The financial arrangement, common in such capital-intensive industries as the airline business, contains several components.

Reduce investments required by an increasingly capital-intensive industry.

Economies of scale do exist in capital-intensive industries, which means there are opportunities for companies to be simultaneously bigger and more efficient.

With few exceptions these capital-intensive industries are also highly energy-intensive.

The country's sophisticated formal economy is based on capital-intensive industry and farming.

By the third quarter of last year, though, that profit margin had narrowed to 22 percent, a wan figure in the capital-intensive industry.

"We are in a very capital-intensive industry, even though we are able to buy cars on a wholesale basis."

It shows how difficult adjustment is, particularly in capital-intensive industries that are not growing rapidly.

Until the early 1990s, capital-intensive industries spearheaded productivity growth.

"Biotech is a very capital-intensive industry, so you always have companies that need capital," she said.