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The philosophy of Grameen (rural) banking system was invented by a maverick economist (Dr Yunus) in a tiny village of Bangladesh in 1976, with the aim to eliminate poverty and improve the socio‐economic condition of the rural poor. The bank provides loans to poor people who are unable to provide collateral and indoctrinated in Grameen social values, known as the “sixteen decisions”. Grameen borrowers also vow to observe the bank’s “four basic principles”, and they are the owners (92 per cent) of the bank. Grameen bank began its operations by giving a small amount of money ($30) to 40 people. Today, it employs 14,000 staff and has disbursed more than $1 billion dollars of loan among two million rural people in Bangladesh of which 95 per cent are women, and the rate of its loan repayment is 98 per cent. The Grameen is functioning not only in Bangladesh but also in 50 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and in the USA. Moving onto the implementation of Grameen‐type micro‐credit systems in Europe, or elsewhere, the differences in socio‐culture, economics and politics (between Bangladesh and the region concerned) should be considered. Thus, this paper is an attempt to investigate the prospects of the implementation of Grameen/micro‐credit banking system in European socio‐economic and cultural contexts.

Combatting corruption is an important social and commercial issue in most human societies. Many researchers have revealed how an effective anti-corruption practice can possibly minimise corruption in an organisation. However, studies focusing on organisations which are relatively successful in managing corruption at the employee level are relatively rare. On this note, this study aims to focus on Grameen Bank in particular, a Nobel-Prize-winning microfinance institute that was able to minimise its level of corruption among its employees in a country where corruption is the norm.

This paper uses standard economic theory to explain the perceptions and behaviours of the employees of Grameen Bank who live and work in a highly corrupt socio-cultural environment. This paper used questionnaires to ascertain the perceptions of Grameen Bank employees’ notions regarding corruption-combating behaviours. Interviews were also conducted among Grameen’s board members, managers and officers to further explore the nature and effectiveness of this organisation’s anti-corruption mechanisms.

Corruption can never be entirely eradicated; however, it can be diminished and opportunities for corruption can be minimised. This paper found, through an analysis of employees’ perceptions relating to governance and corruption in the Grameen Bank, that corruption exists, but there are systems in place to prevent it and to assist with staff morality. This research also uncovered a number of best practices in Grameen Bank’s governance to minimise corrupt behaviours, which include, but are not limited to, strong monitoring, decentralisation of authority, review of decision-making process, high internal audit intensity, impersonal punishment, anti-corruption cultures and transparency.

This study suggests that it is possible for organisations to resist corruption, especially microfinance institutions, even when they operate in a highly corrupt socio-cultural environment.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Grameen America's response to COVID-19 pandemic. This is accomplished by identifying and analyzing the key initiatives implemented by Grameen America within the framework of selected United Nations' Sustainability Development Goals (UN’s SD Goals).

This study has used qualitative content analysis to analyze financial and nonfinancial information of Grameen Bank.

This study follows a qualitative content analysis method to precisely gauge the shift in Grameen’s strategy and focus, as well as to assess the impact of its initiatives on the small business community before and after the pandemic. The findings showcase that Grameen’s longstanding mission to alleviate poverty is in line with the UN’s SD Goal 1. Also, Grameen’s commitment to create partnerships with external organizations to offer credit and noncredit services and support is consistent with UN’s SD Goal 17.

Notwithstanding the significant contributions of this case study, the findings are limited in some respects. First, this case study focuses on the Grameen America’s unique experience regarding its response to COVID-19 pandemic. This may affect the interpretation and generalization of the findings of this study. Performing comparative views across wide range of relevant microlending institutions could help improve the generalization of the findings. Also, this case study examines the impact on women and minority groups who were particularly affected by the pandemic. The results should, therefore, be interpreted with care as circumstances may change over time.

The implication for practice is that policymakers should encourage the creation of more member-based financial and non-financial institutions that can help members integrate financially and socially into society. Also, practitioners should increase their ethical duties and responsibilities to their members in society in good and bad times as members tend to value the ethical aspect of financial businesses.

The social implication of the findings is that helping members of society to cope with the difficulties brought about by COVID increased the sense of belonging among members and made them feel cared for, thereby increasing financial and social inclusion among underserved people.

Prior literature addressed the initiatives of microlending institutions such as Grameen Bank to achieve financial inclusion among financially vulnerable women. This case study contributes to the literature on financial inclusion and poverty alleviation by examining Grameen America’s response to the pandemic by identifying and assessing Grameen America (GA’s) key initiatives and their impact within the framework of the UN’s SD Goals in the post COVID-19 world.

In a paper entitled ‘On reaching the poor’, Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder and the managing director of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh (GBB), reasoned that

Although microfinance (MF) has been established as an effective approach to provide access to financial services for people in low income countries, close to one-third of adults worldwide, about 2 billion people, are still without access. The purpose of this study is therefore to provide knowledge on how MF institutions (MFIs) can innovate and scale their services to improve financial inclusion for more people in need, particularly small holder farmers.

Recent research suggests that Grameen Foundation builds on well-established MF models and focuses on continuously improving the design and increasing the reach of its services. Based on a retrospective longitudinal design, this study draws on dynamic capability theory to identify important lessons in MF innovation at Grameen through analyses of seven key agricultural MF programs.

This study finds that Grameen innovated these programs by sensing country-specific needs; seizing opportunities to use existing technology; creating linkages across multisector partners; adopting a business model that enabled replicability and sustainability of innovation transfer; and 5 integrating solutions that enabled process automation and scaling of outcomes. A key theoretical finding in applying dynamic capabilities theory to studies of innovation in MF revealed the core concepts to be transferrable, valuable, imitable and nonsubstitutable resources.

Using these insights, this study discusses theoretical, practical and policy implications of MF innovation to improve financial inclusion in low-income countries. Practitioners and researchers should assess the transferability of our findings to other MFIs and economic development contexts.

The purpose of the paper is to highlight key issues for the social enterprise field in Bangladesh, which are not sufficiently addressed in current social enterprise debates and discourse.

The paper reviews key economic and political debates in the current social enterprise literature. It then attempts to demonstrate how these are insufficient for critical analysis of social enterprise in Bangladesh. The paper draws on field research and literature on the Grameen social enterprises to inform this argument.

The paper finds that this review of the main debates in a Bangladeshi context raises many pertinent and urgent questions about the role of social enterprise in addressing: complex market failures; the boundaries of the field in the informal and formal sectors; the conflicts caused by contending political objectives and donor/creditor expectations; and broader development issues.

The paper focuses on the economic and political factors, which differ between Western and developing world environments. It does this with the specific example of the Grameen Energy and Grameen Bank social enterprises from Bangladesh. Whilst this is sufficient to support the paper's aim, it limits the scope of the findings.

This paper highlights a gap in the literature which has had little attention in academic or practitioner fields of social enterprise.

Papua New Guinea is a country with relatively low levels of social and economic development, particularly for women. Severe social problems, including unemployment, lawlessness and domestic violence combine with a particular set of geographic, historical, cultural and economic conditions to make life difficult for the country's rural poor, and especially for women. Self‐help through the provision of small‐scale credit for income‐generating activities is a relatively new concept in Papua New Guinea, although some forms of rural credit have existed since the 1960s. The need and demand for such credit are very high.

Measuring the economic and social impact of innovation is a nontrivial act. Using an embedded analysis method this paper examines the Grameen Bank and Microsoft Corporation as examples of social and commercial entrepreneurship. Both organizations embraced radical innovation that was scaleable and created wealth. They also both had profound economic and social impact on the world.

Capitalism as a concept is founded on “free economy” guided by a free price system and free access to markets. Many of the ills facing present day society such as unemployment, poverty, rising disparities of income, malnutrition, high polluted environment are getting increasingly linked to this corporate philosophy. Alternatives such as social business enterprises have been suggested and practiced by some of the enlightened entrepreneurs. This paper examines the tenets of social business, which advocates enhancing values to society, and the social benefit to all the stakeholders.

This is an exploratory study and presents the origin, the rationale of the development of the strategic business model and its implementation. The model, based on the philosophy of social business, has been developed and practiced by Grameen Danone Foods Limited. The study has been conducted entirely on the basis of information and data available in the public domain.

The findings show an encouraging contribution towards enhancing social benefits to society. These are visible in meeting the needs of the children suffering from malnutrition, in the generation of employment and providing a rare dignity to the poor of the poorest. The shortfall in business results is traced to missing economy of scale of operations.

Social business is a new and a bold concept. It has faced many hurdles in its journey to meet objectives. The solutions it has discovered are sure to benefit many researchers, entrepreneurs, social‐welfare oriented societies, non‐profit organizations, national planners, regulators and society‐leaders.

Today’s financial reporting inherits its origin in money, numbers and accounting dated back 7,000 years in Mesopotamia. The Italian Luca Pacioli, “first person to publish a work on double-entry bookkeeping”¹ is regarded as the father of accounting and bookkeeping. In USA, SEC issued its first Accounting Series Release which appeared to be Commission’s views on auditing and accounting, later, in 1982 has become known as Financial Reporting Releases. Today more than 100 countries permit publicly held companies to use International Financial Reporting Standards. This meteoric rise for use of financial reporting was due to a worldwide demand from regulators, lenders, trade partners, businesses, investors and policy makers. “The Companies Act of 1994 mandates requirement for financial reporting by all companies in Bangladesh.”² Banks’ reporting formats and disclosures in Bangladesh based on BAS 30 is similar to the requirements of the Companies Act of 1994. The research depicts how the two banking institutions of Bangladesh – Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) and Grameen Bank having two philosophical objectives – uniquely present their results of operation under a uniform financial reporting system and how they differ in their financial operations.