The argument advanced by Troy Alstead, Starbucks' chief financial officer, that its low tax bill was down to "profitability challenges, very sincere ones... it is nothing to do with tax avoidance", did not wash.
At the same time, profitability challenges have led many agencies to resort to a flawed model: they push the work to the lowest paid tier of their staff.
"They often just have popularity, not necessarily profitability". The challenge with social media companies in particular is that the more they try to make money from their large user bases, the greater the consumer backlash, as users bristle at seeing their feeds clogged with an increasing number of ads or their dispatches used for promotions, Yildirim points out.
Balancing weed suppression, beneficial insect conservation, soil quality and profitability is challenging in organic cropping systems due to reliance on soil disturbance for weed control.
Credit quality has improved for the banking industry, but increased growth and profitability remain challenging in a low interest rate environment.
Matching American levels of profitability is a challenge chief executives around the globe are setting for themselves, as the notion of enhancing shareholder value spreads and capital scours the world for the highest returns.
"It is clear from the deteriorating macro environment and the competitive pricing environment in certain regions challenging profitability that we must embark on a more aggressive transformation," he said.
Brûlé was nominated for the poll by JosephKern, who said he was "probably the only person in the industry to have led a new print publication into profitability of late, challenging the accepted notion that print is dead.
However, uncertainties, associated with outcome of re-fracturing and the economic analysis of key parameters influencing its profitability, are still challenging, and need wider investigation and systematic studies.
A weakened banking sector, with its own profitability and capital challenges, will be hard pressed to support such a problematic corporate sector.
