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Purpose Decisions pertaining to working capital management have pivotal role for firms’ short-term financial decisions. The purpose of this paper is to examine impact of working capital on profitability for Indian corporate entities. Design/methodology/approach Both classical panel analysis and Bayesian techniques have been employed that provides opportunity not only to perform comparative analysis but also allows flexibility in prior distribution assumptions. Findings It is found that longer cash conversion period has detrimental influence on profitability. Financial soundness indicators are playing significant role in determining firm profitability. Larger firms seem to be more profitable and significant as per Bayesian approach. Bayesian approach has led to considerable gain in estimation fit. Practical implications Observing the highly skewed distribution of dependent variable, Multivariate Student t-distribution has been considered along with normal distribution to model stochastic term. Accordingly, Bayesian methodology is applied. Originality/value Analysis of working capital for firms has been performed in Indian context. Application of Bayesian methodology is performed on balanced panel spanning from 2003 to 2012. As per author’s knowledge, this is the first study which applies Bayesian approach employing panel data for the analysis of working capital management for Indian firms.

We argue that 'emerging' security markets, as defined by IFC, have characteristics differentiated from their counterparts in industrialized nations not only due to differential levels of economic development, but also because their origins are more recent. Consequently, the institutional infrastructure comprising a broad legal framework recognizing property rights, disclosure requirements, accounting practices conforming to international standards, supervision and regulation of these markets, may be inadequate or even absent in 'emerging' markets. Our study develops a positive (descriptive) framework of the qualitative (institutional infrastructure) and quantitative features that classifies and predicts the relative development of securities markets across countries. Discriminant and logit analyses using IFC data indicate that the 'emerging' equity markets as a class are dissimilar from 'developed' markets. These findings lend support to the premise that the two sets of markets are segmented. There is weak evidence of convergence in the characteristics of the two sets of markets. However, it is expected that as the institutional infrastructures in 'emerging' markets improve, there will be stronger evidence of the trend towards convergence in these markets.

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I. INTRODUCTIONSTANDARD PORTFOLIO SELECTION TECHNIQUES are typically characterized by motivational assumptions of unified goals or objectives [8]. Consequently, their immediate relevance to real-world situations, usually marked by the presence of several conflicting goals, is at best limited. Nevertheless, with appropriate extensions the standard techniques can form the basis for accommodating multiple goals.The present study is addressed to the problem of goal conflicts in the portfolio selection of Dual-Purpose Funds, and proposes an extension of standard methodology, in terms of the development of a Goal Programming model in conceptual form, which can be applied for the resolution of inherent clash of interests. Section II presents the organizational structure of Dual-Purpose Funds, their performance record, and the potential conflict of interests. The theoretical foundations of goal programming are discussed in Section III. The basic model and other possible variations for portfolio selection are developed in Section IV, while some suggested extensions are offered in Section V. II. DUAL-PURPOSE FUNDSA dual-purpose fund (hereafter referred to as DPF) is a diversified closed-end investment company. It issues two kinds of securities in equal amounts--Income (or Preferred) shares and Capital shares. Thus, the DPF attempts through one portfolio to maximize dividend income to Income shareholders and capital appreciation to Capital shareholders [4]. Unlike the usual closed-end fund that has unlimited life, a DPF has a specified life span, generally ranging from twelve to eighteen years. It is subject to the provisions of the Investment Company Act of 1940. DPF's have been marketed on the basis of two suggested advantages over closed-end or mutual funds. First, they offer different types of securities to investors in various tax brackets with, perhaps, diverse preferences for earnings patterns. For example, a high-income investor may purchase capital shares in order to reduce his tax liability, while a medium or low-income investor may prefer income shares, as the marginal income does not appreciably increase his tax liability. Second, DPF's accomodate investors with different risk attitudes. For example, strongly risk-averse investors mlay prefer dividend income believing it to be more dependable and stable than capital gains, even at the cost of higher tax exposure. On the other hand, less risk-averse investors might prefer capital gains, believing them to promise greater expected returns.