(Measuring Financial Performance of Enterprises Operating in Forest, Paper and Printing Sector: A TOPSIS Application in Borsa İstanbul)

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to determine and compare the financial performances of the companies whose shares are traded on Borsa Istanbul and operating in the Forest, Paper and Printing sectors for the period 2014-2018. Design/methodology/approach – To measure the financial performance of the companies, TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Smililarity to Ideal Solution) method was used. First of all, the financial ratios obtained from the financial statements of the companies were determined as the performance criterion for TOPSIS method and these ratios were turned into a performance score for each year on company basis. In the study, two different values were obtained for all years by using two different methods in the weighting stage, which is one of the steps of TOPSIS, in determining the company performances and these results were compared and the best alternatives were presented. Findings – According to the results of the analysis, where the weights were determined by the ratio method, it was found that the ranking of the three best performing companies did not change in the 2014-2016 period, but differed in the other years. According to the results of equal weighting, only PRZMA company maintained its place in the top three for 2014-2016 period. Discussion – When the analysis processes are examined, it is seen that the choices that the researcher will make at the remaining points affect the results to be obtained. When the analysis processes are analyzed, it is seen that the researcher's preference affects the results to be obtained. In this study, the weighting of net profit margin, asset profitability and return on equity ratios in the decision matrix by weighting according to the proportioning method is 13%, while this total reaches 30% in equal weighting. This causes the weighted normalized decision matrix to have different values according to the preference made, resulting in different performance scores.