UK companies have to pay the same real interest rates as European and North American companies, but they are in general less profitable so there is less breathing space between profits and interest. Consequences include short‐termism by both the City which is reluctant to lend and companies...

An approach to optimising the profits of a manufacturing organisation is described. The concept is based on profit‐optimising computer models of the business. The problems addressed, how the business‐modelling tools work, and how this concept has successfully been implemented in industry are...

We develop a model of the period-by-period maintenance cost and interest income accumulation resulting from charges to a system of accounts receivable, and establish conditions under which the present value of the expected profit generated by the charges reaches its greatest attainable levels....