an empirical study on the manufacturing companies listed in Colombo stock exchange

Management efficiency is an integral part of the overall corporate strategy to create shareholder value and for the survival of a business as it has direct impact of firm’s profitability. This study investigates the relationship between the management efficiency and profitability for a sample of 20 manufacturing companies listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange for the period of 5 years from 2007 to 2011. Descriptive and simple linear regression analyses were used to study the relationship between management efficiency and profitability. The results of the statistical test of the hypothesis indicated that the relationship between Fixed Assets Turnover has significant impact on Return on Assets and it is positive. And also the relationship between Fixed Assets Turnover and Net Profit is positive but it is in significant. The relationship between Total Assets Turnover and Return on assets is positive and significant while the relationship between Total Assets Turnover and Net Profit is positive and insignificant while Working capital turnover is insignificant in the study. The implication of this study can be used by the managers to improve their financial performance and formulate policies that will promote effective assets management system

Promoting the first generation women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka: a lesson from India

The women entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka were victims of war. They did not become entrepreneurs out of choice; they became entrepreneurs as a result of war, in their pursuit of supporting themselves and their families. Majority of them were in business for the first time as they lost their husbands and/or children to the war and saw business as a means to end and their success in the venture is making a balance between family and work. These women were educated with a minimum level education and were involved in businesses such as livestock farming, services and craft/textile which did not require a high capital outlay and expert skills and knowledge of the business. While the international attention has somewhat shifted elsewhere, the international community are still trying to play a constructive role in building up a postwar Sri Lanka. What is more difficult to know- is what strategies (long and short term) exists for development in Sri Lanka? How will the civilians more particularly women start a new life after the camps and how will they become self-sufficient? In this context the present paper entitled "Promoting the First Generation Women Entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka: A lesson from India" is a modest attempt to unearth the problems and prospects of women entrepreneurs in retail trade. By taking a sample of 281 women and 161 men retail-traders from India, the results confirm the fact that, though women retail-traders face a lot of problems in transacting their business, still there exists a better scope for growth. The findings of this research are important for several reasons. The women entrepreneurs of the Sri Lanka, like anywhere in the world are powerful driving force for the economic development of the country. The findings of the study will certainly pave the way for the up liftmen of socio-economic status of first generation women entrepreneurs in war-torn areas of Sri Lanka

Corporate behaviours towards foreign exchange risk management Practices: an investigative study in Indian scenario

Indian economy in the post-liberalisation era has witnessed increasing awareness of the need for introduction of various risk management products to enable hedging against market risk in a cost effective way. This industry-wide, cross-sectional study concentrates on recent foreign exchange risk management practices and derivatives product usage by large nonbanking Indian-based firms. The study is exploratory in nature and aims at an understanding the risk appetite and FERM (Foreign Exchange Risk Management) practices of Indian corporate enterprises. This study focuses on the activity of end-users of financial derivatives and is confined to 501 non-banking corporate enterprises. A combination of simple random and judgement sampling was used for selecting the corporate enterprises and the major statistical tools used were Correlation and Factor analysis. The factor analysis finds that there are three derived factors of non-usage of derivative products namely, Perceptual Issues, Technical & policy factor and Pricing & Cost considerations. Further, the correlation analysis reveals positive relation between the nine variables representing the reasons as nonusage of derivatives by Indian corporates. The study finds wide usage of derivative products for risk management and the prime reason of hedging is reduction in volatility of cash flows. VAR (Value-at-Risk) technique was found to be the preferred method of risk evaluation by maximum number of Indian corporate. Further, in terms of the external techniques for risk hedging, the preference is mostly in favour of forward contracts, followed by swaps and cross-currency options This article throws light on various concerns of Indian firms regarding derivative usage and reasons for non-usage, apart form techniques of risk hedging, risk evaluation methods adopted, risk management policy and types of derivatives used