"Companies have done a phenomenal job at increasing profit margins through cost cutting.
Glaxo exceeded analysts' expectations by almost doubling the sales of Advair, and by improving profit margins through cost-cutting.
"We look for top-line revenue and sales growth and, ideally, expanding profit margins through operating leverage," she said.
Still, Apple maintains margins through a combination of innovation and marketing that leads consumers to prefer its brand.
Glaxo beat analyst expectations by almost doubling sales of Advair, a treatment for asthma, and by improving profit margins through cost cutting.
Major brewers were suffering "a severe squeeze on liquidity", he said, because of erosion of profit margins through the price code.
The big ones hope to become one of a handful of "flow monsters" which can profit, despite the low margins, through hyperactive trading.
As growth slows in its core heart rhythm management and spine fusion device markets, the company is focused on improving operating margins through a cost-reduction and revamping initiative that has pruned 1,100 jobs.
The company has tried to protect margins through tighter inventory controls, and said comparable store inventory levels at the end of the second quarter were lower than a year ago.
Deregulation and the emergence of many new carriers have largely turned the business of offering communications lines into a commodity market, prompting carriers to seek better profit margins through more advanced services.
Companies under threat by outsiders make promises that are too rash, buff margins through unsustainable tactics like tweaking the tax rate, or engage in poor acquisitions to try to make themselves an unsavory mouthful.
