ABSTRACT
Performance has been seen to be an important factor in determining the health of an organization. It is said to have greatly influenced various sectors of the economy and has impacted both positively and negatively on the nation at large. In light of this, this study investigates a diagnostic analysis of the problem areas of profitability and productivity conditions affecting companies’ performance in Nigeria. - A case study of Zenith bank, UBA, Dangote, BUA, Nestle, and Cadbury over a five-year period (2017-2021). The company Performance Appraisal (CPA) under Gold’s quick productivity appraisal approach (QPA), is used to study the trend of specific profitability and productivity ratios derived from the financial statement from some years. The study used secondary data from published financial statement of the companies, with emphasis on the return on assets as a proxy for profitability, and the growth rate of return of asset (ROA) as a proxy for productivity. The variables considered are cost of goods to sales ratios, operating expenses to sales ratios, inventory turnover, fixed assets turnover, and value added to number of workers etc. Trend analysis was used in this study in order to examine the stability condition of profitability, productivity and the capital-labour ratio in both the short and long run based on recently observed trend data. The result of the analysis shows that variables such as cost of goods sold, operating expense, inventory turnover, fixed assets turnover, no of workers, number of management and non-management, salaries and wages, salaries and wages paid to executives where the problem areas affecting the productivity and profitability performance of the companies. The result therefore revealed that all the industries depicted unstable performance with an exception from the beverage industry as a result those variables. The study recommended the need for further investigation on the problem areas by looking into the priority areas of production, marketing and administration for improvement.
