'Nonprofits' need surplus too

By definition profit refers to the difference between revenue and expenses. In for-profit organizations profit or surplus gives a return to the owners of the company and serves as a source of financing for capital acquisitions and working capital. Nonprofit organizations, which are not allowed a surplus, don't suffer on the first count because they have no owners. But they do suffer on the second count because, if expected to grow, they need to finance asset replacement and growth. In these days when funds for long-term debt are becoming scarcer, this author asserts, the need for regulators to allow 'nonprofits' to keep a surplus is increasing. In this article, he argues for a surplus and then discusses how managers and regulators can determine how much a nonprofit organization should be allowed. He presents a combination of a modified version of the return-on-asset pricing model used in for-profit organizations and a model for assessing working capital needs associated with growth.     

Forecasting derived product demand in commercial construction

This article presents a practical scheme for forecasting derived demand for an industrial product used in the nonresidential construction industry. The method proposed includes a basic product requirement model to be used in conjunction with lagged construction award data. Twelve-month moving averages are used to smooth the basic construction contract award data which is analyzed by construction type and by geographic region.The methodology described enables accurate product sales potential estimation, and when compared with smoothed historical sales data, provides a means of evaluating market penetration. Although the method presented is concerned primarily with forecasting in the relatively short term, the scheme may be extended to a medium term corresponding roughly to the construction cycle. The article deals with application to a specific industry segment. However, the forecasting and evaluation procedure is adaptable to other industrial products.     

Geography,demography, and economic growth in Africa

This paper presents the effects of climate, topography, and natural ecology on public health, nutrition, demographics, technological diffusion, international trade and other determinants of economic development in Africa. The goal of this paper is to emphasize the need for intensified research on the issues at the intersection of ecology and human society. Geography was given emphasis because of three reasons: the minimal gain from another recitation of the damage caused by statism, protectionism and corruption to African economic performance; negligence of the role of natural forces in shaping economic performance; and tailoring of policies to geographical realities. The paper also discusses the general problems of tropical development and the focus of Africa's problems in worldwide tropical perspectives; demographic trends in Africa; use of standard cross-country growth equations with demographic and geographic variables, to account for the relative roles of geography; and the future growth strategies and the need for urban-based export growth in manufacturing and services. Lastly, the authors provide a summary of conclusions and discuss the agenda for future research.