"In this paper, we argue that business models need to be inclusive and adaptive to generate climate-smart value equitably for all stakeholders involved and sustainably over time. Inclusivity involves not only providing the poor at the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) with access to resources (e.g. finance, technology, access to markets) in business models but also, according to some scholars, with guaranteeing their representation in decision-making over the use of these resources. Adaptability entails the capacity to smoohtly adjust structures and processes of enterprise-BoP partnerships that underlie business models. We suggest that building inclusive and adaptive climate-smart business models is non-trivial work which, in the future, will require rapid cycles of collective experimentation and reflection between decision-makers in climate-smart business models and researchers studying them."

"The Global State of Social Enterprise report examines the transformative role that social enterprises play in addressing some of the most pressing global challenges. At a time when the world is grappling with unprecedented social, environmental and economic issues, the scope and scale of social enterprises are under- recognized while their contributions have never been more critical."

"A previous British International Investment (BII) Insights paper showed that periods of higher private investment are historically associated with more rapid reductions in extreme poverty.1 That does not mean investment and economic growth always result in poverty reduction. This paper draws on the experiences of many developing countries to shine a light on when growth reduces poverty, and when it does not. Its ultimate objective is to clarify the role of private sector development finance institutions (DFIs) in the context of overall development policy, and the need for different forms and sources of investment and support that complement each other."

"Microfinance institutions (MFIs) must balance financial and social goals. When these coopetitive goals are under threat, which goals do MFIs prefer? Based on the theory of myopic loss aversion, our study aims to assess the immediate effect of the 2016 demonetization in India on MFIs and their loan portfolio performance and on unintended social outcomes. Using the 2016 demonetization in India as a quasi-experiment, we find that MFIs had a lower 30-day and 90-day portfolio at risk (PAR) and implemented better client protection terms. In addition, demonetization had a small but positive effect on developing start-up enterprises and serving more clients below the poverty line. Last, we find that MFIs investing in female client education presented a lower PAR after demonetization. Overall, our study sheds light on the unintended consequences on MFIs as a result of the demonetization event, and it provides policy implications for MFIs."

"We make a comparison of microfinance banks (MBs) and commercial banks (CBs) in terms of efficiency, business orientation, stability, and asset quality by analyzing a large sample of banks from 60 countries around the world. Our findings indicate that microfinance banks have higher intermediation, non-interest income, wholesale funding and liquidity, but lower efficiency and asset quality. These significant variations are influenced by smaller microfinance banks and are driven mostly to African and Latin American microfinance banks."

"Microfinance has gained significant attention as a social innovation, offering flexible and low-cost financial services to households who are otherwise excluded from formal financial services. Over the years, numerous research works have expanded the knowledge base of microfinance. Applying bibliometrics, we summarise findings from 1599 articles published between 1987 and 2022. Our performance analysis reveals insights into the research trend, including its geographical distribution, the theories under examination, and the most influential publications. More importantly, the knowledge foundation and thematic analysis categorize microfinance research into three broad themes, viz. impact of microfinance, management of microfinance and performance and efficiency of microfinance."

"This paper contributes to VC network literature in providing a unique network structure and network metrics of venture capital in SEA. In managerial contribution, this study provides more structural VC cooperation towards VC syndication networks. This benefits to venture capital firms who are looking for potential partners in Southeast Asian region and start-up companies who are looking for funding with high-networked or influencial VCs. The results also confirm previous evidence of significance on VC networks in emerging market, even if the institution and regulation are claimed to fall behind that in the developed market. This research introduces the fact that the venture capital network in Southeast Asia has small-world pattern and Singapore acts as a hub of venture capital market in the region."

"This paper investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the corporate philanthropy (CP) behaviors of firms using a dataset from Chinese A-share listed firms. We find that, on average, firms decrease their CP significantly when economic policy uncertainty increases, but the response is heterogeneous for firms with different ownership types. Compared with their counterparts, private firms are willing to contribute more donations in an environment with high economic policy uncertainty. Further analysis shows that private firms take on more other types of corporate social responsibility at the same time, and private firms' additional CP in a high EPU environment is rewarded with more subsidies, indicating that altruistic and political motives may play important roles in driving the CP behaviors of private firms."

"Using geographical distribution data on corporate philanthropy in China from 2009 to 2016, we provide robust evidence of companies’ revenue-driven regional favoritism. Specifically, companies donate more to regions where they obtain revenue than to other regions. Further evidence suggests that this revenue-driven regional favoritism may have both reputational and political motivations. Further analysis suggests that China’s targeted poverty alleviation policy has compromised revenue-driven regional favoritism while increasing the amount of money donated to poor regions. Overall, we enrich understanding of decision-making on corporate philanthropy. We also demonstrate that companies can use the geographical distribution of corporate philanthropy strategically to obtain consumer and government favor in regions where they operate."

"The diversity-led organizations, that are more often addressing equity-deserving communities, received philanthropic support three times less often, and support from less funders than the conventional-led organizations. These results demonstrate that environmental philanthropy in Canada favors a large set of established organizations and perpetuates a landscape of exclusion for diversity-led organizations working on the low-carbon energy transition. By perpetuating disparities through funding, philanthropy is reinforcing inequities among marginalized communities. This in turn is setting back the progress of equity in low-carbon energy transitions in Canada."