Performance Evaluation of Port Logistics Informatization Construction: A Case Study from China

Global economic integration has accelerated frequency of trade between different countries and promoted logistics industry to quickly become another development highland. Facts have proved that logistics has been separated from production and circulation as an independent link, driven by existing technology and demand, and with its characteristics and needs of the times, logistics has formed a strong professional field. At the same time, it can also independently undertake corresponding brokerage business activities in trade exchanges. To better understand the role of port and logistics in trade, it is particularly necessary to study port logistics informatization. Considering efficiency of input and output, more attention should be paid to performance evaluation of port logistics informatization construction. Based on analysis of port logistics informatization development, evaluation index system and DEA evaluation model which can represent performance of port logistics informatization were constructed. 17 listed ports in China were taken as examples for empirical study, and suggestions for development of port logistics informatization are put forward. Results show that among 17 ports, only Tangshan port, Shenzhen port, Yantian port and Chongqing port have a technical efficiency value of 1, while the other 13 ports have a certain degree of redundancy in technical efficiency value of information input, indicating that development and construction of port logistics informatization has a very important impact on port logistics income. Efficiency value of average annual net profit indicates that the port has redundant investment in information construction, which means that construction of port logistics informatization can not only blindly pay attention to informatization input, and that shortage of informatization output will be affected by other factors to a certain extent. The more investment in informatization construction is not the better, and different ports are affected by different types of factors. Therefore, it is necessary to combine actual development status of ports and to apply right medicine to avoid insufficiency or redundancy of port input, to realize optimal investment strategy for informatization construction of port logistics. Through this study, it is expected to achieve the purpose of systematically sorting out, concluding and expanding relevant theories of port logistics informatization construction, clarifying management problems that need to be solved, indicating methods for promotion of informatization construction, and providing new ideas and reference basis for reform, transformation and upgrading of port enterprises

Competitiveness of China's Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port: resource-based and institutional perspectives

Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port is a crucial window connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, an international passage to ASEAN. This study attempts to take the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port as the object of study, explore its port competitiveness from the perspectives of resource theory and institutional environment. This study used two sets of data which are official data of thirteen ports in 2010-2016 years and the first hand data collected from the port operators by the self-reported questionnaire.First of all, based on governmental data of thirteen ports including Beibu Gulf Port, Shanghai Port, Yantian Port and etc.from year 2010 to year 2016, the port competitiveness of Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port is comprehensively analyzed by making empirical test about the influence of port resources and institutional environment on port competitiveness, combining with the questionnaire and other first-hand materials. Second, to further valide and explain the findings from official data, this study used self-reported questionnaires to collect first-hand data from the port operators. Analyses of the two sets of data reveal the following findings. 1) the overall competitiveness of Beibu Gulf port is weak; 2) Beibu Gulf port competitiveness and port throughput are positively correlated; 3) the port resources of Beibu Gulf have not all significantly positively affecting the port competitiveness; 4) the institutional environment of Beibu Gulf port has not been able to regulate the relationship between port resources and port competitiveness; 5) the institutional environment of Beibu Gulf port has a positive regulating effect on port competition and port throughput. This study proposes relevant policies and suggestions to improve Beibu Gulf port competitiveness.O Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port é um importante porto de entrada para a Rota da Seda Marítima do Século XXI e o Cinturão Económico da Rota da Seda, além de ser um portal internacional para a ASEAN. Este artigo tenta usar o Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port como objeto de pesquisa para explorar a competitividade portuária do porto de Guangxi Beibu Gulf na perspectiva da teoria dos recursos e do ambiente institucional. Este estudo usou dois conjuntos de dados. Dados em primeira mão de operadores portuários coletados por dados oficiais e questionários auto-relatados para 13 portos para 2010-2016. Primeiro, usando os dados oficiais de 13 portos em Beibu Gulf, Shanghai Port e Yantian Port de 2010 a 2016, foi construído um modelo de análise empírica do impacto dos recursos portuários e do ambiente de políticas portuárias na competitividade portuária. Com base no questionário e em outros dados de primeira mão, foi realizada uma análise abrangente da competitividade do porto de Guangxi Beibu Gulf. Em segundo lugar, a fim de aprofundar o estudo e explicar os resultados dos dados oficiais, este estudo utilizou um questionário auto-relatado para coletar dados em primeira mão dos operadores portuários. Os resultados da análise dos dois conjuntos de dados revelaram: 1) A competitividade global do Porto do Golfo de Beibu é fraca; 2) A competitividade do Beibu Gulf Port está positivamente correlacionada com o rendimento do porto; 3) As variáveis dos recursos portuários do Beibu Gulf não afetaram de forma significativa e positiva a competitividade portuária; 4) O ambiente institucional do porto de Beibu Gulf não ajustou significativamente positivamente a relação entre os recursos portuários e a competitividade portuária; 5) O ambiente institucional do Beibu Gulf Port tem um efeito de ajuste positivo na relação entre a concorrência portuária e o rendimento do porto. Com base nisso, este estudo propõe recomendações políticas relevantes para melhorar a competitividade do porto do Golfo de Beibu

The Evaluation of E-commerce Efficiency in China using DEA-Tobit model: evidence from Taobao data

Using the analytical framework of DEA-Tobit, this paper investigates the efficiency of e-commerce in China\u27s provinces based on the cross-section data of 31 provinces in China and the data of e-commerce service providers from Taobao’s open platform. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to calculate the technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Furthermore the paper gives an empirical test on the relationship between the scale efficiency and influencing factors by using the censored Tobit model. The results show there are significant regional differences in the efficiency of e-commerce services in provinces of China, and the Real GDP per capita, the seller number on e-commerce platform, the retail sales and wholesale are important reasons for the different efficiency in each province of China. This study provides a domain-specific, integrative approach in evaluating the E-commerce development combining macro data from National Bureau of Statistics of China and micro data from taobao.com

The Impact of Port Technical Efficiency on Mediterranean Container Port Competitiveness

Port efficiency is a significant element that stimulates port competitiveness and enhances regional development. With increasing international maritime traffic and changing technology in the maritime transport sector, containerisation and enhanced logistic activities, infrastructure might be one of the main determining factors of port competition (Merk & Dang, 2012). Due to the increasing container traffic and the high quality of service required by the shipping lines, Mediterranean container ports are being compelled to enhance port efficiency to improve comparative advantages that will increase cargo traffic and satisfy the customers’ requirements. The Mediterranean Sea is a link point between Europe, Africa and Asia. This research aims to examine the impact of ports' technical efficiency on the improvement of Mediterranean container ports’ competitiveness. The research analyses the competitiveness and the relative efficiency of the top 22 container ports in the Mediterranean basin using a cross-section, panel data and window analysis application of data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the period between 1998 and 2012. The selected 15 year period enables the analysis of Mediterranean container port market dynamics and the benchmarking of the technical efficiency of the selected ports for three consecutive market cycles. This research can be classified as quantitative analytical research. The research follows the concept of the Industrial Organization (IO) and the Structuralism (Harvard school) methodology that analyses the market Structures, Conduct and Performance (SCP) of market players. The study conducts a simultaneous three-stage procedure: in the first stage, the competitiveness of the main container ports in the Mediterranean is analysed through the study of market structure and conduct. Market structure is assessed through measuring and analysing market concentration by using four different methods. These methods are: the K-Firm concentration ratio (K-CR), Hirshman-Herfindahl Index (HHI), the Gini coefficient (GC) and the generalized entropy index. Boston Consultant Group (BCG) matrix is also used to visualize the dynamics between ports in the defined market and assess the ports' competitive position. Market conduct is analysed using shift-share analysis (SSA) to get a thorough understanding of the issue of port traffic development. In the second stage, market performance is analysed through the use of the non-parametric models of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) which estimates the relative efficiency scores and ranking seaports according to their efficiency. Five DEA models are adopted for comparative purpose, the DEA- CCR, DEA-BCC, the Super-Efficiency (A&P, 1993), the sensitivity analysis and slack variable analysis models. In the third stage, to examine the impact of port efficiency on port competitiveness, a number of hypotheses are examined through the use of parametric correlation coefficients (Spearman’s rank order) and Simar and Wilson (2007) procedure to bootstrap the DEA scores with a truncated regression. Using this approach enables more reliable evidence compared to previous studies analysing the efficiency of seaports. The main findings demonstrate that the recent deconcentration tendency of the Mediterranean container port market is due to the increased number of market players which will in turn reshape the market structure, change the container port hierarchy and intensify the competition between ports as the market shifts from oligopoly to pure competition. The research findings also reveal the existence of inefficiency pertaining to the management of container ports in the region, since the total technical efficiency is found to be below 50% on average. This relatively limited technical efficiency of the Mediterranean container ports indicates the need for appropriate capital investments for ports’ infra/superstructure. In particular, those ports whose efficiency is not favoured by some factors such as size, geographical position and socio-economic conditions of the region in which they are located, must adopt suitable reform strategies to promptly improve their efficiency and competitive position. What differentiates this work from previous studies on the subject is that both cross-sectional and panel data have been collected and analysed at the level of individual container ports in the Mediterranean. The study is based on a wide range of methodologies, both parametric and non-parametric, that have ensured the validity of the empirical examination that has been undertaken and the results obtained. The research analysed the Mediterranean container ports competitiveness, benchmarked and ranked their efficiency by considering the Mediterranean in its totality, including South Europe, Middle East and North Africa. The study puts forward a way to assess container port efficiency based on simple, yet validated and meaningful physical efficiency measures

Towards a common measure of greenhouse gas related logistics activity using data envelopment analysis

Monitoring company emissions from freight transport is essential if future greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions are to be realised. Modern economies are characterised increasingly by lower density freight movements. However, weight-based measures of freight transport activity (tonne-kilometre, tonnes lifted) are not good at describing volume-limited freight. After introducing the need for performance measurement, the problem of benchmarking is outlined in more detail. A context-dependent undesirable output data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, designed to be sensitive to business context, is then tested on a simulated set of fleet profiles. DEA can produce more consistent measures of good-practice, compared to ratio-based key performance indicators (KPI), providing emission reduction targets for companies and an aggregate reporting tool

Comparative analysis of port efficiency in Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta: a meta Dynamic D.D.F. approach

The Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta are two regions with the highest level of economic development in China, and their port development is at the forefront of the country. This study measures the efficiency of 23 major ports in the two deltas from 2010 to 2018 using the meta Dynamic Directional Distance Function (D.D.F.) model and discusses the technology gap and the reasons for inefficiency of the ports. The research results show that 80% of the ports in these two deltas are inefficient. The Yangtze River Delta’s port efficiency is higher than that of the Pearl River Delta, but the internal efficiency difference of the Yangtze River Delta port cluster is more significant. The efficiency ranking of most ports is inconsistent under the meta-frontier (M.F.) and group frontier (G.F.), and the average technology gap ratio (T.G.R.) of ports in the Pearl River Delta gradually exceeds that in the Yangtze River Delta. The inefficiency of ports in the Pearl River Delta is caused by input factors, and the inefficiency of ports in the Yangtze River Delta is also related to the containerisation level