Low Profit Margins Research Articles

ANALYSIS OF TOTAL DEBT TO ASSET RATIO AND PROFIT MARGIN AS A MEASURE OF COMPANY FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

This research aims to analyze the Total Debt to Asset Ratio (TDTAR) and Profit margin as a measure of a company's financial performance. TDTAR is used to measure a company's debt level in relation to its total assets, while Profit margin is used to measure a company's efficiency in generating net profit from its operating income. These two ratios provide valuable insight into a company's financial condition and profitability. This research identifies that the relationship between TDTAR and Profit margin has important implications in company decision making. A high TDTAR can indicate greater financial risk, especially if it is not balanced with a healthy Profit margin. Conversely, a low Profit margin can indicate operational efficiency problems that need to be corrected. In addition, this research highlights the importance of good financial risk management in managing the relationship between TDTAR and Profit margin. Companies need to understand the impact of these two ratios on their profitability, financial stability and financial decisions. Clear communication with stakeholders is also a key factor in building trust and support. In conclusion, TDTAR and Profit margin analysis are important tools in measuring a company's financial performance. Wise use of these two ratios can help companies plan, manage risks and achieve their financial goals well. This research provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between these two ratios and their implications in the context of corporate decision making.

At what cost? Environmental regulation and corporate cash holdings

This paper examines the relation between environmental protection laws and corporate cash holdings. Using a panel of public firms across 31 countries, we show that laws protecting the environment reduce cash holdings, consistent with environmental protection regulations weakening firms’ liquidity positions through heightened operating costs and lower profit margins. In cross-sectional analyses, we document that high-market power firms and firms in countries with lenient anti-tax avoidance rules suffer from cash-holding reductions to a lesser extent. Overall, these findings suggest that environmental protection laws map negatively into firms’ cash balances and shed new light on the economic consequences of environmental laws.

Xiaomi Current Marketing Strategies and Future Penetration into European Market

Mobile devices and internet are some of the most prominent technologies in the modern world. Xiaomi is a Chinese hardware company that is most notable for their rapid success through their efficient smartphone development and unique monetization strategy. Xiaomis attempts at growing business through formation of subsidiary companies have found short term success within the Chinese and Indian market. This study analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of Xiaomi's marketing strategy through literature analysis. The results showed that Xiaomis past strategies has limited benefits to their efforts to spread influence and gain market share within the European market. The growth of Xiaomi has been hindered by its brand image and outdated strategy. It is suggested for Xiaomi to distance their future strategies of enhancing brand image from their current brand image. One way for them to do so is the establishment of new subsidiary brands that leaves behind the low profit margin, high sales count strategy of the parent company. Xiaomis internet marketing strategy can also be enhanced through celebrity and event sponsorship.

The Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Performance in Companies Listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Abstract The COVID-19 virus pandemic had an impact on all segments of life, including dally operations of companies. Companies had to adapt to market developments and change their business philosophy in order to survive in the market. This paper showed how the crisis caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic affects the business of companies. This study aims to examine the business performance indicators (BPI) of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR). In order to examine this, a multivariate regression analysis was conducted. The findings show that there were no changes in the BPIs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in companies in relation to CSR strategy. The only exception was found in the group of CSR companies that reported a lower profit margin during the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies with better BPIs may be willing to introduce CSR principles into their strategy and during the pandemic, intangibles influenced CSR strategy in a negative way. The limitations of the article are related to the study of only one market. Identified relationships allowed for a better understanding of the application of social responsibility principles among enterprises in Central Europe.

Meesho: reselling in the grocery or e-commerce segment?

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes of this case study are as follows: to understand the concept of social commerce and how it is different from e-commerce business, to discuss the unique features of Meesho’s social commerce model, to understand concepts of entrepreneurship (e.g. addressing the gap through business, pivoting), to understand the dynamics of online grocery market and e-commerce market and to apply business strategy concepts to make recommendations. Case overview/synopsis This case study presents Meesho, an organization in social commerce in India. Meesho was founded by Indian Institute of Technology graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in the year 2015 to help the small business owners with online selling. It was initially launched as an app that connected local retailers to the customers. Owing to low customer interest and low profit margins, they pivoted the business to a reseller app that facilitated the individuals and small retailers to resell the wholesalers’ products (unbranded and long-tail products) to the customers on social media channels. However, the tough competition from other start-ups in social commerce and retail giants such as Amazon and Flipkart who targeted the same customers impacted their growth. After receiving a funding of US$300m, the founders were considering if they should enter the e-commerce market and directly compete with giants such as Amazon and Flipkart or extend the product line to the online groceries market and compete with dominant players such as BigBasket and Blinkit. Through this case study, the students could be provided an opportunity to evaluate a situation, apply the strategic management concepts and make a recommendation on the strategic plan. Complexity academic level The case study can be taught in the business and strategy courses at the graduate and postgraduate levels in business schools. It is also suitable for the entrepreneurship course with focus on e-commerce start-up and sustainability, which is also taught at the MBA level. This case study can also be used in executive development programs for abovementioned courses. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Promised-delivery-time-driven reselling facing global platform's private label competition: Game analysis and data validation

In e-commerce operations, many brands participate with global platforms such as JD.com under the reselling mode because of platforms’ high-quality logistics service and consumers’ preference for products sold in JD.com's retail channel. However, a brand's reselling through platform participation may be challenged by the competition from platforms’ private label products. We therefore conduct a multi-methodological study to examine a brand's reselling decision using both game-theoretical analysis and big data validation based on JD.com's transaction-level data. We first validate the value of platform reselling through the batch gradient descent algorithm, and then develop a game-theoretical model to formulate the impact of the platform's private label competition. We find that echoing the data analysis results, the platform's significant channel advantage and the high logistics service level encourage a brand to adopt the reselling mode rather than the direct-selling mode through its self-channel. Interestingly, the impact of competitiveness of the platform's private label product is non-monotonic. The brand may prefer reselling through the platform only when the platform's private label competitiveness is moderate, as the brand's profit will be hurt by a small sales quantity /a low profit margin when the platform's private label competitiveness is low/high. We further identify a win-win situation between the brand and the platform when the brand chooses the reselling mode. This study uncovers the sophisticated interactions among channel advantage, logistics service level, and platform's private label competitiveness, as well as its impact on brands’ sales strategies.

Evaluating the Economic Feasibility of Verjus Production in Texas Vineyards and Wineries

This study assessed the economic viability of producing verjus (“green juice”) from cluster-thinned grapes. Utilizing the Delphi Method and insights from an expert panel, a comprehensive partial budget model was constructed for vineyards and wineries, focusing on the financial impact of verjus production. Existing vineyards with cluster thinning practices benefited from verjus production. However, vineyards considering cluster thinning solely for verjus may face lower profit margins without a substantial increase in grape harvest prices. Winery operations were also examined, comparing costs of using verjus as an acidifying agent for wine and producing it as a bottled product. Verjus was relatively more expensive than tartaric acid for acidification, but added volume could offset the cost, making it desirable. Additionally, as a standalone product, verjus showed promising profitability, presenting an opportunity for wineries to explore this niche market and expand product offerings. In conclusion, existing vineyards could benefit from verjus production, while wineries could consider using verjus as an acidifying agent or explore its use as an individual product. Careful consideration of costs and market demand is crucial for informed decisions regarding verjus production.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND MARKETING CHANNEL OF SESAME (SESAMUM INDICUM L.) FARMERS’ WILLINGNESS TO TRADE THROUGH MIDDLEMEN IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA

The research was carried out to determine the socio-economic characteristics and marketing channel of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) farmers’ willingness to trade through middlemen in Bauchi State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 204 and 60 sesame farmers and marketers, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed an average age of 40 years; majority (84.8% and 80.0%) farmers and marketers, respectively, were married. Majority (89.7% and 96.7%) farmers and marketers, respectively, were males with average household size of 7 persons. About 63% of the sesame farmers had land size range of 1-4 hectares. Almost half of the farmers (41.2%) and marketers (30.3%) have between 6-10 years of experience with a minimum of secondary education of 43.1% and 41.7%, respectively. Most (73.0%) of the sesame farmers did not belong to any cooperative society and contrary to the marketers with 91.7% belonged to various cooperative societies. Majority (58.8% and 98.3%) of farmers and marketers were purely crop farmers and agro marketers, respectively. More than half 65.2% of the farmers were willing to trade through middlemen and 34.8% of the farmers preferred not to deal with middlemen. Majority (90.0%) of the farmers sold sesame produce through village collectors before it reaches the end user. Poor pricing (70.1%), exploitative practices of the middlemen (63.2%), low profit margin (58.3%) and prolonged, deceiving and deceit bargaining (47.5%) were the major constraints faced by the sesame farmers in dealing with middlemen in the study area. The study concluded that sesame farmers and marketers were young, agile and economically productive; middlemen were found to be highly resourceful though posed serious challenge in the marketing channel of sesame. The study recommended marketing intervention by government in sesame marketing activities like involving price appreciation, reduction in the cost of marketing, formulating and implementing marketing policies and rules by government targeted at improving infrastructures such as roads and providing marketing information outfit for sustainable improving the marketing efficiency.

Asymmetric corporate tax compliance: Evidence from a tax reform in China

Using China's 2008 corporate tax reform as a quasi-natural experiment, we construct a difference-in-differences setting to study firms' asymmetric tax compliance. Compared to firms whose taxes were unaffected by the reform, firms whose tax rate increased reported significantly lower profit margins to avoid paying more taxes. However, firms facing a tax cut did not behave differently from the unaffected firms. The asymmetric behavior is valid for private firms, but not for state-owned firms that have softer budget constraints. Such tax avoidance is done through the manipulation of the costs of goods sold and other expenses, rather than managing net receivables.

Market-based approach to promoting home fortification of diets with micronutrient powder through volunteer frontline health workers: A qualitative study.

The potential of market-based approach in distributing micronutrient powder (MNP) through volunteer frontline health workers has been recognized. BRAC, the largest non-government organization (NGO) in Bangladesh, uses Shasthya Shebikas as volunteer frontline health workers to sell MNP for promotion of home fortification (HF) of diets for under-5 children. We aimed to understand the opportunities and challenges of BRAC's market-based approach in promoting HF with MNP. We conducted a descriptive qualitative study in the four selected districts of Bangladesh: Faridpur, Gaibandha, Rangpur, and Rajbari. In-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions were deployed to collect data from purposively-selected Shasthya Shebikas and their immediate supervisors at the field level-Shasthya Kormis, Field Organizers, Managers, and mothers or caregivers of under-5 children. We performed thematic analysis to analyze data. We have found that the Shasthya Shebikas play a critical role in promoting access of MNP by the mother/caregivers of children aged 6-59 months at the community level. They counsel the caregivers to seek primary advice about the product and also informally identify undernourished children so that they can receive special attention regarding the use of MNP. However, low profit margins, over-due payments for the sold sachets, poor collaboration with and free distribution of MNP by other NGOs, and inadequate training of Shasthya Shebikas on marketing of MNP have posed major challenges for them to perform as effective sales agents of the product. The market-based approach in promoting HF with MNP through frontline volunteer health workers shows much potential, with ample opportunities and few possible challenges. Considering the dynamics, the intervention should fine-tune the factors crucial to maximizing the potentials of Shasthya Shebikas for marketing MNP and promoting HF in order to improve nutrition status of the infants and young children.

Research on Foran Energy Transformation Strategy

Hydrogen energy is a critical component of a sustainable and secure energy future, as well as an important development direction of the global energy technology revolution. Accelerating the development of the hydrogen energy industry can help not only to deal with the global environmental crisis, but also to ensure energy supply and achieve sustainable national energy development. By the end of 2021, there had been more than 10 provincial and municipal hydrogen energy industry plans, as well as more than 30 regional and county hydrogen energy special plans, and the central and local governments at all levels issued policies to promote the increase of hydrogen density, as well as further increased subsidies. Foran Energy is one of many companies making the switch to hydrogen. This article will be based on Foran Energy's data for the first half of 2022, combining the surrounding environmental situation to solve the phenomenon of low profit margins following Foran Energy's transformation. The study found that the company can improve its profit margin by adapting to the world situation and adjusting its development strategy.

The Implementation of Analytical Hierarchy Process to Choose the Best Solution to Increase Mould Maker Profit

Mould Maker is a company that buy and sell machine for their main business activity. Mould maker have long time machine waiting time to be sold and have low profit margin. The longer the time taken by a machine to be sold, the higher the maintenance cost for the machine. Besides, Mould Maker always purchase machines for their stock in every offer that comes to Mould Maker, so they have overstocked machine in their workshop. With many and vary type of machines that they have, Mould Maker can utilize the machines to increase their profit margin. Mould Maker have good business environment from the external factor analysis. As for internal analysis, Mould Maker still have room for improvement, some of them are the number of their stock and the number for decision maker. Caused by their low profit margin, Mould Maker cannot hire high value employee to be one of the decision makers. The problem that Mould Maker face is how to improve their profit by utilizing the machines that they have. Further analysis needed to solve this problem. The SWOT analysis used to find some strategies and need to be fit with the problem faced by Mould maker. The strategies that able to be implemented are rent their machine, accepting manufacture order, improving stock policy, boost marketing strategy, and purchasing car to help Mould Maker to sell their product. From the strategy alternatives, AHP method is used to choose the best strategy. With AHP method, the best solution can be chosen by considering the value from each consideration criteria. For this research, the best solution proposed by AHP method is to accept manufacture order.

Facilitating Entrepreneurship Interest among Bricklaying, Block Laying and Concreting Students in Technical Colleges in Katsina State

Entrepreneurship, which often involves learning about how to launch and expand a firm, is frequently considered a topic for students of business disciplines rather than technical students. At light of this, the study identified the elements that encouraged entrepreneurial interest among students studying bricklaying, block laying, and concrete in technical colleges in Katsina State. The 55 participants for the survey research study were 34 BBC students, 10 BBC teachers, and 9 administrators from the three Government Technical Colleges in Katsina State. The complete population was employed for the study due to the manageable size of the population, which is why the purposive sampling approach was used. A structured questionnaire designed by the researchers under the name Facilitating Entrepreneurship Interest Questionnaire (FEIQ) served as the data gathering tool. The instrument was evaluated by three specialists, and Cronbach Alpha yielded a reliability rating of 0.86. The mean and standard deviation were utilized to answer the study questions, and a 0.05 level of significance ANOVA was employed to test the null hypotheses. The results showed that: family background, student participation in entrepreneurship, exposure to entrepreneurship courses, low profit margin, and inability to identify business opportunity, lack of proper guidance in business, and lack of start-up capital are the factors influencing bricklaying/block laying and concrete students' interest in participating in entrepreneurship in Government Technical Colleges of Katsina State. To encourage and foster the spirit of entrepreneurship in the students, it was suggested that the National Education Research and Development Center create entrepreneurship curricula that would be taught as a standalone subject at technical colleges.

The promotion and application of green remanufacturing: a case study in a machine tool plant.

Low parts utilization, high resource consumption, and low profit margins have become the main factors hindering the development of machine tool remanufacturing in China. A machine tool manufacturing company was taken as a case to investigate the improvement of the remanufacturing production line. The remanufacturing workshop and production line of the case enterprise have been completely re-planned, adding remaining life assessment, additive manufacturing, quality monitoring, and reassembly quality control. After applying the new production line, the energy consumption and water consumption of each remanufacturing machine tool were reduced by 29.87 kgce and 0.042 m3, respectively, and the pollutants generated were reduced by 4.352kg. With the increase in remanufactured machine tool capacity, the part reutilization has increased by 26.9%. Despite satisfactory results, machine remanufacturing still faces many difficulties in China. Combined with case enterprises, the current situation of machine tool remanufacturing in China was discussed, and several suggestions for promoting remanufacturing in Chinese manufacturing companies were put forward.

Cash Flow Impact and Trade Policy: Case Study of Central Banks of South Sudan

The purpose of this study was to asses the cash flows and its impact on trading policy. The research design adapted case study in which target population was 100 with sample size of 50 respondents, the researcher employed simple random sampling technique to select the respondent. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Data analysis was presented in table with emphasis of frequencies and percentage, traders used cash flow as a means of judging a business's financial foundations. results finding majority, 67% of the respondent were agreed for that statement, 4% of respondents were those of the trade policy can be defined as goals, rules, standards, and regulations that are involved in the trade between countries, 22%, of respondents were poor particular to a specific country and are formed by its public officials, 7% were those of when the policies of financial statements are not in proper manner. Other majority of respondents also shows their views with statement that, methods of preparing cash flow statement. The majority, 56% of the respondent were inadequate education skills, 11% of respondents were direct method, 22% of respondents were low level of health, 11% lack of interest. The majority respondents also indicate that, the policy aims of financial statement, to speed up the inflows and slow down the outflows in the company or financial institutions. Other majority of respondents also shows their views with statement that, 56% were those of Cash flow issues can arise from low-profit margins, 18% of respondent interest on savings and investments, 26% of respondents increased bank overdrafts or loans. The majority respondents were indicated that, the policy aims of financial statement, to speed up the inflows and slow down the outflows in the financial institutions. Other majority of respondents also shows their views with statement that, 71% were those of Cash flow issues can arise from low-profit margins. In the conclusion, central Bank should increase powers on controlling rate of hard currency and improve the system as to use electronic system for controlling random cash outflow. With aims to manage liquidity and maintaining price stability as the key responsibility.

Healthcare Associated Infections, Nurse Staffing, and Financial Performance.

Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) are a concern to patients, hospital administrators and policymakers. For over than a decade, efforts have been made to hold hospitals accountable for the costs of HAIs. This study uses contingency theory as a framework to examine the association between HAIs and hospital financial performance. We use publicly available data on 2059 hospitals in 2014 to 2016 that include HAIs, staffing financial performance, and hospital and hospital market characteristics. The key independent variables are available infection rates and nurse staffing. The dependent variables are indicators of financial performance: operating margin, total margin, and days cash on hand. We find nearly identical negative direct associations between infections and operating margins and total margins (-0.07%), and positive associations between the interaction of infections and nurse staffing (0.05%). A 10% higher infection rate would be predicted to be associated with only a 0.2% lower profit margin. The associations between HAIs, nurse staffing and days cash on hand were insignificantly different from zero.

Initiatives towards inclusive trading practices of rice value chain in Pila, Laguna, Philippines

Rice industry in the Philippines is beset with environmental, social, and economic concerns resulting in low farmer incomes, lack of food security and meager competitiveness. This study aimed to develop inclusive interventions on rice trading practices involving smallholder farmers. Primary data were derived from baseline interviews from farmers, traders, millers, wholesalers, and retailers to assess trading practices involved in the chain. Stakeholder consultations were also conducted to validate the findings and identify strategies for the initiatives. Based on the results, the major challenges identified include high production and marketing costs of paddy attributed to high material inputs and labor costs. This leads to a low profit margin for smallholder farmers. This gap relates to poor market linkage that limits the ability of farmers to receive higher prices for their produce. Interventions involving the improvement of marketability through market innovation were prioritized to address the gap. Recommendations concerning reducing institutional barriers towards smallholder farmers was provided to broaden adoption of inclusive trading practices and foster a more equitable and sustainable rice value chain.

Ball mill energy efficiency optimization techniques: A review

Ball mills are essential machinery in the mining industry, thermal power-producing companies, and cement manufacturing companies, for grinding different ores, grinding coal into pulverized coal, and processing cement clinkers into fine powder cement or pulp. Their design operational and energy inefficiencies are because of drivetrain inefficiencies, output load rerun, lifter face angle configuration, and poor load classifiers, with energy inefficiency topping the list of inefficiencies. These inefficiencies bring about lower production rates and huge energy costs aggravating lower profit margins. Notably, out of the total energy consumed by a ball mill, only 1% is used productively for grinding purposes while the bulk, over 80% of the energy is wasted in heat generation and carried away by the slurry or dissipated into the atmosphere. Numerous design innovations have been done on ball mills but these inefficiencies still persist, hence the need to further design an energy-efficient ball mill for industrial use. This review sought to outline and discuss the ball mill energy efficiency optimization methods which had been very limitedly explored by most researchers. There is a need to determine the ball mill energy waste by carrying out practical experiments and simulations using CFDDEM analysis.

“Land Wickedness”: Technological Change, Institutions, and the Making of an Environmental Disaster in the Mining District of Cartagena-La Unión (Spain), 1840–1992

This study seeks to analyze the continuity and survival of the mining sector in one of the most long-lived mining districts in the world, and the socioeconomic externalities that arose over a period of 150 years. Its most characteristic element was the development of two diametrically opposed business models in the same space: one based on a system of very small-scale mines, which were highly labor-intensive with a low capitalization, and another that was implemented in the 1950s based on a large-scale model, which was intensive in capital but with lower profit margins. In both cases, the activity had a growing impact on the environment and little spillover effects on other economic activities. The process of environmental degradation culminated in the 1960s–1980s with the pollution of an extensive stretch of the Mediterranean coastline and the complete disappearance of Portmán Bay, in what was possibly the most important environmental disaster in the history of the Mediterranean Sea. The institutional framework in which this activity took place played a key role in all of this.

Socio-Economic Importance of Solar Energy Application in Poultry Production System

Solar energy is a renewable, inexhaustible and affordable form of energy that could help mitigate climate change in poultry production systems. Its application as an emerging technology in poultry production systems is not common among the Nigerian poultry farmers. This paper presents a survey of poultry farms in Enugu State, Southeast, Nigeria. The purpose of the survey was to ascertain the status of solar energy application in Poultry production systems in the state. A survey was conducted on the methods farmers use in poultry day-old chicks brooding technology. A total of 60 poultry farms were selected at random for the survey. Data was collected using a 25 structured questionnaire items. It was observed that two types of poultry brooding methods were in use by the poultry farmers. These were conventional method (the use of fossil fuel and electric power), and non-conventional method (the use of solar energy) respectively. Survey results showed that out of 60 respondents 25% and 65% used kerosene, and combined electric/kerosene brooding methods in their brooding operations respectively. Only 10% of the respondents have used solar energy technology in their poultry brooding operations. The average mortality rates were 22.38%, 12.17% and 2.97% for kerosene, combined electric/kerosene, and solar energy respectively, while US$474.54, US$2,456.34 and US$49.1, were the respective average energy cost implications for each brooding methods eight times in a year. Solar energy was observed to have the lowest mortality rate and the least energy cost implications among the rest. Further response from the farmers showed inadequate power supply, greenhouse gas emission, fire outbreak and low profit margins characterized kerosene, and the combined electric/kerosene usage while solar energy application was observed to be environmentally and user friendly with low mortality rate and low energy cost. Solar energy utilization therefore appears the most attractive option because of the advantages it has over others. Its use in poultry brooding production will improve and enhance environmental air quality, healthy chicks’ production with higher profit margins. Its wide application in poultry production in Enugu State, Nigeria however, demands sensitization and educational awareness among the stakeholders.