scholarly journals Size matters – an analysis of business models and the financial performance of Finnish wood-harvesting companies

Silva Fennica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Jylhä ◽  
Pasi Rikkonen ◽  
Katri Hamunen

The size of Finnish wood harvesting enterprises has grown, and entrepreneurs have become responsible for various additional tasks, resulting in networking with other harvesting enterprises of various sizes and suppliers of supporting services, but the profitability of the wood harvesting sector has remained low. In the present study, the financial performance of 83 wood harvesting companies in Eastern and Northern Finland was evaluated, based on public final account data from a five-year period between 2013 and 2017. The factors underlying economic success were identified based on 19 semi-structured entrepreneur interviews. The Business Model Canvas framework was applied in the analyses. In particular, the smallest companies (with an annual turnover of less than 600 000 €) struggled with profitability. They showed increasing indebtedness, suffered from poor power in negotiations, had typically short-term contracts, and faced difficulties in retaining skilled operators. Most of the small companies were subcontractors of larger wood-harvesting companies. The better economic success of larger companies was likely based on their capacity to provide wood harvesting services in large volumes and supply versatile services, power in negotiations, and more cost-effective operations. The future development of wood harvesting seems to be polarised: larger enterprises are likely to continue growing, while the size of smaller enterprises has stabilised. Enhancing business management skills and practices is required in enterprises of all size groups.

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Jyothi ◽  
Dr. T. Satyanarayana Chary

Financial performance of individual organizations differ very significantly, however, the performance is distinguishable between public sector companies and private sector companies as their nature and size of investment and business environment is different . The ECIL is a very vast growing company which requires additional funds on a regular basis, whether internal or external. Particularly, the company needs both long term and short-term finances in view of its present position and enormous scope for improvement in the services provided. The present paper is a modest attempt to discuss the financial performance analysis of ECIL, Hyderabad in terms operating profits, capital employed ratios and turnover in a comprehensive manner over a period of 10 years.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5516
Author(s):  
Maro Vlachopoulou ◽  
Christos Ziakis ◽  
Kostas Vergidis ◽  
Michael Madas

The agribusiness sector shows tremendous growth and sustainability prospects by exploiting the challenges of “AgriFood-Tech” business models in the digital environment, by encouraging innovation, accelerating institutional and structural change, enhancing productivity, and introducing new products and services to the market. The purpose of this study is to investigate different types of “AgriFood-Tech” digital models and analyze their role in the agribusiness and AgriFood sector. Based on relevant literature research, the authors present and discuss five indicative examples of “AgriFood-Tech” models, using the Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework. The methodology included the analysis of the components of innovative AgriFood innovative business models paradigms, such as distribution channels, key partnerships, customer selection and relationships, financial viability, and value proposition. The goal was to explore their building blocks and the required decisions that create, deliver, and capture value. Our findings highlight the importance of specific features of the models, including online sharing of information between the stakeholders, online searches of agri-products, and logistics services in the agribusiness sector.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Kinoshita ◽  
Kensuke Moriwaki ◽  
Nao Hanaki ◽  
Tetsuhisa Kitamura ◽  
Kazuma Yamakawa ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hybrid emergency room (ER) systems, consisting of an angiography-computed tomography (CT) machine in a trauma resuscitation room, are reported to be effective for reducing death from exsanguination in trauma patients. We aimed to investigate the cost-effectiveness of a hybrid ER system in severe trauma patients without severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods We conducted a cost-utility analysis comparing the hybrid ER system to the conventional ER system from the perspective of the third-party healthcare payer in Japan. A short-term decision tree and a long-term Markov model using a lifetime time horizon were constructed to estimate quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and associated lifetime healthcare costs. Short-term mortality and healthcare costs were derived from medical records and claims data in a tertiary care hospital with a hybrid ER. Long-term mortality and utilities were extrapolated from the literature. The willingness-to-pay threshold was set at $47,619 per QALY gained and the discount rate was 2%. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results The hybrid ER system was associated with a gain of 1.03 QALYs and an increment of $33,591 lifetime costs compared to the conventional ER system, resulting in an ICER of $32,522 per QALY gained. The ICER was lower than the willingness-to-pay threshold if the odds ratio of 28-day mortality was < 0.66. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis indicated that the hybrid ER system was cost-effective with a 79.3% probability. Conclusion The present study suggested that the hybrid ER system is a likely cost-effective strategy for treating severe trauma patients without severe TBI.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089719002110272
Author(s):  
Joanne Huang ◽  
Jeannie D. Chan ◽  
Thu Nguyen ◽  
Rupali Jain ◽  
Zahra Kassamali Escobar

Universal area-under-the-curve (AUC) guided vancomycin therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is resource-intensive, cost-prohibitive, and presents a paradigm shift that leaves institutions with the quandary of defining the preferred and most practical method for TDM. We report a step-by-step quality improvement process using 4 plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles to provide a framework for development of a hybrid model of trough and AUC-based vancomycin monitoring. We found trough-based monitoring a pragmatic strategy as a first-tier approach when anticipated use is short-term. AUC-guided monitoring was most impactful and cost-effective when reserved for patients with high-risk for nephrotoxicity. We encourage others to consider quality improvement tools to locally adopt AUC-based monitoring.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 596
Author(s):  
Murugan Ramasamy ◽  
Mohammed Abdul Hannan ◽  
Yaseen Adnan Ahmed ◽  
Arun Kr Dev

Offshore vessels (OVs) often require precise station-keeping and some vessels, for example, vessels involved in geotechnical drilling, generally use Spread Mooring (SM) or Dynamic Positioning (DP) systems. Most of these vessels are equipped with both systems to cover all ranges of water depths. However, determining which system to use for a particular operational scenario depends on many factors and requires significant balancing in terms of cost-benefit. Therefore, this research aims to develop a platform that will determine the cost factors for both the SM and DP station-keeping systems. Operational information and cost data are collected for several field operations, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are trained using those data samples. After that, the trained ANN is used to predict the components of cost for any given environmental situation, fieldwork duration and water depth. Later, the total cost is investigated against water depth for both DP and SM systems to determine the most cost-effective option. The results are validated using two operational scenarios for a specific geotechnical vessel. This decision-making algorithm can be further developed by adding up more operational data for various vessels and can be applied in the development of sustainable decision-making business models for OVs operators.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Massimi ◽  
C De Vito ◽  
M L Rega ◽  
P Villari ◽  
G Damiani

Abstract Introduction Heart Failure (HF) is a pandemic chronic disease with a prevalence up to 3% in the general population, representing the main cause of hospitalization for people over 65. Self-care plays a central role in the management of patients with HF, showing evidence of effectiveness in reducing re-hospitalization rates and mortality. Methods We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of nurse-led educational interventions Vs usual care in improving self-care skills of patients with chronic HF. The main biomedical databases were searched for Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) of nurse-led educational interventions performed on adults with a previous diagnosis of HF. Improvement of HF self-management skills (self-care level) was summarized by calculating the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) stratified for the length of the follow-up. Results Globally, 14 RCTs were included involving 2078 participants. Ten studies showed the efficacy of the interventions at 3 months (short term) with a SMD of 0.78 (95% CI 0.38-1.18) in favor of the self-care education interventions. Five studies reported on self-care abilities at 6-9 months (medium term), not showing statistically significant results (SMD 0.35, 95%CI 0.11-0.81). The long-term effect of the educational interventions showed no statistically significant improvement in self-care behaviors (three studies, SMD 0.05, 95CI% 0.12 - 0.22). Conclusions These results show that nursing educational interventions improve self-care behaviors in HF, but mainly in the short term. Intensive educational interventions led by nurses, associated with appropriate continuity and transition of care, can determine the best outcomes for patients with HF, strengthening self-care behaviors over time. This approach could have a major impact not only on individual level, but on the general reduction of complications, hospitalization, medical costs and ultimately mortality. Key messages Nurse-led educational programs have a short-term efficacy in enhancing self-care behaviors among heart failure patients. Post-discharge repeated educational interventions, along with timely and shared plans ruling the transition between the hospital and the other providers, are strongly needed.


Author(s):  
Artur Caetano ◽  
Goncalo Antunes ◽  
Marzieh Bakhshandeh ◽  
Jose Borbinha ◽  
Miguel Mira da Silva

Author(s):  
L B Newnes ◽  
R Bell

This paper describes a framework for the concurrent modelling of workpieces and cutting tools (dual flow) and introduces a computer aided tool, the dual-flow emulator, for use in the initial investment phase of high-cost flexible machining cells (FMC) and their subsequent short-term scheduling. This facility enables designers to make decisions based on the economic performance and enhancement of proposed designs. The focus of the work is on machining cells, where an individual machining centre's cost can be in excess of one million pounds, with the tooling being three/four times more expensive than conventional tooling. With these high-cost investments, where there is a small number of expensive machines, it is essential that designers are assured a greater chance of economic success. This makes it necessary to model both the flow and management of the workpieces and cutting tools. A framework for the concurrent modelling of workpieces and cutting tools (dual flow) is introduced and the dual-flow emulator described. This dual-flow emulator can be used to explore the relative merits of alternative operating strategies and, finally, as a short-term scheduling tool as an operational performance aid. An industrial-based study has been undertaken and the economic performance of two strategies is discussed in terms of the overall specification and operational performance.


Author(s):  
Henry Mugisha ◽  
Job Omagwa ◽  
James Kilika

Short-term debt is regarded as an important source of financing for Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is because it can be easily accessed and useful during times of emergent working capital shortage. However, short-term debt is the least researched among the components of capital structure, which explains why its contribution to the financial performance of small and medium-sized businesses still lacks empirical validation especially in the Ugandan context. This paper sought to determine the effect of short-term debt on financial performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Uganda. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design to collect and analyse the data. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select SMEs while purposive sampling technique was used to select one key respondent from each of the sampled 453 SMEs in Uganda. Primary data was collected using survey questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression analysis. The findings indicted that short-term debt had a negative and significant effect on financial performance of SMEs as measured by return on assets. The study provides empirical evidence to support the propositions in the extant literature that short-term debt significantly hampers financial performance of SMEs. The study recommends that SMEs should adopt low cost operation procedures to improve profitability. This would lead to accumulated profits that can be used for investment purposes as a means of driving growth among the SMEs without resorting to borrowing. This paper suggests that further research should be conducted to establish the justification for the negative and significant effect of short-term debt on financial performance using qualitative approaches.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (01) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Novitha Herawati ◽  
Triana Lindriati ◽  
Ida Bagus Suryaningrat

Business model canvas (BMC) is a strategic management and lean start-up template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It is a visual chart with elements describing a firm's or product's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances. It assists firms in their aligning activities by illustrating potential trade-offs. Business model canvas focuses on the idea of creating value in a business. The purpose of implementation of BMC was to determined the best business planning of fried edamame, when it applied to the industry or MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises). The method in the research used descriptive method, while the data analysis used qualitative analysis. Primary data collection was obtained from interviews.  Analysis was done by compiling the initial hypothesis, hypothesis testing and verification of business model canvas (BMC). The results showed that the business model strategy for fried edamame products in the value proposition component were crispy, natural, labeled and applied good cooking oil for use. The customer segment component were the buyers of the entire Jember Regency including men and women over 20 years old with middle income. Components of revenue streams were fried edamame product sales, sale of unused oil, and sale of edamame peel to farmers, while the component channels were direct selling and retailers for fried edamame product. Keywords: business model, fried edamame, strategy, value proposition


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