Sugar Manufacturing Company Research Articles

Analysis of Mental Workload in Sugar Factory Production Workers Using the NASA-TLX Method

Company XYZ is a sugar manufacturing company where it has several processing sequence including milling until crystallization. Methods used in this research are NASA-TLX in order to measure mental workload of employees caused by a severe work environment such as dust and gas exposure, and a not optimum temperature. The findings shed a light on the significant of Own Performance (OP) among the others parameter of NASA-TLX. Showing that the main component of workers’ stress are coming from the performance itself with 534.333 index of OP. With the laboratory works at the company makes the top compared to the other jobs. This study shows company XYZ to improve in certain aspects. This will help improvements to be on target.

Outbound Logistics And Profitability Among Sugar Manufacturing Firms In Kenya: A Literature Review

The global role of outbound logistics in supply chain processes and supply chain distribution cannot be overemphasized. Reviewed literature has shown that empirical tests have been done in relation to outbound logistics and profitability. However, minimal research work has been done on establishing the link between outbound logistics and profitability, particularly among sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya. Semi-systematic review was utilized using secondary data.. The literature reviewed in this study was in regard to sugar manufacturing firms in Kenya published between 2011-2021. The philosophy guiding this study was positivism which is a deductive approach. The review established a significant positive influence of outbound logistics on the profitability of the firms. Evidence links the profitability of sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya and outbound logistics. It was recommended that the firms enhance their focus on outbound logistics in order for their profitability to continue to improve. Researchers can increase activity on this subject and context.

EFFECT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY COSTS ON THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF SUGAR MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN KENYA

<p>The impact of CSR costs on financial performance is becoming increasingly important to a wide variety of corporate stakeholders. It is considered to be one of the instruments that businesses need to use to establish and maintain a calm working atmosphere. Engaging in corporate social responsibility and their disclosures are common in the recent business setting around the globe. Corporate social responsibility has become more significant over the past decades, and the validity of research on how it is associated with firm performance remains uncertain and incomplete. Many public and private Sugar manufacturing firms in Kenya have been facing poor financial performance, and some are closing up, even after receiving funding from the government. Consequently, this study aimed to establish the effects of corporate social responsibility cost on the financial performance of sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya. The specific objectives of this study were; to assess the effect of community development costs on the financial performance of sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya, to examine the effect of environmental responsibility costs on the financial performance of public and private sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya, and to evaluate the effect of economic responsibility costs on the financial performance of sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya. The study was guided by the stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and theory of the firm. The study adopted a correlation research design. The study's target population was 12 sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya. A census sampling technique was used to select all 12 sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya. A secondary data collection sheet was used to document information from audited financial statements of the companies downloaded from the website from 2012 to 2021. Panel Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Panel regression analysis indicated that community development costs, economic responsibility costs and environmental responsibility costs had a significant effect on financial performance with a coefficient of 0.2146, 0.2896, 0.2728 and p-value of 0.006, 0.000, and 0.000. The study depicted that corporate social responsibility costs had a significant effect on financial performance with an R2 of 0.29 which implied that corporate social responsibility costs explain 29% of the financial performance of sugar companies in Kenya. Therefore, the study concluded that corporate social responsibility costs improve financial performance. The study recommended that the management of sugar companies should provide more funds to community development costs, policymakers should develop strategic policies that would enhance the practice of economic social responsibility, and respond to environmental demands for a cleaner environment.<br /> <br /><strong>JEL:</strong> Q10; L60; L66</p>

Energy Performance Modeling of a Sugar Manufacturing Industry

Effective energy monitoring, reporting, and management strategies for wise energy usage is one of the objectives of Energy Management. Numerous researches have highlighted the extremely good profits of imposing business and industrial energy management measures. Notably, a number of those research display that extra financial savings may be found out in growing international locations. Unfortunately, industries in developing countries like Nigeria are lagging behind in the adoption of energy management measures and as such missing the benefits of implementation. This research study sets out to evaluate the energy consumption performance in manufacturing industry in order to showcase the gains of energy management in manufacturing industry. Data on weekly energy consumption (in MW) and weekly production of sugar (in Bags, 50kg/bag) were obtained from a sugar manufacturing company in southwestern Nigeria. Energy management data analysis and modeling was done using linear regression plot of energy consumption against production; energy intensity plot and cumulative sum of difference (CUSUM) plot respectively. The energy performance model was obtained from the linear regression plot and two parameters namely incremental energy consumed per bag (per kg) of sugar produced and “no-production” energy consumption are the performance measures. The model showed that the incremental energy consumed per bag (or per kg) is 0.00008 MW/Bag or 80W/Bag or 1600W/kg while the no-production energy consumption is 211.73 MW. Results also reveals that the no-production activities consumed energy more when compared with the actual energy used for production. CUSUM identified five periods when energy consumption gave higher and increased production thereby showing that CUSUM charts are more effective in detecting changes in energy consumption. The research study has shown how energy management data analysis can be helpful in taking decision that will enhance increased production and reduction of no-production energy consumption activities.
 Keywords: Energy management, CUSUM, Performance model, Energy, No-production energy consumption

The Role of Cost Structure in Working Capital Management in theIndian Sugar Industry

This study examines the role of cost structure in working capital management for sugar manufacturing companies in India. The study uses fixed-effects panel regression models and the sample for the study included fifteen listed sugar manufacturing companies for the period 2008-18. The key results of the study were that employee expenditure has significant positive impact on the current ratio, the payables cycle, and the cash conversion cycle, and significant negative impact on the total assets turnover ratio and the fixed assets turnover ratio and that sales/administrative expenditure has significant positive impact on the total assets turnover ratio, the fixed assets turnover ratio, and the inventory turnover ratio, and significant negative impact on the inventory cycle and the cash conversion cycle. The results suggest that the cost structure variables of employee expenditure and selling/administrative expenditure may play a mediating role between firm-level variables and working capital variables, with direct and indirect effects; whereas the cost structure variables of raw materials expenditure and power/fuel expenditure may not play such a mediating role. These direct and indirect effects may be tested using structural equation methods in subsequent studies.

Board Characteristics and Financial Performance of Government-Owned Sugar Manufacturing Companies in Kenya

The board of directors is tasked with the obligation and the responsibility of administering changes and operations that support the mission of the organization to realize its vision. Kenya in the recent past, has witnessed a number of organizations listed in the NSE collapsing with the board of directors taking the blame. Specifically, the study sought to establish the association between; board diversity, board independence, board size and financial performance of government-owned sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya. The study sought to determine whether firm attributes have a moderating impact on the relationship between board characteristics and financial results of Kenyan government-owned sugar manufacturing companies. The study adopted the Agency Theory and Stewardship Theory. The study targeted the Government-Owned Sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya during the years 2000 to 2016 when the companies were operational. The study used secondary data where panel data was used. The findings indicated that board diversity and financial performance of government-owned sugar manufacturing companies. In addition, board independence and financial performance of government-owned sugar manufacturing companies was also significant. Board Size had a positive but insignificant relationship with financial performance of government-owned sugar manufacturing companies in Kenya. Firm attributes had no significant moderating effect on the relationship between board characteristics and financial performance of government-owned sugar manufacturing companies. The study recommended that the board members should consist of at least half gender diversity of the board members as determined by the board based on the requirements stipulated by the trade authority. Further, the study recommended that the board members must be independent directors, and their independence should be continuously maintained and reviewed at least annually. Keywords: Board Diversity, Board Independence, Board Size, Firm Attributes & Financial Performance

The competitiveness of the EU sugar industry

This research investigates competitiveness of sugar manufacturing companies of the European Union (EU). Sugar industry represents a vital part of the EU food and beverages industry. The aim of the research is to show how EU sugar producers can be more competitive on internal and global sugar market. The methodology includes dynamic panel data models using sample covering up to 189 sugar manufacturing companies from 25 EU Member States in the period 2008- 2016. The key results demonstrate different impact of technology (Research and development activity), investments, sugar beet production, costs of employees, gas and sugar beet prices on average revenue of the EU sugar industry. The results confirm the importance of inputs such as natural gas, revenues from the previous period and investments as key factors of EU sugar industry competitiveness. The proposals and recommendations are presented after research results.

Alternative Strategies for Dealing with Idle Capacity in Global Supply Chains

This paper considers a global supply chain strategy consisting of a host market strategy where three manufacturing plants are located in three regions and each plant covers demand in a region. The case considered is a global blood sugar manufacturing company. Manufacturing plants are designed considering layered cellular design approach under stochastic demand. This approach allows three cell types; a) dedicated cells where each dedicated cell can be used only by one family, b) shared cells where a cell can be shared by two product families, and c) remainder cells where a cell can be used by three or more families. Later, we focus on how to fill idle capacity in manufacturing facilities based on demand and future potential markets. Increasing utilization of resources is important as long as it improves profits. We consider two options; 1) lowering the selling price of the product to increase the overall demand, 2) looking into new potential markets for the product itself. Considering the GDP and other economic attributes of new regions, we want to investigate if introducing our product to the new market will be beneficial for the overall good of the company. The main focus of this paper is to compare these two strategies considering labor cost, machine investment, and transportation of the product using heuristics and the results are then translated into potential profits that the company could achieve under two supply chain strategies.

A Study on the Impact of Psychological Capital on Organizational Commitment of Staff Employees: With Special Reference to a Sugar Manufacturing Company in Sri Lanka

A Study on the Impact of Psychological Capital on Organizational Commitment of Staff Employees: With Special Reference to a Sugar Manufacturing Company in Sri Lanka

Bagasse-based co-generation at Hippo Valley Estates sugar factory in Zimbabwe

The paper reports on the assessment of the use of bagasse for cogeneration purposes at Hippo Valley Estates (HVE), a sugar manufacturing company in Zimbabwe. Much emphasis was on an assessment of the quantity of energy that was lost due to inefficient combustion of bagasse and the use of steam that was generated. The study investigated the quantity of sugar cane processed and the possible corresponding steam produced; the sugarcane processed was found to be approximately 2.33 million tons per annum and the steam produced was 193.1 tons per hour. The steam was used in the process department as well as to drive mills. The excess steam generated was found to be 81.03 tons per hour. Economic analysis on the use of excess steam to produce extra power for sale to the utility company was also undertaken. It was established that the power plant for the company could generate an annual surplus of US2.8Million as revenue, and the payback period was found to be 3.3 years. The sensitivity analysis of the project indicated that the electricity prices as well as the energy produced were the most sensitive areas in the project. The other inputs such as operations and maintenance costs, interest, capital investment and number of years were not as sensitive as the price and the energy.

Capital Structure Relation to the Performance of an Organization: Private Sugar Manufacturing Companies

The sugar industry contributes extensively to the economy of Kenya. Despite this, in the recent past, the sector has faced a myriad of problems which led to a decline in financial performance. The paper determined the relationship between debt to equity ratio, debt to asset ratio, long-term debt ratio and the financial performance of private sugar manufacturing organizations. It also determined the correlation linking capital structure and the financial performance of private sugar sector. A cross-section survey was adopted as research design. Census of all the six private sugar firms in Kenya that had been in operation since the year 2010 to 2017. It relied on secondary data which was collected through secondary data collection schedule from published accounts of the participating firms. The paper adopted multiple regression models. The content pass through content validity index, supervisors and research experts. Audited published accounts from authentic source were used to increase reliability. The research findings showed that debt equity ratio had significant effect on financial performance, debt asset ratio has no significant effect on financial performance, long term debt equity ratio has a significant effect on financial performance and moderating factor of firm size has no effect on financial performance. In conclusion capital structure has no effect on financial performance of private manufacturing sugar companies. The study recommends that the debt equity ratio, long term debt ratio be considered, Firms should consider borrowing if they are able to repay.

Succession planning and staff retention challenges: An industrial outlook and major risks

The sugar manufacturing industry in the emerging economy is potentially at high risk of not achieving its goals of increasing production output. This is due to higher than average age of growers, nonexistence of effective succession planning to expedite the transition to a new generation of growers, related increasing departure of farmers from the industry and difficulty in attracting new talent to the industry due to the high cost of entry. This research sought to explore managements’ perceptions of succession planning and the impact it has on retention at a Sugar Manufacturing Company. In order to achieve the research aim and objectives, a qualitative approach was utilised in the form of an exploratory case study. A single case study was also chosen because this is a critical, unique and revelatory case and the researchers had access to the case previously inaccessible to empirical research. Purposive sampling was used and total of 15 managers participated in this study. The study found that the company is not doing enough to implement succession planning programmes even though there are potential candidates who can be trained and developed into management positions.

Influence of Strategic Investment Management Practices on Financial Performance of Sugar Manufacturing Companies in Kenya

Influence of Strategic Investment Management Practices on Financial Performance of Sugar Manufacturing Companies in Kenya

A Critical Analysis of the Impact of Legal Restriction on Management and Performance of an Organisation Diversifying into Nigeria

Africa's economy is growing rapidly and Nigeria occupies a key place in this exponential growth. As the most populous country in Africa, the seventh most populous country in the world and reading available statistics on the growing rate of foreign investments in Nigeria and the future of the Nigerian economy, it is not out of place to conclude that Nigeria is a strategic market for all manner of foreign investments. Nigeria is renowned for her abundant mineral resources and her oil reserves have brought great revenues to her. Nigeria’s promising outlook for investment and future growth has been recognised among the Next Eight economies, as one of the countries with the potentials to becoming one of the largest economies in the 21st century alongside the leading emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Nigeria is largely a free market. The Government of Nigeria is gradually taking its hands off several sectors of the economy and there have been very serious talks about deregulating almost all sectors of the economy and various incentives that have been put in place to encourage investments. However there are certain legal issues under the political factor of a business environment that commonly arise and questions that often come up when foreign investors seek to invest in Nigeria. Nigeria’s laws, polices as well as treaties regarding such things as trade and tariffs regulate the entry of firms, performance of firms and survival of firms within its business environment which is of considerable importance to foreign investors. Nigeria is seen as an emerging market with great potentials, but unlike advanced economies, emerging markets suffer from weak institutions. This dissertation gives advance warning of some lurking problems, it is hoped that any prospective investor will be patient with the running of the course of government approvals, and accept with equanimity as yet unknown surprises and legal challenges. However the prospective investor should know that, in spite of the layers of bureaucracy, the Nigerian government is committed to attracting foreign investment and technology. In view of the current austerity programs, it is doubtful that additional incentives will be made available. This dissertation examined the legal gamut and framework governing foreign investors setting up a business in Nigeria. It highlights the regulatory bodies, processes and procedures that must be followed in obtaining business licences and permits; a critical analysis of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria affecting foreign direct investment and elucidating on the incentives available to foreign investors coming to do business in Nigeria. This paper further discussed two points which are essential to an understanding of Nigerian law, government and practice. One is the good intentions of the government in encouraging foreign investors through incentives. Incentives provided for setting up a business for the purpose of foreign direct investment should be juxtaposed with the bureaucracy involved in getting these incentives. The second point which one must understand about Nigeria is the difference between the written law and practice. What the law says is not as meaningful as the way in which it is applied. Any government bureaucracy worthy of its existence tends to follow unique interpretations of the law, and the Nigerian ministries are no exception. Accordingly, an attempt is made to sort out the illusion of written laws and policy from the substantive ways Nigerian officials apply them and how it affects the performance and management of organisations. To do this a research study was carried out, the research focused on the legal and regulatory framework governing Dogan Nigeria Ltd. Dogan Nigeria Ltd is a European invested company for the purpose of producing quality sugar products in Nigeria. The company is a subsidiary of Ata Ltd. Co.; Ukraine's biggest and market leader cube sugar manufacturing company with more than 70% market share. The qualitative research method is employed describing in details specific situation using interviews as a research tool. The major limitations of this methodology are the issues of confidentiality and anonymity which pose problems during presentation of findings. The inductive approach is used to analyse the data gotten from the respondents using thematic content analysis method. From the analysis of the data, it is seen that there is a significant negative relationship between weak (legal) institutions and high profit, there is also a significant negative relationship between arbitrary change of the law and efficient organizational performance and there is a significant positive relationship between an economy with less political risk and high diversification of organization into that economy. The study also highlights the legal risk faced by foreign investors and the organisation as a result of the country’s weak institution, such risks are corruption, slow judicial system, change in laws and government policies, political unrest and insecurity and lack of infrastructure.

Evaluation of Corporate Sustainability

As a consequence of an increasing demand in sustainable development for business organizations, the eval- uation of corporate sustainability has become a topic inten- sively focused by academic researchers and business practi- tioners. Several techniques in the context of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) have been suggested to facilitate the evaluation and the analysis of sustainability performance. However, due to the complexity of evaluation, such as a com- pilation of quantitative and qualitative measures, interrela- tionships among various sustainability criteria, the assessor's hesitation in scoring, or incomplete information, simple tech- niques may not be able to generate reliable results which can reflect the overall sustainability performance of a company. This paper proposes a series of mathematical formulations based upon the evidential reasoning (ER) approach which can be used to aggregate results from qualitative judgments with quantitative measurements under various types of complex and uncertain situations. The evaluation of corporate sustain- ability through the ER model is demonstrated using actual data generated from three sugar manufacturing companies in Thailand. The proposed model facilitates managers in analy- sing the performance and identifying improvement plans and goals. It also simplifies decision making related to sustainable development initiatives. The model can be generalized to a wider area of performance assessment, as well as to any cases of multiple criteria analysis.

Continuous maintenance quality improvement using analytic maintenance quality function deployment technique

This paper reports a module of research in which a model named analytic maintenance quality function deployment (AMQFD) was designed to integrate quality function deployment (QFD) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques with total productive maintenance (TPM) concepts. In order to explore its practical implementation feasibility, AMQFD was subjected to an implementation study in a sugar manufacturing company. Due to lack of literacy on TPM among employees and absence of support by the top management towards implementation, AMQFD could not be actually implemented in this company. Yet this implementation study was useful to evolve the steps to be actually followed in practice to implement AMQFD and achieve corporate success. This paper is concluded by suggesting that future researchers may actually carry out AMQFD implementation in several organisations and develop knowledge-based software packages to support its mathematical calculations.

Riding the 'Storm' in the Tea-Cup

The rise and the struggles of Balrampur Chini in establishing itself as the market leader as a sugar manufacturing company. The paper documents the various triumphs and tribulations of the sugar company. The students will be able to elaborate different strategies undertaken by the company at the same time will develop fairly a good idea about the sugar industry. (CASE STUDY)

From Management to Negotiation: Technical and Institutional Innovations for Integrated Water Resource Management in the Upper Comoé River Basin, Burkina Faso

This study focuses on the potential role of technical and institutional innovations for improving water management in a multi-user context in Burkina Faso. We focus on a system centered on three reservoirs that capture the waters of the Upper Comoé River Basin and servicing a diversity of users, including a sugar manufacturing company, a urban water supply utility, a farmer cooperative, and other downstream users. Due to variable and declining rainfall and expanding users' needs, drastic fluctuations in water supply and demand occur during each dry season. A decision support tool was developed through participatory research to enable users to assess the impact of alternative release and diversion schedules on deficits faced by each user. The tool is meant to be applied in the context of consultative planning by a local user committee that has been created by a new national integrated water management policy. We contend that both solid science and good governance are instrumental in realizing efficient and equitable water management and adaptation to climate variability and change. But, while modeling tools and negotiation platforms may assist users in managing climate risk, they also introduce additional uncertainties into the deliberative process. It is therefore imperative to understand how these technological and institutional innovations frame water use issues and decisions to ensure that such framing is consistent with the goals of integrated water resource management.

National Policy Concern and Capital Market under the Wartime Economy:

This paper aims to illustrate the pressure from the capital market brought to even national policy concerns, by analyzing the relationship between Taiwan Development Company (TDC) and its shareholders.In most of previous researches, TDC's shareholders were supposed to be “stable shareholders,” which would not sell their stocks even if the investment destination shows poor business performance, because TDC is a national policy concern. In the procedure of founding TDC in 1936, “stable shareholders” were welcomed and, in fact, two thirds stocks were allocated to foundation members and institutional shareholders such as sugar manufacturing companies or zaibatsu holding companies. However, it is not empirically supported that they did not sell their stocks in the secondary market.In this paper, we investigate selling and buying by all shareholders of TDC, using the list of shareholders from 1937 to 1943, and illustrate the counterplan arranged by managers of TDC, analyzing the company documents. The main findings of this paper are as follows.1) Individual minority shareholders had continuously sold their stocks since shortly after the foundation of TDC. As a result, the number of shareholders had gradually decreased.2) Institutional shareholders began to sell the stocks of TDC from around the latter half of 1941. Even sugar manufacturing companies except for Meiji Seito sold their stocks at this time. And when TDC increased capital in 1942, considerable parts of institutional shareholders did not subscribe newly issued stocks.3) The managers of TDC seriously recognized the pressure from the capital market and attempted to raise profitability and seek new shareholders.4) It is financial institutions such as mutual loan companies or life insurance companies that purchases stocks of TDC, which were sold by institutional shareholders. They should be considered to have financially supported TDC since around 1941.

台湾製糖の設立

It is from 1900 onward that modern cane sugar manufacturing companies were founded in Japan, when Taiwan Sugar Manufacturing Corporation was established in Taiwan, then a Japanese colony. As early as 1865, the Satsuma clan introduced modern cane sugar manufacturing technology from Britain and Holland. Since the Meiji Restoration, though the Meiji government also transferred various kinds of modern sugar technologies from the West, and to some extent acquired mechanical engineering technology for beet sugar at Monbetsu Seitosho (beet sugar manufacturing company) in Hokkaido, cane sugar technology transfer was unsuccessful because sugar-cane cultivation was not very suitable for the Japanese climate. As a consequence of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, however, China was forced to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan's climate was very suitable for sugar-cane cultivation.Since around 1899, the Government General of Taiwan and Mitsui Bussan formed a project to establish a modern cane sugar manufacturing company. They spent a mere two or three years to accomplish this project. This paper investigates the reasons for such a short time span between the project's inception and its accomplishment.