Islamic finance and social finance, an opportunity for social enterprises

  • Daniel Iannaci University of Turin - Department of Management
  • Jonathan Gideon Mekonnen Stockholm University - Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV)
Keywords: Islamic finance, social finance, social enterprises, social impact, accounting

Abstract

Social enterprises are defined as the real engine of social innovation because they have in their veins the objective of creating social impact and they are the companies with the best structure in the panorama of the third sector. After the recent crisis, social hardship has become more and more frequent in all situations, from health care to housing, for example. Poverty is another existing social phenomenon that has critical effects on the ecosystem. This leads to a decrease in the protection of the quality of life by increasing the need for health services, social assistance, housing and of course social aid on necessities. The engine that could encourage change is the grafting of socially disadvantaged people into the workplace, but the companies themselves need ideas and especially resources to assimilate more staff. It is essential to grow the companies For Impact, but it is not always easy for them to access funding. In order to guarantee a constant increase in social impact, the company's attention must always be combined with performance to ensure survival into the business. Progressively, in these years, there has been a growth of the financial instruments tied to the Islamic finance and these could have an important role not only for the Moslems, but also for the non-Muslim countries.

The constant search for alternative ways of financing is always alive, more so by the companies that make up the third sector, which are open to instruments that respect ethical principles. To support this aspect, there is an evolution of the instruments of social finance and Islamic finance, both of which have the same values.

This document, through an empirical analysis, wants to demonstrate how, through the meeting of the Islamic finance and social finance instruments, it is possible to restart the process of social innovation through the companies which are currently the major players in this field: the social cooperatives.

References

A. Alshammari, N. N. Almutairi, and S. F. Thuwaini, ‘Ethical leadership: The effect on employees’, ldots Business and Management, 2015.

G. Rexhepi and N. Ramadani, ‘Ethics and Social Responsibility in Islamic Finance’, in Entrepreneurship and Management in an Islamic Context, Springer, 2017, pp. 133–142.

S. Sairally, ‘Community development financial institutions: Lessons in social banking for the Islamic financial industry’, Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 19–37, 2007.

M. Ainley, A. Mashayekhi, R. Hicks, A. Rahman, and A. Ravalia, ‘Islamic finance in the UK: Regulation and challenges’, The Financial Services Authority (FSA), London, 2007.

M. F. Khan, ‘Social dimensions of Islamic banks in theory and practice’, Manuscript, Islamic Research and Training Institute, Islamic Development Bank, 1997.

J. Collins, ‘The road ahead for Islamic Finance”, in “Integrating Islamic Finance into the Mainstream: Regulation, standardization and Transparency”’, Islamic Finance Project, Harvard University, 2007.

M. Khalid, ‘Waqf as a Socially Responsible Investment instrument A case for Western Countries’, European Journal of Islamic Finance, no. 1, 2015.

P. Biancone and M. Radwan, ‘European companies: evaluation for sharia compliance “opportunities and challenges”’, 2016.

M. U. Chapra, S. Khan, and A. Al Shaikh-Ali, The Islamic vision of development in the light of maqasid al-Shariah, vol. 15. Iiit, 2008.

N. Piper, ‘Assessing the potential for Shari’ah-compliant project finance in India’, Colum. J. Transnat’l L., vol. 47, p. 418, 2008.

M. Arena, I. Bengo, M. Calderini, and V. Chiodo, ‘Social Impact Bonds: Blockbuster or Flash in a Pan?’, International Journal of Public Administration, vol. 39, no. 12, pp. 927–939, Oct. 2016, doi: 10.1080/01900692.2015.1057852.

S. M. S. Azman and E. R. A. E. Ali, ‘The potential of innovative financial tools: Social Impact Bond (SIB) and Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) sukuk, towards the sustainable growth of the Islamic finance industry’, European Journal of Islamic Finance, no. 4, 2016.

C. Clark, W. Rosenzweig, D. Long, and S. Olsen, ‘Double bottom line project report: assessing social impact in double bottom line ventures’, 2004.

F. Bicciato, Finanza etica e impresa sociale. Bologna: Società editrice il Mulino, Spa, 2010.

C. Borzaga and E. Tortia, ‘Dalla cooperazione mutualistica alla cooperazione sociale: una prospettiva internazionale’, IMPRESA SOCIALE, pp. 44–56, 2004.

M. Meneguzzo, ‘Modelli tradizionali e modelli strategici di pianificazione negli enti pubblici’, Borgonovi E.(a cura di), Introduzione all’economia delle amministrazioni pubbliche, Giuffré, Milano, 1984.

M. Calderini, V. Chiodo, and F. V. Michelucci, ‘Growing Social Impact Finance: Implications for the Public Sector’, in Positive Impact Investing, Springer, 2018, pp. 27–38.

L. Corvo and L. Pastore, ‘The challenge of Social Impact Bond: the state of the art of the Italian context’, European Journal of Islamic Finance, 2019.

M. A. El-Gamal, Islamic finance: Law, economics, and practice. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

A. Nicholls, R. Paton, and J. Emerson, Social Finance. Oxford University Press, 2015.

M. N. Siddiqi, Riba, bank interest and the rationale of its prohibition. Islamic Research and Training Institute Jeddah, 2004.

M. K. Hassan and W. Hippler, ‘Entrepreneurship and Islam: an overview’, Available at SSRN 3263110, 2014.

S. S. Rehman, ‘Globalization of Islamic finance law’, Wis. Int’l LJ, vol. 25, p. 625, 2007.

S. Ullah and D. Jamali, ‘Institutional investors and corporate social responsibility: the role of Islamic financial institutions’, International review of business research papers, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 619–630, 2010.

P. P. Biancone and M. Radwan, ‘Sharia-Compliant financing for public utility infrastructure’, Utilities Policy, vol. 52, pp. 88–94, 2018.

Y. J. Amuda, ‘Empowerment of Nigerian Muslim Households through Waqf, Zakat, Sadaqat and Public Funding’, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, pp. 419–424, 2013, doi: 10.7763/IJTEF.2013.V4.329.

J. Emerson, ‘The blended value proposition: Integrating social and financial returns’, California management review, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 35–51, 2003.

R. Addis, J. McLeod, and A. Raine, IMPACT-Australia: Investment for social and economic benefit. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2013.

A. Brown and W. Norman, ‘Lighting the touchpaper: growing the market for social investment in England’, Boston Consulting Group and Young Foundation, London, November, 2011.

A. Brown and A. Swersky, ‘The First Billion’, A forecast of social investment demand. The Boston Consulting Group, Big Society Capital, London, 2012.

A. L. Cunliffe, ‘Crafting Qualitative Research: Morgan and Smircich 30 Years On’, Organizational Research Methods, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 647–673, 2011, doi: 10.1177/1094428110373658.

J. Emerson and J. Spitzer, ‘From Fragmentation to Function: Critical Concepts and Writing on Social Capital Markets’ Structure, Operation and Innovation’, 2007.

K. Harji and E. T. Jackson, ‘Accelerating impact: Achievements, challenges and what’s next in building the impact investing industry’, New York, NY: The Rockefeller Foundation, 2012.

O. M. Lehner and A. Nicholls, ‘Social finance and crowdfunding for social enterprises: a public–private case study providing legitimacy and leverage’, Venture Capital, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 271–286, Jul. 2014, doi: 10.1080/13691066.2014.925305.

J. P. Morgan, ‘Impact Investments: An emerging asset class’, Global Research, 2010.

C. Office, Growing the Social Investment Market: A Vision and Strategy. Cabinet Office London, 2011.

A. A. Schwartz, ‘Crowdfunding Securities’, Notre Dame L. Rev., vol. 88, pp. 1457–1490, 2012.

P. P. Biancone and M. Radwan, ‘Social Finance And Unconventional Financing Alternatives: An Overview’, European Journal of Islamic Finance, no. 10, 2018.

A. Nicholls, ‘“We do good things, don’t we?”: “Blended Value Accounting” in social entrepreneurship’, Accounting, Organizations and Society, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 755–769, 2009.

P. Aghion, P. A. David, and D. Foray, ‘Science, technology and innovation for economic growth: Linking policy research and practice in “STIG Systems”’, Research Policy, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 681–693, 2009, doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2009.01.016.

M. Al-Ghamdi, R. Abdel-Razek, and ..., ‘The Impact of Human Resource Management on Technological Innovation in Jubail Primary Industrial Sector, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’, ldots Journal of Business and ldots, 2015.

S. G. Mauro, L. Cinquini, and G. Grossi, ‘Insights into performance-based budgeting in the public sector: a literature review and a research agenda’, Public Management Review, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 911–931, 2017, doi: 10.1080/14719037.2016.1243810.

C. Skelcher and S. R. Smith, ‘New development: Performance promises and pitfalls in hybrid organizations—five challenges for managers and researchers’, Public Money & Management, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 425–430, 2017, doi: 10.1080/09540962.2017.1344023.

N. Z. Aitzhan and D. Svetinovic, ‘Security and Privacy in Decentralized Energy Trading Through Multi-Signatures, Blockchain and Anonymous Messaging Streams’, Dependable and Secure Computing, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 840–852, 2018, doi: 10.1109/TDSC.2016.2616861.

M. Banerjee, J. Lee, and K.-K. R. Choo, ‘A blockchain future for internet of things security: a position paper’, Digital Communications and Networks, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 149–160, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.dcan.2017.10.006.

J. Barraket and N. Yousefpour, ‘Evaluation and social impact measurement amongst small to medium social enterprises: Process, purpose and value’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 447–458, 2013.

M. Calderini, V. Chiodo, and F. V. Michelucci, ‘The social impact investment race: toward an interpretative framework’, European Business Review, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 66–81, 2018.

M. A. Carree and A. R. Thurik, ‘The impact of entrepreneurship on economic growth’, in Handbook of entrepreneurship research, Springer, 2010, pp. 557–594.

M. J. Epstein and K. Yuthas, Measuring and improving social impacts: A guide for nonprofits, companies and impact investors. Routledge, 2017.

J. Frenk, ‘The new public health’, Annual review of public health, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 469–490, 1993.

C. W. Holsapple and A. B. Whinston, ‘Knowledge-based organizations’, The Information Society, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 77–90, 1987.

V. Then, C. Schober, O. Rauscher, and K. Kehl, Social Return on Investment Analysis: Measuring the Impact of Social Investment. Springer, 2018.

M. Meneguzzo, ‘Creazione di valore e sviluppo del capitale sociale’, Rivista italiana di ragioneria e di economia aziendale, 2005.

L. Saglietto, D. B. Fernandez, A. Quillaud, and G. Paché, ‘A Supply Chain Management View of Human Capital-Intensive Firms’, in Global Perspectives on Human Capital-Intensive Firms, IGI Global, 2019, pp. 198–219.

G. Tonial, A. Cassol, P. M. Selig, and E. Giugliani, ‘Intellectual Capital Management and Sustainability Activities in Brazilian Organizations: A Case Study’, in Intellectual Capital Management as a Driver of Sustainability, Springer, 2019, pp. 119–138.

K. M. Eisenhardt, ‘Building theories from case study research’, Academy of management review, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 532–550, 1989.

R. K. Yin, Case study research: Design and methods (Fifth). London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2014.

R. K. Yin, Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. SAGE Publications, 2017.

R. K. Yin, ‘The case study as a serious research strategy’, Knowledge, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 97–114, 1981.

K. Boudt, M. W. Raza, and M. Wauters, ‘Evaluating the Shariah-Compliance of Equity Portfolios: The Weighting Method Matters’, Social Science Research Network, Rochester, NY, SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 2812587, Mar. 2017.

B. J. Grim and M. S. Karim, ‘The future of the global Muslim population: projections for 2010-2030’, Washington DC: Pew Research Center, 2011.

C. Hackett, P. Connor, M. Stonawski, V. Skirbekk, M. Potančoková, and G. Abel, ‘The future of world religions: population growth projections, 2010-2015’, Wash. DC Pew Res. Cent, 2015.

Z. Karake-Shalhoub, ‘Private equity, Islamic finance, and sovereign wealth funds in the MENA region’, Thunderbird International Business Review, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 359–368, 2008.

A. Iqbal, ‘An empirical assessment of demographic factors, organizational ranks and organizational commitment’, International Journal of Business and Management, 2010.

S. Secinaro, L. Corvo, V. Brescia, and D. Iannaci, ‘Hybrid organizations: A systematic review of the current literature’, International Business Research, 2019.

Published
2020-03-16
How to Cite
Iannaci, D., & Gideon Mekonnen, J. (2020). Islamic finance and social finance, an opportunity for social enterprises. European Journal of Islamic Finance. https://doi.org/10.13135/2421-2172/4242