Revenue efficiency in higher education institutions under imperfect competition

A number of studies have considered the evaluation of efficiency in higher education institutions. In this paper we focus on the issue of revenue efficiency, in particular ascertaining the extent to which, given output prices, producers choose the revenue maximising vector of outputs. Following Johnson and Ruggiero (2011), we then relax the price taking assumption to consider the case in which the market for some outputs is characterised by monopolistic competition. We evaluate efficiencies for English institutions of higher education for the academic year 2012-13 and find considerable variation across institutions in revenue efficiency. The relaxation of the price taking assumption leads to relatively small changes, in either direction, to the estimated revenue efficiency scores. A number of issues surrounding the modelling process are raised and discussed, including the determination of the demand function for each type of output and the selection of inputs and outputs to be used in the model

"In vino veritas": factores competitivos en distritos industriales productores de vino

El sector vitivinícola ocupa una destacada posición en el conjunto de la industria agroalimentaria española. La importancia demostrada por esta actividad se traslada también al mercado internacional donde España ostenta una posición de liderazgo tanto en términos de producción, como de ventas al exterior. Buena parte de las empresas elaboradoras de vino de nuestro país se ubican en distritos industriales, o lo que es lo mismo, en entornos geográficos caracterizados por la elevada concentración de pequeñas y medianas empresas cuya organización productiva responde a un esquema basado en la especialización flexible. En anteriores trabajos, se ha podido constatar cómo las empresas elaboradoras de vino ubicadas en este tipo de enclaves industriales presentan una mayor eficiencia respecto de competidores localizados en otro tipo de entornos. El objetivo de este artículo es profundizar en la investigación de los rasgos específicos de los distritos industriales que podrían explicar este plus de eficiencia de sus empresas. Para la identificación y cuantificación de estos factores determinantes de la eficiencia productiva se utiliza una metodología basada en modelos de ajuste paramétrico. Se lleva a cabo una aplicación empírica sobre una muestra de empresas españolas productoras de vino para los años 2000 y 2010, extraída de la base de datos SABI.The wine sector holds a prominent place within the whole Spanish food and agriculture industry. The importance given to this activity has also been transferred to the international market where Spain holds a position of leadership, both in terms of production as in overseas sales. A large number of the wine-producing firms in our country are located in industrial districts, which is to say in geographical areas characterised by a high concentration of small and medium-sized companies whose productive organisation corresponds to a model based on flexible specialisation. In previous papers, it has been possible to verify how wine-producing industries located in industrial areas show greater efficiency in relation to rivals located in other types of environments. The aim of this article is to further research on the specific features of industrial districts which could explain their firms’ increase in efficiency. For the identification and quantification of these determining factors affecting productive efficiency, a methodology based on parametric adjustments models is to be used. An empirical application is to be carried out on a sample of Spanish wine producers for the years 2000 and 2010, extracted from the SABI database

Productivity growth in the winery sector: evidence from Italy and Spain

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate total productivity change in the winery sector, decomposing it into efficiency change and technical change. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on the estimation of the Malmquist productivity index for a sample of Spanish and Italian wineries between 2005 and 2013. Findings – The results show very low efficiency levels for the wineries under study. Further, Spanish and Italian wineries show a decrease in their average annual productivity for the period of time analysed. Practical implications – The analysis of the efficiency and the productivity of the wineries is crucial to improve their competitiveness and guarantee their survival. Originality/value – For the first time, a comparative analysis is carried out with data from two major wine-producing countries

Accounting for Carbon Footprint Flows in Wine Production Process. Case Study in Spanish Winery

Companies are gradually becoming conscious about the necessity of reducing their environmental impact and adopting low-carbon strategies in order to cope with increasing institutional and social demands. However, remaining competitive while reducing the environmental impact and improving the corporate image requires adopting sophisticated mechanisms boosting eco-efficiency and keeping costs tight. Material Flows Cost Accounting (MFCA) is an instrument that allows the monitoring of, measurement of, and accounting for physical and monetary processes along the production process. If extended to the supply chain, and applied to the energy usage and CO2 emissions, it allows one to account for the Carbon Footprint (CF) of a company and its products at any given stage of the value chain. The current paper presents a case study developed under the framework of a three-year project to introduce an energy use and carbon emissions monitoring and accounting system in a large winery company in Spain, based on the MFCA approach and CF accountability. Including the supply chain of the company and the whole farming cycle of its main input, the case study presents the method and phases adopted to implement the project, its direct and indirect results and outcomes, and the conclusions that can be extracted, which may be inspirational for practitioners and scholars envisaging similar projects

Efficiency analysis of the Portuguese wine industry using accounting and operational metrics

Wine is an integral part of the economy and culture of many countries. Despite that, in Portugal – one of the main wine-producers – there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding the efficiency of these firms. Thus, the purpose of this article is to assess such efficiency using a four-step approach, which includes the selection of relevant financial and operational variables, a cluster analysis for the identification of homogenous decision making units, a data envelopment analysis for the efficiency quantification, and an econometric model to determine the var iables with most influence on efficiency. The results indicate that 36% of the firms are efficient, in part due to the considerable number of inefficient firms in the regions of North, Centre, and Lisbon and Tejo. The performance of the Setubal, and Alentejo and Algarve regions is noteworthy, since these obtained the highest percentage of efficient companies. The findings also suggest that, in order to improve efficiency, wine companies should reduce inventory and fixed assets and increase sales revenue

Environmental taxes: Drivers behind the revenue collected

This paper investigates the determinants of environmental taxes revenue. While the effects of environmental taxations are well discussed across academic and political debate, less analysis have been specifically devoted to investigate the factors influencing the revenue variations. By using an Index Decomposition Techniques, the present paper separates the contribution of economic factors from the contribution provided by taxation rates and regulations. The data pertain to the period 2004–2016 and 25 European Member States are included in the analysis. Results show that stricter environmental taxation rates and regulations has been the main factor influencing the revenue increase just for 5 of the 25 countries considered in this paper. For the other Member States, economic growth and the role played in the European economic panorama have been the main drivers of variations. By providing a comparative analysis of the factors influencing the environmental taxes revenue of European areas, this paper contributes to identify how regulations and economic factors have influenced the sustainability paths of countries and can be used to support the design of policies across the EU

The measurement of revenue inefficiency over time: An additive perspective

In this paper, we measure and decompose revenue inefficiency over time while accounting for all sources of technical inefficiencies. Our proposed decomposition exploits the dual relationship between the weighted additive distance function and revenue inefficiency in Aparicio et al. [1]. With the aid of the Luenberger indicator, we decompose this indicator into productivity change, and overall allocative change components. The importance of such decomposition is that it provides a complete picture of the sources of productivity change, thus obtaining a slack free allocative component. Finally, the model is ap- plied to the French wine sector to illustrate its practicality: we track how revenue inefficiency evolves in French wine regions over the 2004–2013 period, before and after the implementation of Common Market Organization policies in Europe in 200

Potencial de reducción del consumo energético e impacto ambiental del sector vitivinícola en Europa

- Objetivos y problemas abordados: Este trabajo pretende suplir la ausencia de una base de datos que cubra el cultivo de la uva y la producción del vino, relativa a consumos de energía, de recursos, etc., además de impactos ambientales de su ciclo de vida, a nivel europeo. Para ello el objetivo general de este trabajo es establecer una metodología de minimización del impacto ambiental de los procesos de elaboración del vino a nivel europeo, consiguiendo además una reducción del coste económico y del uso de recursos. Los objetivos específicos del presente trabajo que se proponen son: - Establecimiento de los impactos medioambientales de las bodegas europeas a través de la metodología del Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV) .Obtención de las variables de los procesos del cultivo de la uva y producción del vino más influyentes en los impactos medioambientales desde “la cuna a la puerta”, incluyendo desde el origen de las materias primas hasta la fabricación del vino. - Establecimiento de valores de referencia en términos de impactos ambientales con los cuales las bodegas europeas interesadas en mejorar sus procesos puedan compararse. - Obtención del potencial de mejora ambiental de las bodegas europeas. - Metodología (enfoque y herramientas): El sistema de cultivo y los procesos de producción del vino de 86 bodegas de toda Europa serán analizados desde la perspectiva de los recursos utilizados (agua, energía, fertilizantes, fungicidas, insecticidas, vidrio, aditivos, etc.), para ello se parte de un análisis de ciclo de vida (ACV) de cada una de las bodegas analizadas, para establecer un procedimiento de reducción de impactos ambientales a través de un proceso de bajo coste económico y de tiempo. La metodología de Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA) se utiliza como una herramienta de gestión ambiental para crear una herramienta de decisión que ofrezca la posibilidad de seleccionar aquellas medidas de mejora en los procesos o fases de la producción del vino que mayor impacto tengan en las bodegas. DEA es una metodología de programación lineal utilizada para cuantificar de manera empírica y comparativa la eficiencia productiva de múltiple entidades similares entre ellas

Determinantes da performance do setor do vinho: uma análise comparativa de Portugal, França, Espanha e Itália

Esta dissertação visa efetuar uma análise comparativa da performance e dos seus determinantes no setor do vinho. Foram selecionados 4 países do Velho Mundo do vinho, nomeadamente Portugal, França, Espanha e Itália, pela importância que estes países detêm neste setor, e pelas suas características e processos de produção idênticos, o que os torna comparáveis entre si. O período do estudo está compreendido de 2014 a 2018, e a informação necessária relativa às empresas dos países anteriormente mencionados foi extraída da base de dados Amadeus, tendo sido constituída uma amostra não probabilística de 369 empresas do setor do vinho portuguesas, 464 empresas do setor do vinho francesas, 1336 empresas do setor do vinho espanholas e 585 empresas do setor do vinho italianas. O estudo é composto por duas fases: na primeira procedeu-se ao cálculo dos índices de eficiência através da técnica Data Envelopment Analysis, através do modelo CRS com orientação input, de forma a aferir o nível de performance das empresas alvo de estudo. Na segunda fase, procedeu-se à análise dos determinantes da performance com recurso a modelos de regressão fracionária. Concluiu-se que a Itália é o país com maior eficiência técnica, seguido da França, Portugal e, por fim, a Espanha; a performance das empresas portuguesas do setor do vinho é afetada positivamente pelo endividamento, crescimento, dimensão, rendibilidade e free cash-flow, e negativamente pela tangibilidade e idade; a performance das empresas francesas do setor do vinho é positivamente afetada pelo endividamento, crescimento e rendibilidade, e negativamente pela dimensão, tangibilidade e também afetada pela forma jurídica (cooperativa); a performance das empresas espanholas do setor do vinho é positivamente influenciada pelo endividamento, rendibilidade, free cash-flow e também afetada pela forma jurídica (cooperativa), e negativamente pela tangibilidade; a performance das empresas italianas do setor do vinho é positivamente impactada pelo endividamento, crescimento, rendibilidade e free cash-flow, e negativamente pela dimensão, tangibilidade e risco; algumas destas variáveis também exercem um impacto indireto sobre a performance, considerando o efeito das variáveis de interação.This master thesis aims to present a comparative analysis of performance and its determinants in the wine industry. Four Old World wine countries were selected, namely Portugal, France, Spain and Italy, due to the importance that these countries hold in this industry, and to their identical characteristics and production processes, what makes the comparison reliable. The period of the analysis is comprised from 2014 to 2018, and the required information regarding companies from the mentioned countries was collected from the Amadeus database. The final sample consists in 369 portuguese companies of wine industry, 464 french companies of wine industry, 1336 spanish companies of wine industry, and 585 italian companies of wine industry. The study is based on a two-stage model: first, first, the efficiency indexes were calculated using the Data Envelopment Analysis technique, through the CRS model with input orientation, in order to assess the performance level of the target companies under study. In the second stage, the performance determinants were analyzed using fractional regression models. The results suggest that Italy is the most technical efficient country, followed by France, Portugal and, finally, Spain; the performance of portuguese companies in the wine sector is positively influenced by leverage, growth, size, profitability and free cash flow, and negatively by tangibility and age; the performance of french companies in the wine sector is positively affected by leverage, growth and profitability, and negatively by size, tangibility and also by legal form (cooperative); the performance of spanish companies in the wine sector is positively influenced by leverage, profitability, free cash flow and also by legal form (cooperative), and negatively by tangibility; the performance of Italian companies in the wine sector is positively impacted by leverage, growth, profitability and free cash-flow, and negatively by size, tangibility and risk; some of these variables have also an indirect impact on performance, through the effect of the interaction variables