LAP Lambert Academic Publishing The system of value chain financing and profitability for South Africa: Value chain for competitive advantage

The study aims to evaluate the impact of Value Chain Financing on the profitability of edible oil manufacturing companies in South Africa. Utilising secondary data collected from the financial statements of edible oil manufacturing companies from 2012 to 2022. Throughout the research, a positivism paradigm was applied using a descriptive retrospective panel data approach. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between value chain financing variables and the profitability of edible oil manufacturing companies in South Africa. In this analysis, the study extends the Unit root test to confirm that the data was stationary; a multi-collinearity test to guarantee that the independent variables had not been correlated; the Hausman test aided in choosing the best model for the data among the fixed effect model with the random effect model; and the study included a Normality test to guarantee that the findings could be generalised and utilised in the edible oil industry. The study results suggest that value chain financing gives firms a competitive advantage amongst other competitors in the field and increased profitability.