La rotación de inventarios y su relación con el margen bruto en las empresas del sector automotriz

Abstract

The present study analyzes the relationship between inventory turnover and gross margin in large companies in the automotive sector during the period 2020–2024. The importance of this research lies in the economic relevance of the automotive sector and in the need to evaluate the efficiency of inventory management and its impact on business profitability, especially in a context marked by economic and operational changes derived from the pandemic and the subsequent recovery. The main objective of the research was to determine the relationship between inventory turnover and gross margin in large companies in the automotive sector. For this purpose, a quantitative approach was adopted, with a non-experimental, longitudinal design and a correlational scope. The information used corresponds to secondary data obtained from the Superintendence of Companies, Securities and Insurance, selecting a non-probabilistic intentional sample composed exclusively of large companies that presented complete financial information during the study period. The methodology included the analysis of descriptive statistics focused on the mean and the application of the Shapiro–Wilk normality test, which evidenced the non-normality of the data. Consequently, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between the analyzed variables. The results show that inventory turnover exhibited stable behavior between 2020 and 2023, with a significant decrease in 2024, while gross margin showed an increasing trend throughout the analyzed period. Likewise, the Spearman coefficient revealed the existence of an inverse relationship of moderate to strong intensity and statistical significance between both variables. In conclusion, although an inverse, moderate to strong, and statistically significant relationship exists between inventory turnover and gross margin, this indicator does not constitute a determining factor on its own, since profitability depends on multiple financial factors.