Cash Settled Commodity Option Contracts as an Alternative to Minimum Support Price: A Mechanism to Alleviate Farmer Distress

Cash settled commodity options is a possible alternative to create a mechanism so that minimum support prices work in reality and do not remain a paper exercise. This paper argues that the government should create a commodity options market for all minimum support price (MSP) commodities. Further option contracts should be cash settled. The government should participate by selling put options at or above the minimum support price, so that farmers can exercise the option if they find that market prices are below the minimum support price

Financial sustainability of private higher education institutions: the case of publicly traded educational institutions

Public and private education can unlock different doors and help to flood the country with a rising power, sunlight and sustainable development. Hence, this paper argued that there is a need to sustain both public and private higher education. Financial difficulties restrict private higher education from balancing their budget and maintain a balance between a quality education and maximization of shareholders wealth. This paper outlines and analyzes a critical business model for higher education institutions, Dhofar University and Majan College, both of which are publicly traded in Muscat Securities Market. Both the educational institutions are critically examined from profitability, liquidity, long term solvency and asset management perspective using appropriate financial ratios. Five year forecasts of financial statements up to 2021 are estimated to evaluate the financial stability of the two educational institutions. The paper uses Monte Carlo simulation technique to examine the issue of financial sustainability. Overall the finding shows positive financial results for Majan College compared to Dhofar University. The key take away from the analysis is that educational institutions should be funded primarily by equity and not by debt to survive, sustain and provide high quality education

Strategic choice and operational performance: a comparative study of commercial banks in Oman

The objective of this paper is to investigate various strategies adopted by banks in the Sultanate of Oman and to explore how these strategies may have helped these banks overcome different operational difficulties during periods of crisis. The empirical analysis in this study was done using binary logit regression technique with data from the Bank Scope database. Data was drawn from the balance sheets and income statements of commercial banks, and this data ranges from December 1999 to December 2017. Data from 1999 to 2009 was used for estimating the logit equations, and data from 2012 to 2017 was used for testing the predictive ability of the model. From a strategy point of view, our study of Omani banks focuses on the financial crises of 2000-2001 and 2008-2009, and the model predictions for years 2012 to 2017 brings forth the following conclusion: In order to ensure that a bank performs well (in terms of profit and asset growth), the bank’s management should focus on capital account management, interest spread management, good loan quality, and high loan-todeposit ratios. Finally, we also found that cost management and liquidity management are two areas of strategic choices that are not particularly important.El objetivo de este documento es investigar varias estrategias adoptadas por los bancos en el Sultanato de Omán y explorar cómo estas estrategias pueden haber ayudado a estos bancos a superar diferentes dificultades operativas durante los períodos de crisis. El análisis empírico en este estudio se realizó utilizando la técnica de regresión logit binaria con datos de la base de datos de Bank Scope. Los datos se obtuvieron de los balances y los estados de resultados de los bancos comerciales, y estos datos van de diciembre de 1999 a diciembre de 2017. Los datos de 1999 a 2009 se usaron para estimar las ecuaciones logit, y los datos de 2012 a 2017 se usaron para probar la predicción capacidad del modelo. Desde el punto de vista de la estrategia, nuestro estudio de los bancos omaníes se centra en las crisis financieras de 2000-2001 y 2008-2009, y las predicciones del modelo para los años 2012 a 2017 arrojan la siguiente conclusión: para garantizar que un banco tenga un buen desempeño (en términos de crecimiento de ganancias y activos), la administración del banco debe enfocarse en la administración de la cuenta de capital, la administración del diferencial de intereses, la buena calidad de los préstamos y las altas tasas de préstamos a depósitos. Finalmente, también encontramos que la administración de costos y la administración de liquidez son dos áreas de opciones estratégicas que no son particularmente importantes