Fixed Base Indices Research Articles

TREND ANALYSIS OF UGANDA’S COFFEE SECTOR

Coffee (Coffea arabica and C. canephora) is an important commercial crop globally, and the second most traded global commodity by developing nations after oil. Uganda is among the top 10 coffee exporters worldwide, and second in Africa. The total export amounted to 301,366 tons of “green” coffee in 2021, forming the second-largest commodity export, and contributing about 12.4% to Uganda’s total formal exports. However, the country’s overall performance over time remains unclear given the fluctuations in production and export prices. This study aimed to evaluate the production and export trends of Uganda’s coffee sector by: (i) defining the overall direction of coffee production and export value, (ii) assessing the market variability, and (iii) evaluating the global cross-cutting issues regarding coffee production and export. Data was extracted from FAOSTAT and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) databases. Trends were analysed using the Mann-Kendall and Sen’s Slope test, while market variability was analyzed using the fixed base index (FBI) and coefficient of variation. VOSviewer software was used to analyze literature from the Web of Science database to highlight cross-cutting issues. Results indicated a significant positive increase in coffee production and export value (p = 0.0001, Slope = 1736.67 tons and p = 0.001, Slope = 4.44 million USD) respectively. Among the top ten coffee producers, Uganda presented the third worst unstable coffee export value with a 20.1% coefficient of variation. Fairtrade, climate change, and certification were the most outstanding global cross-cutting issues. Market stabilization mechanisms should be developed through value addition by establishing coffee processing and roasting plants, as well as strategic governance and policy support to counter emerging global challenges such as climate change.

Research on Design and Monitoring of a Development Index of an Industrial Internet Platform Based on a Fixed-Base Index Method

Accelerating the innovation and development of the Industrial Internet Platform is inevitably necessary for the integration of new-generation information technology and the manufacturing industry. It is also the key point for promoting the construction of manufacturing power and network power. In this paper, based on the comprehensive analysis of the relevant problems of China’s Industrial Internet Platform development monitoring, the development index of the Industrial Internet Platform is designed. Taking a typical domestic Industrial Internet Platform as an example, the development index of the Industrial Internet Platform in 2018, 2019, and 2020 are comprehensively calculated in this paper. The results show that China’s Industrial Internet Platform is rapidly growing in many aspects, such as industrial equipment cloud and industrial APP. There is a large space for improving the industrial knowledge accumulation reuse and the application promotion of small/medium-sized enterprises. The results in this paper can provide scientific suggestions and practical references for the government, enterprises, scientific research institutions, which is of great significance in promoting the healthiness and sustainability of the Industrial Internet Platform.

Revenue and operational, financial performance of the leading Indian automobile companies of India: A relational mutual analysis

The operational and financial performance of the business organization is to be measured by its revenue, profit-earning capacity, and financial soundness to pay its debts. The profit of a business organization depends on the level of activities or revenue while the earning capacity defines and accelerates the absolute profit. Also, the financial soundness facilitates the resources and working capital to run the business activities to earn the profit. The operational efficiency enhances the profit margin while financial soundness increases the absolute profit by lifting the production level. The financial resources, operational efficiency, and revenue govern the profit of a business organization. The Indian automobile industry is the most prominent and contributing sector in the Indian economy. The study considers the relationship of revenue and profitability, financial resources to determine the relationship and mutual governance of revenue and profitability and revenue and financial resources. Financial ratios and statistical tools i.e. gross profitability and mean, coefficient of variation, rank correlation, and fixed base index applied to analyze the data of leading Indian automobile companies for the period 2011 to 2020. The study finds that the profitability and growth of the smaller leading Indian automobile companies are better than the higher revenue companies. Total resources or capital employed governs the revenue of the Indian automobile companies. The study recommends the study of cost composition of products of lower revenue leading Indian automobile companies.

ASSESSING PROFITABILITY AND GROWTH OF INSURANCE SECTOR IN SAUDI ARABIA: USING FINANCIALS AND TANGIBLES

The purpose: The purpose of this study to find out the contribution of internal (financial) and external (tangible & human resource) factors of growth and development of the Saudi insurance sector and facilitate suggestions.
 Methodology: The study considers financial data of insurance companies of Saudi Arabia for the period 2013 to 2017for internal analysis while data from 2010 to 2015 for external analysis. Trend indices (chain based index numbers & fixed base index numbers) from financial statements and insurance establishments and human resources of the insurance industry are prepared to know the internal and external factors responsible for growth and development. The averages of trend indices are obtained to get the results of the analysis.
 Findings: The study finds that there is negativity in operational efficiency. It also finds that the internal liabilities or shareholders’ equities are decreasing continuously. Also, establishments engaged in insurance activities are not enough to cover all prospective customers.
 Implications: The finding implies that the increase in revenues is not enough. The findings also imply a weak long term paying ability towards this the study recommends further investment in profitable options like securities and avoid excess liquidity and increase insurance penetration.
 Novelty: This study is one of the few that assesses the performance of the insurance sector of Saudi Arabia. In the process, it performs internal analysis using operational and financial factors; and an external analysis using tangibles and intangibles.

THE CHANGES IN THE FOCUS OF SLOVAK ORGANISATIONS ON TALENT MANAGEMENT

Distinguishing an organisation from the competition, and building a position noticeably ahead of it entails the identification, attracting, education, development, and especially retaining of quality and talented employees. The objective of the article is to analyse the link between the region of operation of the organisation and its focus on the activities related to talent management, and to specify the overall change in the focus of organisations on talent management in time. Several partial objectives, such as a questionnaire survey conducted in Slovak organisations between 2013 – 2017, were fulfilled in order to accomplish this objective. Statistical hypothesis testing aimed at specifying the relationship between the region of operation of the given organisation and the execution of activities related to talent management in it, and the focus of the organisation on career planning of all the categories of employees, confirmed a link between the analysed variables. Positive changes in the selected attributes in time were evaluated by the fixed-base index.

Unijny eksport i import roślin ozdobnych – zmiany w ujęciu rodzajowym i geograficznym

Celem artykułu była analiza zmian wartości unijnego handlu zagranicznego roślinami ozdobnymi w 1999 i 2014 roku w ujęciu rodzajowym i geograficznym. Uwzględniono wymianę handlową wewnątrzunijną, a także UE z krajami europejskimi spoza struktur Wspólnoty oraz Afryką, Bliskim Wschodem, Ameryką Płn., Ameryką Łacińską i pozostałymi regionami świata. Analizami objęto eksport i import roślin ozdobnych ogółem oraz siedmiu grup produktów kwiaciarskich. Analizowano saldo, poziom i dynamikę zmian handlu unijnego poszczególnymi grupami roślin ozdobnych z uwzględnieniem struktury geograficznej wymiany handlowej. Posłużono się indeksami o podstawie stałej oraz wykorzystano wskaźniki procentowe. Handel zagraniczny roślinami ozdobnymi UE charakteryzuje zasada bliskości geograficznej. Głównym dostawcą roślin ozdobnych w UE pozostaje Holandia, a głównym odbiorcą roślin ozdobnych z UE, ale o malejącym znaczeniu, były Niemcy. W handlu zagranicznym UE z innymi regionami świata wzrastała rola Afryki, jako dostawcy głównie kwiatów ciętych i sadzonek, malała rola Ameryki Płn. i Łacińskiej jako dostawców głównie zieleni ciętej. Znaczącymi odbiorcami cebul kwiatowych była Ameryka Płn. i Azja.

The Calculation of Economic and Financial Indicators Based on the Balance Sheet of Economic Entities in Romania

This paper aims at a better understanding of the way in which the balance sheet analysis is carried out, both in static and dynamic terms. Static analysis is based on the calculation of weights in which each item is expressed as a percentage of the total assets and liabilities and the dynamic analysis is based on the calculation of indices in which the assets and liabilities in the balance sheet are expressed in the form of percentage changes from the same position of a base year as 100% (for fixed base indices) or successively over the previous period (for chain-based indices). The analysis is based on a system of relevant indicators, the interpretation of which can be concluded with regard to the future evolution of economic entities in Romania. The study was based on the structure rates analysed at an economic entity in Hunedoara County, whose object of activity is the wholesale trade of dairy products and edible fats.

Scheme Design and Empirical Research on an Index System for Road Freight in Ningbo Region

As the barometer of the transport market, the freight index reflects the price fluctuations and the variation of the supply-demand relationship. A road freight index system is designed based on the current situation of Ningbo road freight transport market for the necessity of setting the freight index in Ningbo. Models to calculate the average freight indicator are formulated from different perspectives respectively in this paper. Taking the fixed-base index as an example, an empirical case for Ningbo road freight index is analyzed, and the corresponding results prove the validity of the proposed models.

ISSUES WITH A CHAINED-TYPE PRICE INDEX: AN ANALYSIS WITH THE PRODUCER PRICE INDEX

Regarding the recent switch from the fixed base price index to the chained-type price index in many countries, we examine important issues including the selection of the weight to produce more accurate chained-type price indices and to maintain statistical consistency in the time series of a price index in this study. We determine that the actual weight from year t-3 data better produces a more correct chained-type producer price index at t between two available methods of selecting the weights. This weighting method also provides generally better statistical consistency and stability for the chained-type producer price index. We also compare the MAE and RMSE of the price equations of the fixed base and chain indices. Both the unit root test and comparison of the model performance evaluation reveal no critical difference, thus confirming a stability over the two indices. In particular, the substitutability of the chain index for the fixed base index is highly obtained, regardless of the time horizon. Overall, we can confidently assert that the chain index provides a statistical consistency and stability over a fixed base index.

IMPLEMENTING THE REVISED SNA: RECOMMENDATIONS ON PRICE AND VOLUME MEASURES

The 1993 SNA recommends chain volume indices over traditional fixed base indices as the principal measure of year‐to‐year volume movements in economic aggregates. Recognising, however, that “additive consistency” is important to many users, the SNA recommends that countries continue to compile traditional constant price data alongside the chain indices. In addition, the new international guidelines suggest a supply‐use table framework for deriving indices. This paper considers how these demands can be met in practice. Particular attention is paid to deriving chain indices for industry value added within the same framework as that used for final demand components.