ABSTRACT
This paper aims to develop a model for predicting corporate bankruptcy for SMEs in the Portuguese manufacturing industry where this question remains rather unaddressed. Using profitability, activity, liquidity, leverage, and solvency ratios, it was added the size and age variables, for a group of 208 firms, including 49 bankrupt firms and 159 active firms, during the years 2011 to 2015. The logit model allowed us to estimate a model with 82.3% of predictive capacity. The most important variables identified were profitability, solvency, and size. Estimations only with the data closest to the bankruptcy date improved predictive capacity. It is evidenced that financial and non-financial variables can predict bankruptcy probability. A possible future approach would be to analyze a larger sample. Also, a larger period could be considered, allowing to test either the effects of the 2007/8 crisis or the effects of the recent economic turmoil related to Covid-19. Important for both corporate managers and investors. Conclusions may be disclosed regarding the influence that economic turmoil certainly has on corporate defaults and bankruptcies allowing its extension to other countries. The contribution of this paper is to find the best specification for a bankruptcy prediction model applied to the Portuguese manufacturing industry SMEs. This paper also contributes to the existing literature by using non-financial variables and analyzing a sector still unexplored in Portugal, albeit its conclusions can be extended to other countries. © 2022, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Consumption of different pharmaceuticals has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Some health institutions worldwide approved the use of drugs such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, dexamethasone, favipiravir, remdesivir, lopinavir-ritonavir, chloroquine, dexamethasone for the treatment of the virus. Once consumed by humans, these compounds are released in urine and faeces, ending up in wastewater and conducted to treatment plants or directly discharged without prior treatment into surface water and soil, with minimum values recorded between 7 ng/L and < 0.08 mu g/L for azithromycin and ivermectin respectively, as well as dexamethasone with 0.73 ng/L in surface water and an average of 50-60 ng/L for favipiravir. Their presence has numerous toxicological effects on aquatic and terrestrial species, influencing population decline and altering the growth of organisms. However, the environmental consequences of pharmaceuticals in the environment are poorly known, especially for antivirals studied in this article. This work aims to analyze the presence, treatment and ecotoxicity of drugs used in the pandemic COVID 19, mainly focusing on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems since that is where they arrive through wastewater. Ecotoxicological effects on flora, fauna and humans are also analyzed. Once there, they persist in the environment causing severe ecological damage, developmental and growth disorders in animals and plants and, in many cases, even the death of species.