Technical Efficiency of Pakistan s Manufacturing Sector: A Stochastic Frontier and Data Envelopment Analysis

This paper examines the efficiency of the large-scale manufacturing sector of Pakistan using parametric as well as non-parametric frontier techniques. Production frontiers are estimated for two periods-1995-96 and 2000-01-for 101 industries at the 5-digit PSIC. The results show that there has been some improvement in the efficiency of the large-scale manufacturing sector, though the magnitude of improvement remains small. The results are mixed at the disaggregated level: whereas a majority of industrial groups have gained in terms of technical efficiency, some industries have shown deterioration in their efficiency levels. The results from both the approaches are consistent, and in line with similar studies.Manufacturing Industries, Technical Efficiency, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis

Effects of Input Composition on Technical Efficiencies of Textile Industries in Pakistan

This paper studies the technical efficiencies of the textile manufacturing industries in Pakistan using 5-digit level industry data. Technical efficiencies are computed by the Data Envelopment Analysis technique assuming constant as well as variable returns to scale. The efficiency scores thus obtained are analysed by the TOBIT regression technique to determine how input composition influences these efficiency scores. It is found that imported raw material and machinery exercises a positive effect, whereas non-industrial costs affect technical efficiencies in a negative way. Electricity does not play its due role in affecting technical efficiencies. JEL Classification: C24, D24, L6, O14 Keywords: Technical Efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, TOBIT Analysis, Manufacturing Industrie

Firm Productivity and Investment Climate in Developing Countries: How Does Middle East and North Africa Manufacturing Perform?

Firm productive performances in five Middle East and North African (MENA) economies and eight manufacturing industries are compared to those in 17 other developing countries. Although the broad picture hides some heterogeneity, enterprises in MENA often performed inadequately compared to MENA status of middle-income economies, with the exception of Morocco and, to some extent, Saudi Arabia. Firm competitiveness is a more constant constraint, with a unit labor cost higher than in most competitor countries, as well as investment climate (IC) deficiencies. The empirical analysis also points out how IC matters for firm productivity through the quality of infrastructure, the experience and education of the labor force, the cost and access to financing, and different dimensions of the government-business relationship. These findings bear important policy implications by showing which dimensions of the IC, in which industry, could help manufacturing in MENA to be more competitive in the globalization context.Manufacturing firms, productivity, investment climate, developing countries, Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

An assessment of traditional knowledge-based medicine companies and western medicine companies: a comparative study of efficiency

Indian traditional medicine comprises indigenous medical traditions (Bode, 2006). This ancient Indian predictive and personalized medicine system is still relevant today (Lemonnier, 2017). Yet, this medical system suffers many challenges due to the practice of western medicine. Therefore, there is a big need to study the existence and performance of these medicines through different companies. Coming to western medicine has made significant progress around the world over the past century. Many life-saving new drugs have been discovered to deal with various infectious and fatal diseases. Despite the undeniable benefits of modern medicine, which relies on scientific assays and results to establish the diagnosis and fight disease, a large portion of the world continues to rely on modern forms of Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicines (CAM). Therefore, our paper focuses on studying the efficiency across Traditional Knowledge-based (TKBM) and Western Medicine (WM) companies using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. The study is a comparative study of ten years, from 2009-2018, using the CMIE Prowess IQ database. The second test concentrates on the effects of some firm-specific and financial variables on the efficiency of the respective companies. Lastly, the paper suggests that adopting cost management techniques will help these companies to improve their profit

Mergers and acquisitions transactions strategies in diffusion - type financial systems in highly volatile global capital markets with nonlinearities

The M and A transactions represent a wide range of unique business optimization opportunities in the corporate transformation deals, which are usually characterized by the high level of total risk. The M and A transactions can be successfully implemented by taking to an account the size of investments, purchase price, direction of transaction, type of transaction, and using the modern comparable transactions analysis and the business valuation techniques in the diffusion type financial systems in the finances. We developed the MicroMA software program with the embedded optimized near-real-time artificial intelligence algorithm to create the winning virtuous M and A strategies, using the financial performance characteristics of the involved firms, and to estimate the probability of the M and A transaction completion success. We believe that the fluctuating dependence of M and A transactions number over the certain time period is quasi periodic. We think that there are many factors, which can generate the quasi periodic oscillations of the M and A transactions number in the time domain, for example: the stock market bubble effects. We performed the research of the nonlinearities in the M and A transactions number quasi-periodic oscillations in Matlab, including the ideal, linear, quadratic, and exponential dependences. We discovered that the average of a sum of random numbers in the M and A transactions time series represents a time series with the quasi periodic systematic oscillations, which can be finely approximated by the polynomial numbers. We think that, in the course of the M and A transaction implementation, the ability by the companies to absorb the newly acquired knowledge and to create the new innovative knowledge bases, is a key predeterminant of the M and A deal completion success as in Switzerland.Comment: 160 pages, 9 figures, 37 table

Trend analysis of cost efficiency for the pharmaceutical industry: A DEA approach

This paper evaluates the efficiency of five Indian pharmaceutical Industries using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. The paper uses Net Block, Cash and Bank Balance, Share Capital, Reserve and Surplus, Secure Loan and Unsecured Loan as input variables and Investments and ‘Loans and Advances’ as output variables. In this study, the Basic Radial Models input oriented with Constant Returns to scale (CRS) are used to estimate the efficiency of pharmaceutical Industries. The DEA tool assists the administrators to identify the inefficient measures and take necessary actions for improvement. The results are indicative of the scenario that changed patent laws in India are not detrimental to the financial and overall health of Indian pharmaceutical companies in general. The Indian pharmaceutical companies have suitably modified their business model to cope up with the changed legal environment. It is a positive sign for all Indian pharmaceutical companies that they are dynamic in management and operational policies to face any new situation and shall flourish more in the coming days

Determinants of technical efficiency of banks in Yemen

The main objective of this thesis is to identify the efficiency level and the determinants of efficiency of the Yemeni banks over the period from 1998 to 2011. This thesis consists of three specific objectives. The first objective is to determine the technical, pure technical and scale efficiency score of banks. The second objective is to analyse the differences in efficiency in terms of banks identity, bank type and internationalization of banks. The third objective aims to identify factors that determine efficiency. The twostage approach which consists of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Tobit regression is employed in analyzing the data. Specifically, the DEA was used to estimate banking efficiency in the first stage, while the Tobit regression was applied in examining the determinants of the efficiency obtained from the first stage. The results of DEA show that, on average, technical, pure technical and scale efficiencies for all banks over the sample period are 74.5%, 86.3% and 85.5%, respectively. The results also indicate that most Yemeni banks are facing scale problems due to decreasing returns to scale. In addition, the results reveal that there are significant difference in efficiency among banks operating in Yemen based on their identity, bank type and internationalization of banks. Moreover, the results from Tobit regression illustrate that there is a positive relationship between efficiency scores and internationalization of banks, type of banks, intellectual capital performance and gross domestic product, while banks size and profitability have significant negative influence on efficiency. A major contribution that arises from the study is that this is the first study that shows the importance of intellectual capital performance in ensuring banks efficiency especially in Yemen

Direction of outward FDI of EMNEs:evidence from the Indian pharmaceutical sector

This article seeks to add to the small but growing literature of emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs). Using two linked large firm-level databases, it seeks to explore the determinants of outward investment of Indian pharmaceutical companies, distinguishing between developed- versus developing-country destinations. It specifically examines the impact of two firm-level characteristics that embody “non-OLI” [ownership, location, and internalization] firm-specific capabilities of EMNEs. The finding of this study is that family firms are keen on investing in other developing countries but much less so in developed countries. However, international linkages in the form of foreign investors offset this

Knowledge production and commercialization from R&D: the pharmaceutical sector

Purpose – The objective of this work is to demonstrate the relationships between the two main processes of research and development (R&D) activities: the knowledge generation phase (KPP) and the knowledge commercialization, or transfer, phase (KCP), in a sector that is intensive in this type of activity, such as the pharmaceutical sector. In addition, within the framework of the general objective of this work, the authors propose two other objectives: (1) make advances in network efficiency measurement models, and (2) determine the factors associated with efficiency in the KPP and in the KCP in companies of the pharmaceutical sector in Spain. Design/methodology/approach – A Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) model (F€are and Grosskopf, 2000) with categorical variables (Lee et al., 2020; Yeh and Chang, 2020) has been applied, and a sensitivity analysis of the obtained results has been performed through a DEA model of categorical variables, in accordance with the work of Banker and Morey (1986), to corroborate the results of the proposed model. The sample is made up of 77 companies in the pharmaceutical sector in Spain. Findings – The results obtained point to a greater efficiency of pharmaceutical companies in the KPP, rather than in the KCP. Furthermore, the study finds that 1) alliances between companies have been the accelerating factors of efficiency in the KCP (but patents have slowed this down the most); 2) the quality of R&D and the number of R&D personnel are the factors that most affect efficiency in the KPP; and 3) the quality of R&D again, the benefits obtained and the position in the market are the factors that most affect efficiency in the KCP. Originality/value – The authors have not found studies that show whether the efficiency obtained by R&Dintensive companies in theKPP phase is related to better results in terms of efficiency in theKCP phase.Nopapers have been found that analyse the role of alliances between R&D-intensive companies and patents, as agents that facilitate efficiency in the KCP phase, covering the gap in the research on both problems. Notwithstanding, this work opens up a research path which is related to the improvement of network efficiencymodels (since it includes categorical variables) and the assessment of the opinions of those who are responsible for R&D departments; it can be applied to decision-making on the aspects to improve efficiency in R&D-intensive companies.This work has been co-financed by the 2014–2020 ERDF Operational Programme and by the Department of Economy, Knowledge, Business and the University of the Regional Government of Andalusia. Project reference: FEDER-UCA18-103353. Title: Circular Economy and Efficiency: Towards new economics models.26 página

Local production of medical technologies and its effect on access in low and middle income countries: a systematic review of the literature

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the existing theoretical and empirical literature examining the link between "local production" of pharmaceuticals and medical devices and increased local access to these products. Our preliminary hypothesis is that studies showing a robust relationship between local production and access to medical products are sparse, at best. Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted using a wide variety of databases and search terms intending to capture as many different aspects of this issue as possible. The results of the search were reviewed and categorized according to their relevance to the research question. The literature was also reviewed to determine the rigor used to examine the effects of local production and what implications these experiences hold for other developing countries. Results: Literature addressing the benefits of local production and the link between it and access to medical products is sparse, mainly descriptive and lacking empirical evidence. Of the literature we reviewed that addressed comparative economics and strategic planning of multinational and domestic firms, there are few dealing with emerging markets and lower-middle income countries and even fewer that compare local biomedical producers with multinational corporations in terms of a reasonable metric. What comparisons exist mainly relate to prices of local versus foreign/multinational produced medicines. Conclusions: An assessment of the existing theoretical and empirical literature examining the link between "local production" of pharmaceuticals and medical devices and increased local access to these products reveals a paucity of literature explicitly dealing with this issue. Of the literature that does exist, methods used to date are insufficient to prove a robust relationship between local production of medical products and access to these products. There are mixed messages from various studies, and although the studies may correctly depict specific situations in specific countries with reference to specific products, such evidence cannot be generalized. Our review strongly supports the need for further research in understanding the dynamic link between local production and access to medical product