Weinraub and Visscher (1998) studies different industry
groups over a 10 year time period to examine the relative
relationship between aggressive and conservative working
capital practices. Results show that there is a significant
difference among industries with respect to aggressiveness of
working capital management policies. Study conducted over
22,000 public companies by Hutchison, Farris and Anders
(2007) indicated a direct correlation between shorter CCC and
higher profitability for 75% of industries.
Although working capital is the concern of all firms, it is
the small firms that should address this issue more seriously.
The work of Howorth and Westhead (2003), suggest that small
companies tend to focus on some areas of working capital
management where they can expect to improve marginal
returns. For small and growing businesses, an efficient working
capital management is a vital component of survival (liquidity
and profitability) (Peel and Wilson 1996).
Bieniasz and Gołaś study (2011) has shown that the
effectiveness of working capital in small, medium and large
enterprises of the food industry in Poland years in 2005-2009
was differentiated by size of enterprises and in industries where
working capital cycles are the shortest, a relatively higher rate
of return on assets was achieved. In the Polish food industry
the highest efficiency, measured by cash conversion cycle and
assets profitability, was characteristic for large companies
(Bieniasz and Gołaś 2011).