Burkina Faso in particular and we review earlier studies on the subject. Our findings suggest that the Credit with Education program has achieved to increase the women’s knowledge concerning child nutrition and health. The program has had a smaller but still a notable effect concerning the empowerment of the women, specifically in the region of West. The program has failed to increase the knowledge of business management in the years studied. In our analysis we present suggestions of improvements of the program. / Dans ce dossier, nous explorons le domaine de la microfinance ; des services financiers destinés aux populations pauvres et aux individus aux revenus modestes qui n’ont pas accès aux marchés financiers. Le but de notre étude est d’examiner si le crédit avec éducation fournis par l’institution finansière RCPB au Burkina Faso, a eu des répercussions sur la prise de participation des femmes en ce qui concerne leur indépendence, leur connaissance du management/ PME et leur connaissance en matière de nutrition et de santé infantille. Nous utilisons les données de deux études menées en 2003 et 2004 par le cabinet de consulting Sud Consult que nous analysons qualitativement afin de répondre à notre question d’investigation. Ce dossier est basé sur les théories concernant le marché financier, l’importance de l’éducation de la santé et de l’indépendance des femmes. Nous abordons les faits du points de vue de la microfinance en général et du Burkina Faso en particulier et nous examinons des études réalisées précedement traitant du même sujet. Nos résultats montrent que le crédit avec l’éducation ont largement participé à l’amélioration des connaissances des femmes en matiéres de nutrition et de santé infantile. Le programme a eu une influence plus modeste sur leur indépendence, particulièrement dans la région de l’ouest. Le programme n’a cependant pas réussi à améliorer leur connaissance du management durant la période analysée. Dans notre analyse nous présentons des propositions d’amélioration pour le programme.

This thesis aims to research on the concept of national culture in regard to project management. We mainly aim to find out whether national culture poses an influence on the conduct of innovation management in the microfinance sector in Kenya and Germany.  The motivation for our choice of sector and aim are multiple; culture, particularly national culture, in projects and project management, is to  our understanding still an undeservedly under-researched area. Furthermore, the integration of solutions and concepts developed in countries other than the own increasingly takes place in the globalized world. We therefore consider research on the integration ability of such “imported” concepts into a national culture’s existing frame of reference a valuable, yet under-researched area.   This led to the development of our research aim as addressing two aspects: firstly, whether national culture poses a perceivable influence to product innovation approaches, and secondly, how the integration of culturally foreign, “imported” concepts might be undertaken in the two countries. The selection of product innovation in Microfinance was informed by the assumption that this would allow us to study the multifarious interrelationships between culture, innovation, and project management in a dynamic context; and hence pose a favourable setting to study the approach towards novelty and integration of culturally foreign concepts. Kenya and Germany were selected due to our personal backgrounds, being our countries of origin.   A perceived lack of differentiated scientific sources covering our needs led us to develop our own theoretical culture model which reviews cultural aspects from a joint African-European perspective. The model was developed based on seminal works in the field of culture and intercultural research. It is comprised of six dimensions deemed influential for innovation. Each of these six dimensions is based on the works  of two to four authors. This model comprises an African-European perspective and merges existing concepts into a novel conceptual model with a clear focus on culture and  innovation. In order to derive empirical findings, a qualitative multiple case study has been conducted in Microfinance institutions in Kenya and Germany. The findings of these case studies were consecutively analyzed based on the theoretical culture model in due consideration of the research aim.    We consider our research offering a contribution in a field that is still coming to the fore; that is, a novel perception of project management as being “more” than simply a temporary endeavour determined by scope, cost and time. The perception of innovation in the service industry is furthermore delved into, and it offers extensive insight into the national cultures of Germany and Kenya and the development and contribution of Microfinance in developing and industrialized nations.