Browsing by Subject "Profitability"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12

Open Access
Cournot competition in networked markets
(ACM, 2014) Bimpikis, K.; Ehsani, S.; İlkılıç, Rahmi
The paper considers a model of competition among firms that produce a homogeneous good in a networked environment. A bipartite graph determines which subset of markets a firm can supply to. Firms compete a la Cournot and decide how to allocate their production output to the markets they are directly connected to. We assume that markets have inverse linear demand and firms have quadratic production costs. First, we show that the resulting Cournot game has a unique equilibrium for any given network and provide a characterization of the production quantities at equilibrium. Our results identify a close connection between the equilibrium outcome and supply paths in the underlying network structure. In particular, we show that whether two firms see their output in different markets as strategic substitutes or complements depends critically on the paths between those markets in the line graph induced by the original bipartite network. Armed with a characterization of the equilibrium supply decisions, we explore the effect of changes in the network structure on firms' profits and consumer welfare. First, we study the question of a firm entering a new market. We show that entry may not be beneficial for either the firm or the consumers as such a move affects the entire vector of production quantities. The firm might face a more aggressive competition in its original markets due to its entry to a new market. Moreover, the effect on other firms and consumers also depends on their location in the network. This is in stark contrast with standard results in Cournot oligopoly where entry implies more competition in the market and thus higher consumer welfare. Similarly, the effect of a merger between two firms on profits and overall welfare largely depends on the structure of competition in the original Cournot market. In particular, we show that insights from analyzing mergers in a single market do not carry over in a networked environment. Market concentration indices are insufficient to correctly account for the network effect of a merger and one should not restrict attention to the set of markets that the firms participating in the merger supply to. Finally, we study the operations of a cartel including the entire set of firms. We show that the cartel maximizes its profits by appropriately segmenting the markets among its members so that a firm supplies solely to the ones allocated to it, and we provide an algorithm that computes the optimal production quantities for each firm in the cartel. © 2014 Authors.
Open Access
The determinants of privatization prices: evidence from Turkey
(Routledge, 2003) Arin, K. P.; Okten, C.
This paper analyses the determinants of privatization prices in a multi-industry study using a sample of 68 recently privatized firms from Turkey. Results show that revenue and market characteristics are significant determinants of privatization prices while current cost and profit indicators are not. It is argued that potential buyers regard these state firms as inefficient, therefore do not take into consideration their current costs and profits in determining their value. When the dependent variable is altered by dividing the firm's privatization price by the firm's sales (revenues), it is found that sales-adjusted privatization prices are responsive to firms' profit margins. However, this result does not hold when the sample is restricted to a single industry. Profit margins along with other profitability and firm efficiency measures are no longer significant determinants of sales-adjusted privatization prices in the cement industry analysis. Unexploited production opportunities measured by capacity utilization ratios, and complete private ownership resume a more important role.
Open Access
Elastic scaling for data stream processing
(IEEE Computer Society, 2014) Gedik, B.; Schneider S.; Hirzel M.; Wu, Kun-Lung
This article addresses the profitability problem associated with auto-parallelization of general-purpose distributed data stream processing applications. Auto-parallelization involves locating regions in the application's data flow graph that can be replicated at run-time to apply data partitioning, in order to achieve scale. In order to make auto-parallelization effective in practice, the profitability question needs to be answered: How many parallel channels provide the best throughput? The answer to this question changes depending on the workload dynamics and resource availability at run-time. In this article, we propose an elastic auto-parallelization solution that can dynamically adjust the number of channels used to achieve high throughput without unnecessarily wasting resources. Most importantly, our solution can handle partitioned stateful operators via run-time state migration, which is fully transparent to the application developers. We provide an implementation and evaluation of the system on an industrial-strength data stream processing platform to validate our solution. © 1990-2012 IEEE.
Open Access
Factoring as a financing alternative: Turkish case
(1991) Ataman, Sedef
This study attempts to find out the common aspects of the firms that have preferred factoring as a financing alternative, checking out their financial structures and performances together with an overview of factoring. The financial statements of the companies were analyzed from the perspectives of liquidity, financial stability, profitability, efficiency and financial structure. Comparisons were made over time and with industry averages. The analysis showed that the majority of the firms are smal1-to-medium sized firms that are growing fast, are in need of cash due to overtrading with an inadequate financial base and have undertaken high liabilities with high financial risks- Their sales are mostly on credit and receivables collection periods and cash conversion periods are quite long for the majority of the firms. As a result, the majority of the sample are possible beneficiaries of factoring to improve their cash flows, liquidity and profitability levels.
Open Access
Financial performance of the Turkish textile & ready to wear industry for the period between 1986-1994
(1996) Güçbilmez, Didem
The Textile & Ready to Wear Industry, with its share of 31.8% among all Turkish Consumption Goods Production and approximately 40% of share among all Turkish Exports clearly plays an important role in the overall Turkish Economy. Therefore the financial performance of such an important industry is worth investigation. Apart from the total industry, analyzing the financial performance of the sectors within the industry is as important in order to understand sector differences. The aim of this study is to analyze the financial performance of the Turkish Textile and Ready to Wear Industry and compare the financial performances of the Textile and Ready to Wear Sectors within the industry for the period between 1986 and 1994. The method that will be used is Ratio Analysis based on four criteria which are leverage, liquidity, profitability and market value.
Open Access
A framework for enhancing depth perception in computer graphics
(ACM, 2010-07) Çipiloğlu, Zeynep; Bülbül, Abdullah; Çapin, Tolga
This paper introduces a solution for enhancing depth perception in a given 3D computer-generated scene. For this purpose, we propose a framework that decides on the suitable depth cues for a given scene and the rendering methods which provide these cues. First, the system calculates the importance of each depth cue using a fuzzy logic based algorithm which considers the target tasks in the application and the spatial layout of the scene. Then, a knapsack model is constructed to keep the balance between the rendering costs of the graphical methods that provide these cues and their contibution to depth perception. This cost-profit analysis step selects the proper rendering methods. In this work, we also present several objective and subjective experiments which show that our automated depth enhancement system is statistically (p < 0.05) better than the other method selection techniques that are tested. © 2010 ACM.
Open Access
The impact of price skimming on supply and exit decisions
(John Wiley & Sons, 2015) Toptal, A.; Çetinkaya, S.
Stochastic inventory control theory has focused on the order and/or pricing policy when the length of the selling period is known. In contrast to this focus, we examine the optimal length of the selling period - which we refer to as market exit time - in the context of a novel inventory replenishment problem faced by a supplier of a new, trendy, and relatively expensive product with a short life cycle. An important characteristic of the problem is that the supplier applies a price skimming strategy over time and the demand is modeled as a nonhomogeneous Poisson process with an intensity that is dependent on time. The supplier's problems of finding the optimal order quantity and market exit time, with the objective of maximizing expected profit, is studied. Procedures are proposed for joint optimization of the objective function with respect to the order quantity and the market exit time. Then, the effects of the order quantity and market exit time on the supplier's profitability are explored on the basis of a quantitative investigation.
Open Access
In their words: Student feedback on an international project collaboration
(ACM, 2010) Chidanandan, A.; Russell-Dag, Lori; Laxer, C.; Ayfer, Reyyan
In this paper, we describe a collaborative course experience between students from universities in the USA and Turkey. Student teams worked together on a software engineering project for a non-profit organization based in Turkey. The students learned valuable skills in team-work, collaboration-facilitating software tools and working with peers from a different culture and a different time-zone. At the end of the course, in a focus group, students were asked for feedback regarding the course and its outcomes. In this paper, we describe the course from the student perspective. From this, and the instructor's experiences we provide a list of guidelines. Copyright 2010 ACM.
Open Access
Investments viewed as growth processes
(Taylor & Francis, 1995) Doğrusöz, H.; Karabakal, N.
For modeling investment decision situations, we present a mathematical basis that views the cash flow sequences as growth processes. We first emphasize the pedagogical value of the basic model by showing that all traditionally established measures of worth (profitability) as well as the compound interest formulas of financial mathematics can actually be derived from it by simple algebraic manipulations. Then, we argue that the traditional measures fail to recognize the particularities of certain decision situations and point out the need for developing tailor made measures for each specific problem. We demonstrate, using real life examples, our approach for developing new measures and, by incorporating decision variables, practical optimization models from this mathematical basis. © 1995 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Open Access
Managerial motivation dynamics and incentives
(2007) Kocabıyıkoğlu, A.; Popescu, I.
Firms can increase profitability by appropriately motivating managers. We investigate drivers of managerial motivation, and propose how firms can use performance pay to alter motivational patterns. We focus on the agent's optimal effort decision in trading off compensation utility with effort cost in a static and dynamic setting. Surprisingly, we find that lower risk aversion or increased pay are not necessarily motivating factors, and identify the relevant effort drivers underlying the agent's utility and compensation plan. We characterize properties of agents' preferences for output lotteries (risk aversion, aggressiveness, prudence) that trigger systematic motivational patterns with respect to a variety of factors, such as the agent's productivity and past performance, time to evaluation, the firm's capabilities, and market factors. Our insights are robust, holding under very general modeling assumptions on preferences, rewards, and the stochastic effort-output function.
Open Access
Real wages, profit margins and inflation in Turkish manufacturing under post-liberalization
(Routledge, 2005) Gunay, A.; Ozcan, K. M.; Yeldan, E.
This article reports investigations into the behaviour of gross profit margins (mark-ups) in Turkish manufacturing industries for the post-1980 liberalization period in relation to price inflation, trade liberalization (openness) and real wage costs. Panel data econometrics over 29 subsectors of Turkish manufacturing are used over the period 1980-1996. Results suggest that profit margins are positively and significantly related both to price inflation and real wage costs. However, openness is found to have very little impact on profit margins. © 2005 Taylor & Francis.
Open Access
Value added productivity analysis: applied to Turkish Fertilizer Corporation, 1988-1991
(1994) Samin, Behrooz
In this study a value added productivity analysis is conducted at a publicly owned enterprise in Turkey. The chosen method is known as Wainai method. By adapting this method, we first find out the value added for the company. Obtained value added is applied to calculate company's performance and productivity ratios. During the period 1988-1991, the company's profitability and productivity have drastically declined. The main reason is the substantial decrease in the labor cost competitiveness ratio because of both increase in the labor cost and decrease in the value added. The company suffers from high amount of interest payments to commercial banks. It has made very big amount of net losses in 1990 and 1991 chiefly due to these interest expenses.