IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v234y2014i1p319-330.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial sustainability and poverty outreach within a network of village banks in Cameroon: A multi-DEA approach

Author

Listed:
  • Piot-Lepetit, Isabelle
  • Nzongang, Joseph

Abstract

Microfinance institutions face a double bottom-line. They perform financial tasks by giving microcredits to their customers and support projects aiming at reducing poverty. In doing so, they have to be financially self-sufficient and to target poor people excluded from the traditional financial systems. However, a trade-off may exist between financial sustainability and poverty outreach for these institutions. By using a multi-DEA approach, this paper shows that even if a trade-off exists for 15% of the MC2 (Mutuelles Communautaires de Croissance) in Cameroon, there is no trade-off for 46% of them. In order to increase, without trade-off, financial and social performance of inefficient MC2, a benchmarking approach combing DEA and performance indicators has been developed. DEA is used for identifying best-practices and setting benchmarking goals. Performance indicators are used for characterizing areas needing improvements and following the evolution of MC2 toward their goals, i.e., for implementing benchmarking. Complementarity of both approaches provides a tool box for improving financial and social efficiency and reducing the trade-off between financial sustainability and poverty outreach of microfinance institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:234:y:2014:i:1:p:319-330
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2013.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221713008059
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2013.10.004?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. Banker, Rajiv D. & Chang, Hsihui & Lee, Seok-Young, 2010. "Differential impact of Korean banking system reforms on bank productivity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1450-1460, July.
    2. Niels Hermes & Robert Lensink, 2007. "The empirics of microfinance: what do we know?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 1-10, February.
    3. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos & Mar Molinero, Cecilio, 2007. "Microfinance institutions and efficiency," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 131-142, April.
    4. Mark Schreiner, 2002. "Aspects of outreach: a framework for discussion of the social benefits of microfinance," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(5), pages 591-603.
    5. Zhu, Joe, 2000. "Multi-factor performance measure model with an application to Fortune 500 companies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 105-124, May.
    6. Berger, Allen N. & Mester, Loretta J., 1997. "Inside the black box: What explains differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 895-947, July.
    7. Mark Schreiner, 2001. "Seven Aspects of Loan Size," Development and Comp Systems 0109001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Donthu, Naveen & Hershberger, Edmund K. & Osmonbekov, Talai, 2005. "Benchmarking marketing productivity using data envelopment analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(11), pages 1474-1482, November.
    9. Ben Bassem, 2008. "Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions in the Mediterranean: An Application of DEA," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 15(2), pages 343-354, September.
    10. Sherman, H. David & Gold, Franklin, 1985. "Bank branch operating efficiency : Evaluation with Data Envelopment Analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 297-315, June.
    11. Holod, Dmytro & Lewis, Herbert F., 2011. "Resolving the deposit dilemma: A new DEA bank efficiency model," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 2801-2810, November.
    12. 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.
    13. 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.
    14. Navajas, Sergio & Schreiner, Mark & Meyer, Richard L. & Gonzalez-vega, Claudio & Rodriguez-meza, Jorge, 2000. "Microcredit and the Poorest of the Poor: Theory and Evidence from Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 333-346, February.
    15. Kohers, Theodor & Huang, Ming-hsiang & Kohers, Ninon, 2000. "Market perception of efficiency in bank holding company mergers: the roles of the DEA and SFA models in capturing merger potential," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 101-120, December.
    16. Berger, Allen N. & DeYoung, Robert, 1997. "Problem loans and cost efficiency in commercial banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 849-870, June.
    17. Chaves, Rodrigo A. & Gonzalez-Vega, Claudio, 1996. "The design of successful rural financial intermediaries: Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 65-78, January.
    18. Thanassoulis, E. & Boussofiane, A. & Dyson, R. G., 1996. "A comparison of data envelopment analysis and ratio analysis as tools for performance assessment," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 229-244, June.
    19. Julia Paxton, 2007. "Technical Efficiency in a Semi‐Formal Financial Sector: The Case of Mexico," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(1), pages 57-74, February.
    20. Morduch, Jonathan, 2000. "The Microfinance Schism," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 617-629, April.
    21. Yaron, Jacob, 1994. "What Makes Rural Finance Institutions Successful?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 9(1), pages 49-70, January.
    22. Hunter, William C & Timme, Stephen G, 1995. "Core Deposits and Physical Capital: A Reexamination of Bank Scale Economies and Efficiency with Quasi-Fixed Inputs," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(1), pages 165-185, February.
    23. Hermes, Niels & Lensink, Robert & Meesters, Aljar, 2011. "Outreach and Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 938-948, June.
    24. James C. Brau & Gary M. Woller, 2004. "Microfinance: A Comprehensive Review of the Existing Literature," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 9(1), pages 1-28, Spring.
    25. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    26. Robert Cull & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2009. "Microfinance meets the market," Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis, in: Moving Beyond Storytelling: Emerging Research in Microfinance, pages 1-30, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    27. Hashemi, Syed M. & Schuler, Sidney Ruth & Riley, Ann P., 1996. "Rural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 635-653, April.
    28. Timothy M. Devinney & David F. Midgley & Sunil Venaik, 2000. "The Optimal Performance of the Global Firm: Formalizing and Extending the Integration- Responsiveness Framework," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(6), pages 674-695, December.
    29. Goetz, Anne Marie & Gupta, Rina Sen, 1996. "Who takes the credit? Gender, power, and control over loan use in rural credit programs in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 45-63, January.
    30. Mamiza Haq & Michael Skully & Shams Pathan, 2010. "Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions: A Data Envelopment Analysis," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 17(1), pages 63-97, March.
    31. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    32. repec:pri:rpdevs:morduch_microfinance_poor is not listed on IDEAS
    33. Kabir Hassan, M. & Tufte, David R., 2001. "The X-Efficiency of a Group-Based Lending Institution: The Case of the Grameen Bank," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1071-1082, June.
    34. Jonathan Morduch, 1998. "Does Microfinance Really Help the Poor? New Evidence from Flagship Programs in Bangladesh," Working Papers 198, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    35. Allen N. Berger & David B. Humphrey, 1992. "Measurement and Efficiency Issues in Commercial Banking," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 245-300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    36. Andreas Soteriou & Stavros A. Zenios, 1999. "Operations, Quality, and Profitability in the Provision of Banking Services," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(9), pages 1221-1238, September.
    37. Sealey, Calvin W, Jr & Lindley, James T, 1977. "Inputs, Outputs, and a Theory of Production and Cost at Depository Financial Institutions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1251-1266, September.
    38. Athanassopoulos, Antreas D., 1997. "Service quality and operating efficiency synergies for management control in the provision of financial services: Evidence from Greek bank branches," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 300-313, April.
    39. Emmanuel Thanassoulis, 1999. "Data Envelopment Analysis and Its Use in Banking," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 1-13, June.
    40. Morduch, Jonathan, 1999. "The role of subsidies in microfinance: evidence from the Grameen Bank," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 229-248, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. B Gutiérrez-Nieto & C Serrano-Cinca & C Mar Molinero, 2009. "Social efficiency in microfinance institutions," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(1), pages 104-119, January.
    3. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    4. Widiarto, Indra & Emrouznejad, Ali, 2015. "Social and financial efficiency of Islamic microfinance institutions: A Data Envelopment Analysis application," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-17.
    5. Bos, Jaap W.B. & Millone, Matteo, 2015. "Practice What You Preach: Microfinance Business Models and Operational Efficiency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 28-42.
    6. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Viganò, Laura & Meoli, Michele, 2015. "Efficiency of microfinance institutions in Sri Lanka: a two-stage double bootstrap DEA approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 74-83.
    7. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Yaron, Jacob & Meoli, Michele, 2017. "Assessing the financial and outreach efficiency of microfinance institutions: Do age and size matter?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 63-76.
    8. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Yaron, Jacob & Meoli, Michele, 2015. "Performance of microfinance institutions in achieving the poverty outreach and financial sustainability: When age and size matter?," MPRA Paper 69821, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Swati Chauhan, 2021. "Social and Financial Efficiency: A Study of Indian Microfinance Institutions," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 10(1), pages 31-43, January.
    10. Isabelle Piot-Lepetit & Joseph Nzongang, 2021. "Business analytics for managing performance of microfinance Institutions: A flexible management of the implementation process," Post-Print hal-03209188, HAL.
    11. Isabelle Piot-Lepetit & Joseph Nzongang, 2021. "Business Analytics for Managing Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Flexible Management of the Implementation Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-22, April.
    12. Fall, François & Akim, Al-mouksit & Wassongma, Harouna, 2018. "DEA and SFA research on the efficiency of microfinance institutions: A meta-analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 176-188.
    13. Debdatta Pal & Subrata K. Mitra, 2018. "The efficiency of microfinance institutions with problem loans: A directional distance function approach," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 285-307, September.
    14. 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.
    15. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    16. Sufian, Fadzlan & Abdul Majid, Muhamed Zulkhibri, 2007. "Bank Ownership, Characteristics and Performance: A Comparative Analysis of Domestic and Foreign Islamic Banks in Malaysia," MPRA Paper 12131, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Jun 2007.
    17. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2015. "Efficiency of the banking system in Vietnam under financial liberalization," OSF Preprints qsf6d, Center for Open Science.
    18. Li, Yang, 2020. "Analyzing efficiencies of city commercial banks in China: An application of the bootstrapped DEA approach," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    19. Li, Lin Yang & Hermes, Niels & Meesters, Aljar, 2019. "Convergence of the performance of microfinance institutions: A decomposition analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 308-324.
    20. Efendic Velid & Hadziahmetovic Nejra, 2017. "The social and financial efficiency of microfinance institutions: the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 12(2), pages 85-101, December.

    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:eee:ejores:v:234:y:2014:i:1:p:319-330. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    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.