BUSINESS EVALUATION USING ACTIVITY INDICATORS: AN APPLICATION OF AHP METHOD ABSTRACT

Abstract

The objective of the article consists of defining, through activity indicators, a classification in order of ranking, of the income earned by companies of the  section mechanical metal listed in Bovespa using the method of Hierarchical Analysis of Processes  (AHP). The research is classified as descriptive, documental and quantitative. The consolidated accounting demonstrations were collected, the Balance Patrimonial and Demonstration of the Result of the Exercise and extracted the activity indicators: medium period of stockpiling, medium period of payment  to suppliers and medium period of collection. The collection of data for the analysis was accomplished at the site of CVM (www.cvm.gov.br). The AHP developed by Saaty, is part of the American School of Multicriteria Analysis and allows the establishment of degrees of preference between alternatives, which in this article are the indicators of financial activity. The matrices of preferences were obtained through principal component analysis of the used data, considering the first factorial axis. The scale of Lootsma was used in weights adjusting. The scorecard ranked the Villares in 2004 as the first place, the Eluma between 2005 and 2006 and Mangels in 2007 and 2008. Obtained the partial rankings was constructed the overall ranking of the analyzed period, through the rallypoint system that considered the annual placement  of each company. The tiebreakers were using the indicator term storage. Thus, it was established Mangels and Villares how the two companies better positioned in the period in terms of activity.