Abdul Rahman Shaik

The study examines the influence of the cash conversion cycle (one of the components of working capital) on the firm profitability measured in terms of return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), Tobin’s q, and gross operating profit (GROP) in the manufacturing sector of Saudi Arabia. The study selects a sample of 100 companies from nine industrial sectors listed on the Tadawul Stock Exchange starting from 2008 to 2019. A pooled regression is estimated to report the empirical results. The results report a positive and significant association between the components of working capital in terms of cash conversion cycle and the firm profitability in terms of ROA, ROE, and Tobin’s q, except for the GROP, where there is a negative and significant relationship. The study reports that the growth in firm performance is associated with supplier’s financing terms and inventory ordering cost. The results also show that larger firms are more profitable than smaller firms. Hence, the current study confirms the formulated hypothesis of having a significant association between the components of working capital and firm profitability.

The current study investigates the efficiency of banks in Saudi Arabia in terms of technical change and change in total productivity. The study considers ten banks listed on Tadawul as a sample from 2016 to 2021. The Malmquist Data Envelopment Analysis (Malmquist DEA) model is employed to measure banks’ efficiency. Customer deposits and balances with other banks and financial institutions are inputs, while the operating profit and net income are outputs to measure efficiency. The results of efficiency report that most of the Saudi Arabian banks are considerably efficient, while some are marginally efficient. The technical change report results show that Saudi Arabia’s banks are enthusiastic about adopting new technologies that lead to their growth. Further, the results of the change in total productivity show great dynamism among the Saudi Arabian banks to become more productive, which ultimately leads to a more remarkable performance. The study results demonstrate the good performance of Saudi Arabian banks; however, very few banks are marginally efficient in terms of efficiency change. Therefore, the study supports the established hypothesis that there is a significant change in the technical efficiency and total productivity of Saudi Arabian banks.

Acknowledgment
The author(s) acknowledge that the Deanship of Scientific Research supports the current project at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University under research project number 2022/02/20810.

The components of free cash flow and a firm’s capital structure affect the value of the firm. A firm with efficient cash management and optimum capital structure tends to have a better firm value. The current study examines the effect of capital structure and free cash flow on energy firms’ efficiency in Saudi Arabia. The data required for analysis were collected from a sample of seven energy companies from 2014 through 2022. The study used Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the efficiency of energy firms. Further, the simple regression and Generalized Linear Model were used to estimate the results. The study reports an average efficiency score of 1.13 for the energy companies, showing an efficiency increase. The results of simple regression are consistent with the results of the Generalized Linear Model. The study findings demonstrate that the association of firms’ capital structure is positive and significant (with a coefficient of 41.60, significant at a p-value of 0.01) to the efficiency of Saudi Arabian energy firms. Further, current research results indicate that firms’ free cash flows negatively affect the efficiency (with a coefficient of –0.79 and insignificant) of Saudi Arabian energy firms with no evidence. Therefore, the study accepts the association of free cash flow and firms’ efficiency as positive and rejects the alternative hypothesis that there is a negative association between free cash flow and efficiency in Saudi Arabian energy firms.

Acknowledgment
The researcher extends appreciation to Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University for funding this research through the project number 2023/02/25856.