YEREVAN, Armenia — The American University of Armenia (AUA) Manoogian Simone College of Business and Economics is pleased to announce a recent publication by Dr. Knar Khachatryan, AUA professor and academic director of the Office of Sponsored Programs and Technology Transfer, in the International Journal of the Economics of Business, a peer-reviewed journal with an acceptance rate of 7%, indicating a highly selective process and a high standard of published work.
The article, titled “Cross-Border Spillovers in Social Entrepreneurship: Spatial Proximity and Microfinance Performance,” examines how spatial proximity relates simultaneously to a firm’s financial and social performance within a cross-border spillovers framework.
Dr. Khachatryan, the lead author, co-authored the article with her colleagues, Dr. Aleksandr Grigoryan (SKEMA Business School, France), Dr. Valentina Hartarska (Auburn University, United States) and Dr. Roy Mersland (University of Agder, Norway). Dr. Mersland and Dr. Hartarska are respectively #1 and #3 top ranked scholars in microfinance according to ScholarGPS. Reflecting on the publication, Dr. Khachatryan said, “Our team made an important contribution to the literature on social enterprises. Even though many social enterprises are engaged in cross-border delivery of services at regional and global levels and are increasingly attracting international funding, our understanding of the cross-border firm performance spillover aspects of such organizations remains limited.”
She further elaborated, “In this study, we find that while the outreach to the poor by firms in neighboring countries is positively related to the outreach of a given firm, their financial performance is negatively related. The results indicate that the outreach to clients within the region is improved with similar financial services. However, the cost of better outreach differs across countries in line with the literature showing tradeoffs between client outreach and financial sustainability. Country-level economic and institutional factors are identified as channels through which spatial spillovers are observed.”
By linking academic insight with real-world policy implications, the research demonstrates how evidence-based analysis can guide more inclusive and sustainable economic growth across borders.
This work was supported by AUA’s Professional Development Grant [2022] and the Diku (Norway) funded EURASIA project (CPEA-ST-2019/10078) led by Dr. Khachatryan at AUA.
Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.