Strategic Alliances to Scale Up Financial Services in Rural Areas

by Gallardo, Joselito S.; Goldberg, Michael; Randhawa, Bikki K.

• ISBN13: 9780821366035
• ISBN10: 0821366033
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-01
• Publisher: World Bank

Summary

Business firms have employed strategic alliances with other firms to effectively manage costs, overcome resource and technology constraints, and enhance competitive position. The principle and practice of strategic alliances can be applied as well for productive and beneficial institutional collaborations in rural financial markets to expand the array of financial products and to scale up access of rural households and micro-businesses to financial services.Strategic alliances comprise a new theme in rural finance. The institutions in the study used strategic alliances to tap new capital resources, manage transaction costs, access banking technology and infrastructure and acquire new skills to provide an expanding array of financial services to wider markets. The authors carefully examine the experiences of selected rural finance institutions and their strategic allies or development partners in Guatemala, the Philippines, Ghana and India to draw out the main findings and share the lessons that may be gainfully applied in other country settings.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	v
Acronyms and Abbreviations	vii
Executive Summary	ix
Main Report	1	(38)
Objectives of the Sector Work	2	(1)
Constraints to Accessing Financial Services in Rural Areas	3	(1)
Leaders in Rural Financial Market Access	3	(3)
Framework for Understanding and Assessing Strategic Alliances	6	(2)
Strategic Alliances Between Firms in the Corporate Business World	6	(1)
Strategic Alliances and Development Partnerships in Rural Finance	7	(1)
Applying the Framework to Alliances and Partnerships in Rural Finance	8	(21)
Strategic Alliances in Rural Finance	9	(14)
Development Partnerships	23	(6)
Main Findings of the Study	29	(3)
Strategic Alliances in Rural Finance: Operational Implications for the World Bank	32	(7)
Necessary Conditions for Strategic Alliances	32	(1)
Taking Stock---Key Questions to be Addressed Early in Project Preparation	33	(2)
Critical Operational Issues	35	(4)
References	39	(1)
Strategic Alliances	39	(1)
Rural Finance and Microfinance	39	(1)
Country Studies and Reports	40