TRENDS IN WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON FIRMS, PERFORMANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF MAURITIAN SMALL MANUFACTURING FIRMS

A well designed and implemented working capital management is expected to contribute positively to the creation of a firm’s value The purpose of this paper is to examine the trends in working capital management and its impact on firms’ performance. The trend in working capital needs and profitability of firms are examined to identify the causes for any significant differences between the industries. The dependent variable, return on total assets is used as a measure of profitability and the relation between working capital management and corporate profitability is investigated for a sample of 58 small manufacturing firms, using panel data analysis for the period 1998 – 2003. The regression results show that…