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Working capital management (WCM) is a key question for firms' profitability, especially for small and medium enterprises faced with severe financial restrictions and whose current assets account for a significant part of their investments. These features describe most firms in the livestock industry. However, studies on WCM related to these firms are scarce. Using a sample of 444 Spanish cheese-manufacturing companies during the period 2010-2016 and applying a dynamic panel data methodology, this paper analyzes the extent to which the main components defining the WCM policies-days sales outstanding, days inventory outstanding (DIO), days payable outstanding (DPO), and cash conversion cycle (CCC)-affect firms' profitability. Empirical evidence reveals a negative effect of DIO and the CCC on firms' profitability, suggesting the need to reduce the level of inventory of cheese-manufacturing companies. Similarly, the empirical evidence confirms a negative relationship between DPO and firms' profitability.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the driving forces of both the decision to participate in individual pension plans and the amount of money allocated to such plans. Moreover, this paper evaluates the potential role that income plays, which has not previously been considered in depth in the financial literature.Design/methodology/approachBased on a sample of the Spanish population over the period 2008–2015, this paper estimates probit and tobit models, using 165,791 observations. The driving forces of private retirement savings comprise demographic, financial and socio-economic characteristics.FindingsThis paper confirms the impact of socio-demographic and economic variables on participation and monetary contributions to pension plans. It also confirms that income plays a non-negligible role. Moreover, empirical evidence reveals that the effect of gender is related to the income stratum to which the individual belongs.Originality/valueRetirement planning plays a key role in retirees’ future income and several countries have emphasised the importance of private individual savings to supplement the minimum provided by public pension schemes. The previous literature has concluded that those who plan their retirement end their working lives with three times the wealth of non-planners. Consequently, analysis of whether people are saving enough for their retirement can contribute to avoiding future wealth inequalities among retirees. Spain is one of the countries with the greatest inequality in income distribution, so this issue is of even greater interest.