A great body of literature suggests that the poor were better off before the microfinance sector's paradigm shift of the mid-1990s. The sector's 'dependent' constituents' focus changed in an effort to cope with the changes dictated by its 'controlling' constituents. This paper's key finding is that the not-for-profit sector, where beneficiaries' interests are at stake, and the corporate sector, where owners and management are separate, should undergo an externally dictated change only after passing through a regulating agency's scrupulous check, lest the change harm the sector's beneficiaries. The paper attempts to create awareness among policy-makers of the need to be thoughtful of the ultimate beneficiaries in similar cases of externally dictated organisational change.

The drastic shift in the microfinance paradigm during the early 1990s, when the donor community adopted a new approach as to the sustainability of microfinance institutions, changed the overall scenario of the paradigm. Instead of providing subsidized financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) for their life time, the donors started emphasizing self-sustainability on the part of MFIs through making them adopt principles of commercialism. The shift in the donors' approach, although relieved of their burden to a considerable extent, gave rise to an increase in the interest rates on loans for the poor. Many scholars considered it as a drift from the primary mission. This conceptual paper presents two viable alternatives which, through amalgamating microfinance and charity principles, can potentially help the sector achieve the dual objective of boosting the supply of subsidized financial resources to the sector and ensuring the poor's access to an affordable source of financial help.

An organization's survival depends largely on its capacity to withstand external "reorganizing" attempts. Little research, if any, has so far been undertaken examining the survival of an entire business sector where its constituents undergo an externally dictated change and as a result it runs a risk of a thorough "jolt" or even "demise". The authors present empirical evidence that a business sector may be subjected to "unwanted" re-organizing by its "parent/controlling" entity, and may cease to exist, in its real essence, if its constituents are forced to undergo a change that will alter the very objectives upon which their existence rests.

Resorting to the Schatzki's (2002) 'site of the social' theoretical construct and stance on the peculiar 'sites' of construction and institutionalisation of social practices, we aim to locate the use and efficacy of strategic performance measurement system (SPMS) in service sector organizations and at the lower hierarchical level, and its effect on role clarity, employees' psychological empowerment and performance. This study aims to further the relevant literature, which covers the phenomenon in the manufacturing industry and at the upper level of the organizational hierarchy (Hall, 2008). A survey study of employees at the lower hierarchical level in the banking sector of the southern part of Sumatera including the provinces of Lampung, South Sumatera, Bengkulu and Jambi was conducted and data analyzed using SmartPLS. Our analysis of the empirical data we gleaned from our survey of 135 respondents endorsed the hypotheses set for the study confirming a positive impact of the use of CPMS on lower level employees' role clarity and overall performance in service sector organizations, however, did not support CPMS's effect on the employees' 'psychological empowerment'. The effect and efficacy of the use of SPMS on role clarify, performance and psychological empowerment in the manufacturing sector employees at the upper hierarchical level have already been empirically investigated (see Hall, 2008). This current study aims to not only extend such studies to the service industry but also contribute to the management accounting literature through extending the use of the strategic performance measurement system to employees at the lower hierarchical level in the service sector. It aims at apprising practitioners and policy-makers on the utility and limitation of the use of CPMS in these contexts.

Business schools produce leaders who command 'power' and 'governmentality', as per Foucault's theoretical conceptualisations, to institutionalise routines and social practices in contemporary organisations. These leaders must uphold ethics in their business decisions; however, this has not been reflected in many instances, as recurring financial crises have depicted over time. Efforts to address the issue and reach its root cause have failed to deliver concrete results so far, which necessitates an objective probe into today's business education. This conceptual-cum-analytical paper proposes an alternate, indirect approach to effectively tackle the issue. We suggest two remedies: first, transformative teaching and learning activities that inculcate ethical values into students should be implemented at the grass root level - primary and secondary schools, that feed into business schools with future business leaders; second, a conducive corporate governance environment within business organisations that supports ethical decisions and nurtures ethical behaviour needs to be developed - arguably the first being the prerequisite for the second.

This study investigates the effect of the interactive use of performance measurement systems (PMS) on the company's adaptation of its customer-focused strategy. The authors used a self-administered survey study of 69 managers working in the Indonesia Stock Exchange-listed financial institutions. The authors' statistical analyses using SmartPLS 2.0 supported all hypotheses and revealed direct and indirect relationships among the hypothesized variables. However, based on the 'path analysis', using the Sobel's test and the Variance Accounted For (VAF), the empirical data revealed that the organizational members' direct relationship with the customer accounted for a greater contribution to the improvement in the customer-focused strategy compared to the organization's indirect relationship. This study provides evidence that an effective implementation and interactive use of PMS would leverage the organization's customers-focused strategy and help it gain a competitive advantage.