The financial risk to companies and shareholders is limited because profit shares are only generated if a certain level of profitability is achieved.
The most straightforward way to do this is through profit-sharing, by distributing a small share of company profits to employees, once a company achieves a certain level of profitability.
That spin cycle, he adds, is "the ultimate level of profitability".
The industry as a whole is likely to settle at a much lower level of profitability.
Even if you ignore the one-off items, the worrying thing is the poor level of profitability".
"Leveraging our innovative technologies will enable us to grow twice as fast as global G.D.P. and, at the same time, achieve a high level of profitability".
"Physicians in urban areas would probably not accept their level of profitability, their salary level," said Mr. Austin, the hospital administrator.
But with reinsurance prices rising, particularly for UK commercial motor insurance, he expects to return to a "good level of profitability" this year.
It was a quarter where the analysts' models need to be reset at a slightly lower level of profitability, and that hadn't happened in a while".
That level of profitability still makes last quarter Exxon's second most lucrative, after the record $11.7 billion it earned in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Visit the Improving Profitability Tutorial for exercises and information to help you work toward a level of profitability that is sustainable for you.
