Personnel Expenses Research Articles

Multi-criteria mathematical application using MatLab and C++ for inventories and marketing of acrylic fiber products

Today, companies at a global level compete in the field of technology and available resources to meet the needs and preferences of the market. That is why, at national and local levels, strategies are implemented that allow companies to grow optimally, incorporating new elements in their policies to improve their performance in the marketing of products. The daily challenges that companies face lead to the search for solutions, especially with regard to inventories, which represent a significant capital investment in assets that entail expenses for materials, personnel and storage. This is why practical solutions are required that achieve a balance between customer needs and product rotation. The main objective of this study is to solve this problem by implementing a mathematical model and a computer application that allows finding efficient solutions for order management of the most demanded products in the local and national market. This optimizes resources and achieves a balanced inventory that increases the level of marketing and sales. The computer application is a versatile and practical tool that allows analyzing various elements and speeding up the process of selecting the most suitable products for the market. In the case of the company "Lanas Elsy", the Vilfredo Pareto ABC classification technique is used, combined with a multi-criteria mathematical model and a computer application designed in C# and Matlab. These tools are essential for the development of the company and its inventory strategy at a global level

Evaluation of utilization and consequences of CRP point-of-care-testing in primary care practices: qualitative interviews with general practitioners from Germany.

The use and advantages of point-of-care tests (POCTs) for C-reactive protein (CRP) in general practice, especially for upper respiratory tract infections (uRTIs), have been studied extensively. However, there is limited knowledge about test indications, prerequisites, and integration of these tests into everyday practice. This study aims to investigate the attitudes and experiences of general practitioners (GPs) in Germany regarding the use of semi-quantitative CRP-POCTs. The study places special emphasis on implementation in routine care, including testing procedures, feasibility, opportunities and barriers for specific consultation scenarios, as well as test indications and their impact on GP-patient communication. Qualitative interview study with 10 GPs (May/2023 to Aug/2023) METHOD: Ten German GPs who participated in an observational study on CRP-POCT use in general practices were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Audio recordings were transcribed and content analysis was performed. Interviewed GPs stated that CRP-POCTs offer several advantages for various treatment cases. They improve diagnostic confidence and certainty of GPs' therapeutic decisions, and offer a broad spectrum of indications and application scenarios. Additionally, they have a positive impact on GP-patient communication, and their ease of use enables rapid implementation into existing workflows. On the other hand, CRP-POCT increase the time required for test performance and patient consultation. Due to the numerous benefits of semi-quantitative CRP-POCTs, interviewed GPs have a favourable attitude towards their regular integration into everyday practice. Implementation barriers include increased time and personnel expenses for testing and inadequate reimbursement by German statutory health insurance.

Understanding Market Dynamics and Profitability in Small Ruminant Marketing: An Economic Analysis in Southern Karnataka, India

Small ruminants, particularly sheep and goats, play a crucial role in India's agricultural economy, serving as a significant source of income and livelihood for millions of small and marginalized farmers. In regions like Southern Karnataka, where livestock farming is integral part of rural households as they are not only a source of meat, wool, and milk but also provide financial security during times of economic distress. Despite their importance, the marketing of small ruminants remains largely unorganized, posing significant challenges for farmers. The marketing of small ruminants such as sheep and goat involves the procurement of animals at primary markets from farmers, selling these animals at local markets, and further distribution to terminal markets through wholesalers or commission agents. For sheep and goat farmers, selecting the appropriate marketing channel is crucial, as the benefits they receive are largely dependent on this choice. The chosen channel must minimize marketing costs while maximizing the farmer's share of the consumer's rupee. So, this study was undertaken focusing on analysing the existing marketing channels for small ruminants in Karnataka, particularly sheep and goats, and to evaluate the cost structure of different marketing channels, understand the role of middlemen, and propose measures to reduce marketing costs and improve the farmers' share of profits. In the study area, four primary marketing channels were identified: (1) Farmer → Village Trader → Wholesaler/Butcher, (2) Farmer → Local Trader → Wholesaler/Butcher, (3) Farmer → Local Trader → Farmer, and (4) Farmer → Wholesaler → Distant Trader. The cost of marketing is a significant concern for sheep and goat farmers, encompassing expenses such as transportation, feeding, market fees, middlemen charges, personnel expenses, and loading/unloading fees. The average marketing cost per animal across various channels was ₹91.71, with transportation costs making up the largest portion (49.61%), followed by feeding costs (14.72%) and middlemen charges (17.01%).This highlights the challenges related to high transportation costs and inadequate market facilities, particularly for sheep and goat marketing. So, to improve the marketing efficiency and reduce costs for sheep and goat farmers, there is a need for the establishment of regulated markets for livestock and enhancing the transportation facilities in the rural areas to help farmers realize better prices for their small ruminants.

The efficiency of Complementary Law No. 101 of 05/04/2000 (Fiscal Responsibility Law) in municipal public bodies

The Fiscal Responsibility Law (LRF) is essential to guarantee the financial health and sustainability of public accounts, contributing to the country's economic and social progress. The efficiency of the LRF can be assessed by considering various positive aspects that contribute to improving transparency, balance and efficiency in financial administration. In this context, the general objective of this work is to provide a comprehensive overview of the efficiency of the LRF in the control and transparency of financial accounts, as well as to understand how this legislation influences the functioning of municipal public bodies. In order to achieve the objective, a bibliographical survey was used, focusing on in-depth understanding of human phenomena, processes and experiences through existing writings. As a result of the research, it can be said that in municipal public bodies, the application of the LRF has a direct impact on budgetary, financial and asset management. It establishes limits for personnel expenses, determines transparency in the disclosure of fiscal information, and requires planning and control of public accounts.

Unveiling greenwashing in Colombian manufacturing: A machine learning approach

Greenwashing is the misleading use of environmental claims to market non-eco-friendly products, a growing concern as environmentally conscious consumers seek eco-friendly options. This study aims to identify factors that allow the detection of “greenwashing” practices in Colombian companies across various industrial sectors holding certifications such as ISO14001, the Colombian environmental seal, the district environmental excellence program, or international/regional environmental certifications. We employed a quantitative, cross-sectional methodology using three machine learning algorithms (Decision Tree Classification, Random Forest, Logistic Regression) and the double machine learning technique to identify causal effects and significant variables. Additionally, a greenwashing indicator was formulated, considering two variables: (a) Presence of a comprehensive solid waste management plan, and (b) Presence of a water usage and conservation program. Our findings reveal substantial variations in the adoption of environmental management practices across diverse industrial sectors and regions in Colombia. It is noteworthy that our research emphasizes that: (i) companies with an environmental contingency plan and a monitoring program are less likely to engage in greenwashing; (ii) expenses for personnel dedicated to environmental protection activities and the investment and expenses related to air and climate protection also reduce the likelihood of greenwashing; (iii) companies in the manufacturing of non-metallic mineral products sector are more likely to engage in greenwashing. It was also found that a significant proportion of Colombian industrial companies with environmental certifications do not fully embrace sustainable practices, implying limited effectiveness of environmental certifications in the country (56,09%). This research contributes to the taxonomy of greenwashing by delving into various types identified in the literature. It sheds light on selective disclosure, emphasizing that mere certification without tangible actions can constitute greenwashing. The broadened concept of decoupling now includes not only meeting shareholder expectations but also failing to meet those set by certifications. Attention deflection involves diverting focus toward certifications rather than real investments in environmental practices. Deceptive manipulation occurs when certifications create a misleading perception without concrete actions. Additionally, dubious authorizations and labels are revealed, showcasing the vulnerability of eco-labels to fraud. The study enriches existing categories, viewing certifications as potential instruments for greenwashing, reinforcing the need for substantial, measurable actions to validate sustainability claims.

A Study on Conflict Management in Contracting-out in Public Services

This research explores the dynamics of outsourced labor while specifically analyzing personnel expense proportions in various business categories. Utilizing a Quadrant Framework, businesses are classified based on expertise and autonomy, thereby providing a comprehensive overview. Type I businesses encompass daycare centers with distinct revenue structures regulated by the “Early Childhood Education and Care Act.” Type II businesses include General Meal Service and General Transportation, which operate autonomously without budget support. Type III businesses, which comprise Social Welfare, Call Centers, and others, typically receive budget support and range in expertise from low to moderate. Lastly, Type IV businesses include Education, Health Care, and Technology, and they receive budget support while having moderate to high expertise requirements. However, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions due to the issues involved in precise segmentation of expertise and the division of “budget-supported to autonomous”. The results of this analysis are expected to aid stakeholders in resource allocation strategies, ultimately allowing those within diverse business classifications to optimize their workforce management.

Assessment of cost efficiency in the banking sector of selected countries in Southeastern Europe

This study examines the assessment of cost efficiency in the banking sector of selected countries in Southeastern Europe. In Southeastern Europe (SEE), where over 100 commercial banks operate, these institutions form the backbone of the financial sector, supporting between 80% and 90% of the financial system in five Balkan Peninsula nations. Kosovo stands out for having a lower participation rate (65%), with 80% to 90% of its banks under foreign government control. A study conducted from 2010 to 2021 employed Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a non-parametric technique, to scrutinize the cost-effectiveness and profitability of SEE's banking industry. DEA evaluated SEE's commercial banks in terms of cost efficiency, considering total costs as the dependent variable and inputs including deposits, workforce, and fixed assets. Interest expenses, personnel expenses, and capital-related expenses were compared concerning total deposits and assets, while securities and loans served as outputs. The findings unveiled commendable cost efficiency within SEE's banks. Subsequently, a panel regression analysis utilizing fixed and random effects was performed. Factors like Cost Efficiency, Asset Quality, Market Participation, Debt Ratio, Bank Size, Inflation, Ownership, and Gross Domestic Product were assessed against Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA). The results underscored robust cost control measures within SEE's banks and highlighted significant factors—Cost Efficiency, Asset Quality, Market Participation, Debt Ratio, Bank Size, Inflation, and Ownership—exerting substantial influence on ROA and ROE. These insights offer valuable information for strategic decision-making, aiding stakeholders in developing targeted actions to enhance the financial sustainability and stability of Southeastern Europe's banking sector.

Determinants of compliance with personnel expenses and primary result in Brazilian States: an analysis from 2017 to 2022

Determinants of compliance with personnel expenses and primary result in Brazilian States: an analysis from 2017 to 2022

The effects of intergovernmental transfers on the local fiscal incentives of Brazilian municipalities

The objective of this work is to analyze the impact of fiscal decentralization on the behavior of Brazilian municipal policymakers. This work uses the first three cutoffs of the transfer rules of the Municipal Participation Fund (FPM) and applies a regression discontinuity designs (RDD) to capture the effects that have impacted municipal budget rates from 2013 to 2016. The comportment hypothesis is that transfer gains can generate (a) perverse incentives, if the gains are earmarked for personnel and administrative expenses or if they decrease revenue, or (b) beneficial incentives, if the main gains are spent on education or health. The results found for the estimates of the data panel model suggest that an increase in exogenous revenue generates a significant increase only in spending on administrative and sports and leisure functions and that the possible channel for this increase in expenses should be aimed at increasing the number of employees with commissioned position. These results indicate that the transfers generate only perverse incentives. This article explores how local managers allocate their resources according to their additional budget. Unlike the other works, we look for the mayor's behavior in relation to spending on the employment of commissioned civil servants, which can lead to perverse incentives.

Determinants of Profitability and Risk-taking in Pakistani Commercial Banks: Dynamic GMM Approach

The study used interest rate, exchange rate and banks size as variables of study. The panel data of 22 Pakistan commercial banks about2009 to 2020, STATA Panel Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and general methods of moments (GMM) estimator is used, and results indicate that in Pakistani banks management efficiency is has high power over shareholder to make profits and involve in risk taking projects. Bank size increase highlights better performance but and a disadvantage to use funds in investments for future growth. Diversification in banks is not a helpful factor to bring change in risk portfolios during financial crises. The liquidity inverse relation causes less availability of resource to boost financial performance and default lending result in credit risk. High proportion of assets utilized for personnel expense raise risk-taking ratio for operation in Pakistan. Banks should avoid the adverse selection of risks with proper performance policy, as to safeguard from hostile economic situations.

Financial Inclusion Convergence in Low-Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries

The study used interest rate, exchange rate and banks size as variables of study. The panel data of 22 Pakistan commercial banks about2009 to 2020, STATA Panel Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and general methods of moments (GMM) estimator is used, and results indicate that in Pakistani banks management efficiency is has high power over shareholder to make profits and involve in risk taking projects. Bank size increase highlights better performance but and a disadvantage to use funds in investments for future growth. Diversification in banks is not a helpful factor to bring change in risk portfolios during financial crises. The liquidity inverse relation causes less availability of resource to boost financial performance and default lending result in credit risk. High proportion of assets utilized for personnel expense raise risk-taking ratio for operation in Pakistan. Banks should avoid the adverse selection of risks with proper performance policy, as to safeguard from hostile economic situations.

평양의 여성병원

KoangHyoeNyoWon (廣惠女院, Women's Hospital of Extended Grace) was opened in Pyengyang in 1898. I looked into the process of the dispensary's establishment, and some of its medical service activities, its personnel and financial operations, and the history of the changes KoangHyoeNyoWon had undergone.
 KoangHyoeNyoWon was established in Pyengyang by the WFMS (Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society) to provide medical services for women as an independent medical enterprise. The first attempt to open a women’s clinic failed in 1894, but in 1898, KoangHyoeNyoWon began operations. It built a system of medical services in cooperation with Giholbyeowon (the Hall Memorial Hospital), which was another clinic established by the Methodist Church. In addition, it tried to extend the medical services not only to women and children, but also to the poor and the disabled; therefore, it had the characteristics of a social welfare center. These facts led KoangHyoeNyoWon to rely on the support of the WFMS. The WFMS had provided KoangHyoeNyoWon with manpower, personnel expenses, medicine, medical facilities, and fees for maintenance, fuel, insurance, etc. In addition, the WFMS had covered the cost of rebuilding and reequipping the dispensary.
 But Jahye Clinic, a colonial medical center, opened in 1910 and competed with KoangHyoeNyoWon, which explains why the dispensary for women had to make changes. By the 1910s, gender discrimination in Joseon had lessened and women were more likely to use hospitals such as Jahye Clinic and Giholbyeowon; at the same time, demands for KoangHyoeNyoWon to become financially independent increased as the financial situation of the WFMS deteriorated. By 1914, there was talk of closing KoangHyoeNyoWon. However, it began to seek solutions to overcome the crisis and to gain financial independence. Several attempts were made to improve medical facilities, support medical education to supply independent manpower, and diversify medical services. Gradually, KoangHyoeNyoWon became a maternity clinic and offered medical care in conjunction with other clinics.
 In the 1920s, KoangHyoeNyoWon was merged with other hospitals—Giholbyeowon (Methodist Church) and Caroline Memorial Hospital (Presbyterian Church). It resulted from the willingness of the missionary society in Joseon to build a large and strong Christian hospital in order to compete with the colonial and national hospitals that wereexpanding aggressively. As a result, KoangHyoeNyoWon became the women’s ward of the United Christian Hospital. Through the merger, women were able to receive better and more comprehensive medical services, making KoangHyoeNyoWon the best choice for women in need. Now it was time for the question of why and how there should be a women’s clinic.

Evaluation of Sustainability Supply Chain Performance in the Food Industry: A Case Study

Evaluating sustainability in the food supply chain has multiple benefits, including reducing environmental impact, meeting regulations, satisfying consumer demands, improving efficiency, and enhancing business reputation. This paper outlines a Sustainability Supply Chain Management (SSCM) framework using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to weigh Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). With 12 variables and 39 KPIs, the method involves data collection, performance measure selection, and analysis. KPIs with lower weight values highlight areas needing improvement, such as recycling costs, personnel expenses, sales responsiveness, eco-friendly labelling, distribution efficiency, green product development, recycled material usage, employee capabilities, product reputation, worker satisfaction, and stakeholder trust. Based on KPI weights, recommendations include prioritizing energy use in production and marketing, ensuring timely product delivery, maintaining product quality, streamlining production processes, focusing on energy efficiency, promoting eco-labelling, fostering eco-awareness, and advancing environmental technology.

Q-Learning based system for Path Planning with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles swarms in obstacle environments

Path Planning methods for the autonomous control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarms are on the rise due to the numerous advantages they bring. There are increasingly more scenarios where autonomous control of multiple UAVs is required. Most of these scenarios involve a large number of obstacles, such as power lines or trees. Despite these challenges, there are also several advantages; if all UAVs can operate autonomously, personnel expenses can be reduced. Additionally, if their flight paths are optimized, energy consumption is reduced, leaving more battery time for other operations. In this paper, a Reinforcement Learning-based system is proposed to solve this problem in environments with obstacles by utilizing Q-Learning. This method allows a model, in this case, an Artificial Neural Network, to self-adjust by learning from its mistakes and successes. Regardless of the map’s size or the number of UAVs in the swarm, the goal of these paths is to ensure complete coverage of an area with fixed obstacles for tasks like field prospecting. Setting goals or having any prior information apart from the provided map is not required. During the experimentation phase, five maps of varying sizes were used, each with different obstacles and a varying number of UAVs. To evaluate the quality of the results, the number of actions taken by each UAV to complete the task in each experiment was considered. The results indicate that the system achieves solutions with fewer movements as the number of UAVs increases. An increasing number of UAVs on a map lead to solutions in fewer moves. The results have been compared, and a statistical significance analysis has been conducted on the proposed model’s outcomes, demonstrating its capabilities. Thus, it is shown that a two-layer Artificial Neural Network used to implement a Q-Learning algorithm is sufficient to operate on maps with obstacles.

Toyota Caetano – A Personnel Budget

The Personnel Expense Budget is a fundamental management support instrument, allowing it to determine how capital is being applied to support this area.This work is a practical application of this methodology

A method for automatic identification and separation of wildlife images using ensemble learning

Camera traps have revolutionized wildlife resource surveys by enabling the acquisition of comprehensive ecosystem information. Camera traps usually produce massive images. Snapshot datasets captured in nature reserves proximate to human habitation often comprise a significant volume of human activity images containing humans or livestock. Manually identifying and labeling wildlife images from large-scale datasets is a labor-intensive task that necessitates a substantial number of professionals and incurs expensive personnel costs. By harnessing the capabilities of deep learning technology to automatically differentiate between wildlife and human activity images, ecologists can solely focus on manually labeling wildlife images that account for a minor fraction of the dataset. This strategic shift can significantly reduce personnel expenses and enhance work efficiency. Existing research usually treats human activity images as ordinary categories and utilizes species recognition methods to automatically identify and filter them. However, when human activity images overwhelmingly predominate the dataset, established species recognition methods are susceptible to misclassifying a substantial proportion of wildlife images as human activity images. This misclassification can potentially result in ecologists missing opportunities to discover or observe wildlife. To tackle this challenge, we proposed an ensemble learning method based on a conservative strategy and current mainstream deep learning frameworks to automatically identify wildlife and human activity images. We validated our method on a camera trap dataset from Lasha Mountain (LSM) in Yunnan, China. The experimental results demonstrated that our method automatically identified wildlife images from the dataset with accuracy, recall, and precision of 95.75%, 94.07%, and 83.89%, respectively. This led to an approximately 80% reduction in personnel costs.

Investing in Ex Ante Regulation: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Patent Examination.

We explore how the Patent Office may improve the quality of issued patents on "secondary" drug features by giving examiners more time to review drug-patent applications. Our findings suggest that current time allocations are causing examiners to issue low quality secondary patents on the margin. To assess the merits of expanding ex ante scrutiny of drug-patent applications at the agency, we set forth estimates of the various gains and losses associated with giving examiners more time, including reduced downstream litigation costs and added personnel expenses, along with both the static gains and dynamic innovation losses associated with earlier generic entry.

A Tool for Managerial Decision Making in Emerging Economies, and Asymmetric Cost Behavior: Evidence from Ecuador

Business sectors may be affected by changes in their activity levels. For this reason, the administration requires tools that allow to show the impact on its profitability. The asymmetry in the behavior of the costs of companies belonging to the economic sectors of beverage production and meat processing in Ecuador for the period between 2012 and 2018 was analyzed. 291 companies that presented activity were studied. For the study of sticky costs, 3 analysis variables were defined: operational income, total costs and expenses, and personnel costs and expenses; to which, four different study techniques were applied. The different analysis techniques show consistent and robust results, with the exception of the estimation using panel data in the meat sector. The study ́s results show an asymmetric behavior within the costs, which suggest an inability for Ecuadorian companies to lower their costs due to a drop on their income, whereas, when their income raises, so does their cost; a fact that matches the recent evidence found worldwide. This asymmetry could be explained by factors such as regulatory rigidity or expectations of a quick business recovery.

Analysis of Budget Allocations for Personnel Expenses in the National Security System

Abstract The National Security System represents the set of institutions with attributions in the area of defence, public order and national security. The National Security System is currently facing a rather large shortage of personnel, which may have serious implications on the public safety climate in Romania. This deficit is partly due to the fact that the world no longer considers employment in this system attractive from the salary point of view. The status of military personnel involves many restrictions and duties, which are not to the liking of new generations, thus reducing the competition for admission to military schools, having implications on the attraction of the best graduates within the National Security System, which can easily lead to its de-professionalization. This paper aims to analyse the budget allocations related to personnel expenses within the institutions that make up the National Security System in Romania, namely the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of National Defence, the Protection and Guard Service and the Special Telecommunications Service, taking into account the number of employees of each institution, in accordance with the information published by the Ministry of Finance.

Analysis of innovative financial methods when forming and managing a team

Within the framework of the presented publication, the author examines the features of the team building process within the framework of project activities, and also highlights methods for forming and managing teams. It is noted that financial methods of forming teams for Google’s advertising division are relevant, as they help to understand how much the company actually spends on personnel. According to the author, an important factor in the issue under consideration is constant monitoring of changes in the structure and volume of costs. To increase the infrastructural relationship between department employees, it is important to use high-quality methods to increase transaction losses. In addition, the work notes that many modern researchers take into account the fact that the speed of processing documentation is proportional to changes in its form and attributive inclusions. The article recommends using a personnel expense report to analyze cost items. The author argues that the report helps to increase the efficiency of the department head, since the reporting in question mobilizes all the important indicators in one tool. The work highlights such a tool as outsourcing, since its key advantage is the use of external contractors to perform various works and services. The author also believes that an important aspect in optimizing working conditions is the implementation of certain measures. Based on the study, the author also formulates the conclusion that in large companies it is important for the head of departments and divisions to have reliable information about his staff, staff turnover for reporting periods, to have information about the distribution of personnel among structural divisions and the concentration of employees among departments and the structure of the company in general, monitor and analyze the staff of the Google advertising department