Globalization urgently requires mentality and management changes in the Peruvian microfinance industry for many reasons. Indeed, one of the issues that is being discussed with great care and dedication in companies is related to “corporate governance”, a tool that should not only be on the business agenda, but also in public administration and in microfinance institutions.
"Good corporate governance" is a topic that for some reasons is not yet discussed in the various forums of the microfinance industry. We imagine that due to ignorance or lack of business vision in the microfinance business, although we admit that in the municipal savings bank system there is some reflection on the matter.
Some relate corporate governance to programs to strengthen administration and financial transparency, while others emphasize the responsibility of board members, executives at all levels, and workers in general. There are even those who reveal that "corporate governance" is closely linked to control and regulation mechanisms such as international norms and standards.
It is part, everything described is true, but it is also true that good corporate governance is related to the entire organization and the responsibility belongs to everyone, starting with those who direct the organization such as the members of the board of directors and general or joint management as the case may be..
For the Peruvian microfinance industry, the application of good corporate governance is essential to achieve its objectives. An excellent policy of internal controls, which includes the management of business risks of all types, business competitiveness guidelines to guarantee foreign investment and that of other national private sectors, promotion of new markets and mechanisms to successfully face globalization processes increasingly require the adoption of internationally recognized standards on the way organizations, whether private or public, are managed and controlled.
Many organizations are in trouble, not so much from exogenous causes, but from poor management. Business development (we must look at the microfinance industry as a business with social sensitivity, to differentiate itself from other financial institutions) involves, among other things, vision of the future, teamwork, a vocation for service, defense of the environment, training of resources human, good quality of administrative management.
On the vision of the future it is key to know where you want to go. Without vision, no visible goals will be achieved. Within this vision, training is essential to have new vision and mission approaches, thus avoiding deficiencies in management. From this perspective, the people who make up the general or joint management, and any other decision-maker, must have the correct management of administrative risks and control of the organizations as their goal.
In addition, the application of good corporate governance is essential to access greater foreign financing markets. Cooperators and investors argue their decisions in the financial statements to assess the financial sustainability of the business. There are already international standards that must be met.
Let us not forget that the globalization process that the world is going through guides world trade towards the liberalization of its economies, the generation of expanded markets, attractive levels of investment and confidence for investments. However, nothing in writing will be possible if organizations do not apply corporate governance criteria in their decisions.
