ABSTRACT
The research question of which firm-level factors make firms more vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations during periods of crisis has rarely been explored by prior literature. Using a large sample of 1577 firms from 9 developed and 11 emerging countries, this study presents a comprehensive analysis of how firm-level factors affect firms' foreign exchange exposure before and during the COVID-19 crisis. The results provide evidence of a substantial increase in firms' linear exposure during the COVID-19 period. The cross-sectional analysis reveals that the effects of firm-level variables on exposure are more pronounced during crisis periods and are different from non-crisis periods. Firms that have effective asset utilization or large operating profit margins remain less exposed during times of stress. Contrary to hedging theory, firms that have high incentives to hedge such as firms with high financial leverage become highly exposed to currency fluctuations during crisis periods. The interaction analysis provides further evidence that firms with high leverage can limit their foreign exchange exposure during periods of crisis if they have high asset turnover or high operating profits. The results offer important practical implications to firms for risk management during periods of crisis.
ABSTRACT
In a market economy, one of main goals for every company is to maximize the wealth of the shareholders, which is a result of maximizing the market value of the company. There are various profitability measures for company, butfrom ownership perspective most used measure of profitability is Return on equity (ROE) ratio. This ratio relates to the earnings left over for equity investors after debt service costs for company has been deducted from total capital invested in the asset. Numerous studies have been conducted with numerous factors examined to determine factors that have impact on business performance. In this paper, the authors intention was to explore studies so far done on profitability of companies and to find an area that hadn't been yet examined, and to give substantiation ofprofitability determinants grounded on dynamic panel data. For this purpose, this paper explored variables that have impact on profitability of companies whose shares were most traded on Zagreb stock exchange (one of criteria for share to be included in market index). Variables included in research are: Net Financial Debt (NFD)/ EBITDA ratio, yearly revenue percent change, Enterprise Value (EV)/ EBITDA ratio, dividend yield, operating margin ratio, debt to equity ratio and current liquidity ratio. Analysis was done on data of companies included in the official stock index of the Zagreb stock exchange, Crobex from 2010 to 2019 (before Covid-19 pandemic). The data was taken from the Thomson Reuters database where all data for selected companies necessary for this paper were collected.
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India is among the nations most severely impacted by COVID-19, which has affected practically all global industries and sectors, including the insurance sector. The covid pandemic has forced businesses in all industries to alter the way they conduct business, and the health insurance market is no exception. The prolonged lockdown following COVID-19 has forced insurance companies to extensively rely on their digital architecture for everything from selling new policies to customers to handling claims. Many insurance companies create specialised policies to guarantee coverage is not impacted. This essay attempts to explore the effects of COVID-19 on health insurance and how they affect the industry as a whole.
ABSTRACT
El trabajo muestra la evolución de las principales variables de actividad y resultados agregados para el sector institucional de las sociedades no financieras, SNF, en España en los últimos años, con algunas comparaciones con el resto de sectores institucionales. La información y los análisis realizados ponen de manifiesto la contracción en la inversión empresarial en los dos últimos años con respecto a niveles prepandemia, retroceso que el trabajo explica por la pérdida de incentivos a invertir al disminuir la rentabilidad del capital. Por otra parte, el comportamiento procíclico de la productividad aparente del trabajo durante la pandemia explica buena parte del aumento en el coste laboral unitario, y la reducción del margen de beneficios, en este período. El trabajo propone que la recuperación de la inversión y la mejora de la productividad formen parte de las prioridades en los acuerdos colectivos, aprovechando las oportunidades que ofrecen los fondos del programa Next Generation EU (NGEU), e incorporando algunos cambios en la gobernanza y gestión empresarial.Alternate :The paper shows the time evolution of aggregate activity and performance variables for the non-financial corporate sector of the Spanish economy during the past recent years, including some comparisons with other sectors of the economy. The information collected and its analysis show the reduction in capital investment by nonfinancial corporations with respect to prepandemic levels, explained in the text by the reduction in incentives to invest resulting from the fall in the return on investment. The evidence provided also indicates that the procyclical behavior of labor productivity during the period, new in the recent history of the Spanish economy, explains to a large extend the increase in labor unit cost, and lower profit margins of Spanish firms in recent years. The text proposes increasing firms' capital formation and rising productivity as strategic collective targets for the incoming years, with the help of NGEU's funds and with changes and reforms in corporate governance and management.
ABSTRACT
In the Philippines, Undersecretary Orlando R. Ravanera, Chairman of the Cooperative Development Authority, declared that since the founding of the Rochdale Cooperative in England in 1884, different countries have adopted this cooperative form of organization that has resulted in significant economic gains and social development. Findings in this research could offer policy makers, especially those in the Philippine Congress, insights on the importance of cooperatives as partners in community and nation-building by different governments across the globe. [...]to appreciate the role of cooperatives to the Philippine economy, especially during this COVID 19 pandemic, the two provisions in the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008 that provide for the tax exemption and tax treatment of cooperatives are hopefully not repealed. 2. [...]some countries allow agricultural cooperatives to enjoy tax exemptions and tax holidays so that these organizations can continue their role in addressing poverty, securing food production and boost economic growth (Kireyeva, 2016) as a whole. The cooperatives' not-for-profit nature is a justification for tax advantages in some countries, however in Western agri-food systems agricultural cooperatives face the challenge of inevitably competing with investor-owned businesses where they are at a bind between raising capital and conserving their basic governance (Tortia, Valentinov and Iliopoulos, 2013).
ABSTRACT
"17 The exploding prison population was undeniable-the DOJ reported 240,000 state and federal prisoners nationwide in 1975.18 In 2008, the U.S. prison and jail population peaked at 2.3 million.19 The upward trend has slowed, with just over 2 million at the end of 2019,20 but a March 2020 report estimates 2.3 million people are incarcerated across the United States.21 Unfortunately, even the releases triggered by COVID-19 are already proving to be short-lived-state prison and jail populations are "ticking back up" to prepandemic levels.22 B. Private Prisons Problems of prison overcrowding were widely known in the 1980s, with two-thirds of states under court order to improve conditions that violated the Constitution.23 But as the prison population grew,24 states struggled to balance the need for more facilities and the political pressure to be "tough on crime. The Corporate Duopoly Filling that need in the market, CoreCivic28 and GEO Group29 became the two largest players in the private prison industry. Since its founding in 1983, CoreCivic has become "the nation's largest owner of partnership correctional, detention, and residential reentry facilities and one of the largest private prison operators in the United States. "30 CoreCivic reported an annual revenue of $1.9 billion in 2020 and $1.86 billion in 2021,31 operating 113 facilities across 22 states.32 The corporation is also a major contractor in the temporary detention facility business (specifically immigration detention) and holds the longestrunning federal contract in the industry.33 In 2016, CoreCivic was awarded a $1 billion nounparalleled contest bill by the U.S. Administration to build and operate a detention facility for immigrants from Central America.34 In 2019, it was awarded a five-year contract worth $2.1 billion to provide guard services at a private San Diego immigrant detention center.35 GEO Group, considered the second-largest private prison corporation in the United States, was given the first federal government contract for a privately operated prison in 1997.36 Although traditionally showing a smaller profit margin than CoreCivic,37 GEO Group had an annual revenue of $2.35 billion for 2020 and $2.25 billion for 2021-an over $1 billion revenue increase since 2010.38 Worldwide, GEO operates and/or manages "approximately 86,000 beds at 106 secure and community-based facilities . . . and electronic monitoring and supervision services for more than 250,000 individuals. A 2017 study by the Prison Policy Initiative followed the money of mass incarceration-a $182 billion industry.43 While private prisons account for $3.9 billion of that industry, that does not even touch on the number of for-profit interests involved in everything from bail fees to commissary, telephone calls, and video visitation.44 A 2020 report lists over 4,100 corporations that profit from mass incarceration in the United States.45 Central to the success of the private prison industry has been its ability to offer diverse product offerings while maintaining ongoing profit margins.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this research is to assess the performance of the economic entities that are part of the BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). Thus, the following objectives have been set to achieve the intended purpose: O1 - analysis and evaluation of the economic performance that were reported by entities in the emerging BRICS economies;O2 - identification of the correlations between the performance indicators that were reported by entities from emerging BRICS economies (Return on Assets;level of indebtedness;equity ratio;Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization growth). For these objectives to be achieved, we have collected and analyzed the financial data from the reports of 50 companies that are listed on a regulated market in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This research focuses on assessing the effects of the financial report and of the level of indebtedness on the performance of the entities from emerging BRICS economies. Research is relevant to current and potential investors interested in emerging BRICS economies, as well as for other categories of stakeholders.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of crude oil market structure on stock market volatility in Asian countries in the period 2008–2017. We integrate network analysis with the SGMM estimation technique to achieve the research objective. Network analysis was conducted with 43 Asian countries, while analysis of the impact of crude oil market structure on stock markets was performed with a sample of 19 countries. The results show that the stock market has a positive growth in countries with stronger export capacity while it is negatively affected in larger importing countries. In addition, the research results show that the stock market’s growth is greater in countries with a central position in the crude oil market. The study results will be useful for countries in reducing the undesirable impact of crude oil market on the stock market.
ABSTRACT
Resorting to complementary/alternative medical (CAM) therapies can lead to bad health outcomes or interfere with officially recommended therapies. CAM use is, nevertheless, widespread and growing. This could be partially due to the perception of the CAM industry as powerless and non-profit oriented, in contrast to the pharmaceutical industry ("Big Pharma"). In reality, both industries are highly profitable and powerful;to highlight this similarity, science communicators coined the term "Big Suppla". Drawing from a sample of 242 participants upon all exclusions, we experimentally tested whether varying these attributes in presenting the industries impacts consumers' evaluation of the two categories of products (herbs and supplements) and their willingness to try and recommend them. We also tested whether the effect is moderated by conspiratorial thinking, and whether it is due to a change in trust. All hypotheses were pre-registered. As expected, participants who read the Big Suppla vignette decreased the endorsement of both supplements and herbs, whilst, against our hypotheses, there were no significant changes in endorsement in the contrasting "Baby Suppla" group. Conspiratorial thinking was related to more endorsement of CAM, but it did not moderate the experimental effects. We also did not observe the expected mediation by trust. Our most robust results corroborate the idea that challenging the myth of benevolence of the CAM industry makes people more critical in evaluating its products or considering their usage. They support the intuitions of science communicators who coined the term Big Suppla, and can help in tailoring public health messages.
ABSTRACT
The findings serve as the basis for decision-making in the process of digital transformation of the analysed corporation, and the model can also be used by other players in the media industry (or any other industry) in the process of their digital transformation. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemics, in spite of its devastating impact on the global economy and businesses across the world, it may have been "the impetus for the significant development of digital technology" (Khodova, 2021). Continued decline in daily newspaper circulation in the U.S. began as early as 1985 (Pew Research Center), and the development of digital publications has only accelerated that process. Section 2 reviews the related literature;Section 3 introduces the methodology, the research questions and the data;Section 4 presents the results and provides a data analysis, whereas Section 5 opens up a discussion of the results and concluding remarks together with guidance for future research. 1.RELATED LITERATURE Recent research has focused on analysing the language form and structure of texts published in the New York Times.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Recent rampant spread of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes has highlighted the concerns around nursing homes' ability to contain the spread of infections. The ability of nursing homes to invest in quality improvement initiatives may depend on resource availability. In this study, we sought to examine whether lower profit margins, as a proxy for lack of resources, are associated with persistent infection control citations. DESIGN: We conducted a retrospective study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Medicare-certified nursing homes in the US with financial and facility characteristics data (n = 12,194). METHODS: We combined facility-level data on nursing home profit margins from Medicare Cost Reports with deficiency citation data from Nursing Home Compare (2017-2019) and facility characteristics data from LTCFocus.org. We descriptively analyzed infection control citations by profit margins quintiles. We used logistic regressions to examine the relationship between profit margin quintiles and citations for infection prevention and control, adjusting for facility and market characteristics. RESULTS: About three-fourths of all facilities received deficiency citations for infection prevention and control during 1 or more years from 2017 to 2019 with about 10% of facilities cited in all 3 years. Facilities in the highest profit margin quintile had 7.6% of facilities with citations for infection prevention and control in each of the 3 years compared with 8.1%, 10.0%, 10.7%, and 13.7% for facilities in the fourth, third, second, and first quintiles of profit margins, respectively. Multivariable regressions showed that facilities with the lowest profit margins (first quintile) had 54.3% higher odds of being cited in at least 1 year and 87.6% higher odds of being cited in each of the 3 years compared with facilities with the highest profit margins (fifth quintile). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our findings indicate that nursing homes may need more resources to prevent citations for infection prevention and control.