A Super Efficiency Model for Product Evaluation

This study applies a Super Efficiency Data Envelopment Analysis model to evaluate the efficiency of cars sold on the German market. Efficiency is conceptualized from a customers' perspective as a ratio of outputs that customers obtain from a product relative to inputs that customers have to invest. The output side is modeled as a set of customer-relevant parameters such as performance attributes but also nonfunctional benefits and brand strength. More than 60% of the cars are efficient but the analysis shows marked differences regarding their degree of Super Efficiency. Super Efficiency indicates the extent to which the efficient products exceed the efficient frontier formed by other efficient units. Based on the parameter weights, segments of cars with a particular mix of characteristics can be identified; cars with a comparative advantage relative to their competitors who provide the same mix are characterized as the reference points within a given segment.Customer Value, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Marketing Efficiency, Product Marketing, Super Efficiency Model

Technical Efficiency of Nigerian Insurance Companies

This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the performance of Nigerian insurance companies, from 2001 to 2005, combining operational and financial variables. The paper also analyses the situations of these companies in relation to the frontier of best practices. In addition, it tests for the roles played by dimension, bank network and market share in the efficiency of the Nigerian insurance companies. The implications of this research for managerial purposes are then drawn.Nigerian insurance companies; Data Envelopment Analysis; Efficiency.

New Models for Data Envelopment Analysis. Measuring Efficiency Outwith the VRS Frontier

Some models are presented in this paper which extend the concept of measuring superefficiency to the useful case of variable returns-to-scales (VRS), thus enabling the ranking of efficient as well as inefficient units. Two models, namely the Universal Radial Model and the Universal Additive Model, are presented that also have strong invariance properties (units and translation invariance). For both of these models a method for normalising the efficiency scores on a (0-1+) scale is presented. These models have been implemented in a software package and applied to the ranking of units in an industrial context.Data envelopment analysis (DEA), Superefficiency, Universal models

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and financial ratios : a pro-stakeholders’ view of performance measurement for sustainable value creation of the wind energy

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to explore business performance in a rather sensitive sector that equally combines economic, environmental and social dimensions. The paper investigates the efficiency of wind farm companies, in a framework of pursuing more diverse stakeholders’ interests Design/Methodology/Approach: Ratios and DEA approaches are combined to measure economic efficiency among the DMUs of a sample of wind farms, using data from their financial statements. Findings: Productivity and effectiveness comprise the performance measured by the economic efficiency. We show that by choosing inputs and outputs that are closely related in forming an appropriate financial ratio, it helps to design and explain more fully the impact of a policy intervention aiming at improving economic efficiency. DEA supplements ratios to design, implement and assess a strategy of benchmarking towards bolstering performance, that favors a wider range of stakeholders. Originality/Value: The study provides an in-depth insight into using Data Envelopment Analysis and financial ratios to study economic efficiency. The approach combines economic, social and environmental dimensions (indirectly) of performance, and the composite ratio Return on Total Assets (ROTA). The analysis caters the specific features of the sector renewable energy and their diverse stakeholders.peer-reviewe

Relative efficiency of higher education in Croatia and Slovenia: an international comparison

The article measures the relative efficiency of government spending on higher education in selected new EU member states (with special focus on Croatia and Slovenia) in comparison to selected OECD countries. The article applies a non-parametric approach, i.e. data envelopment analysis (DEA), to assess the relative technical efficiency of higher education across selected countries. When estimating the efficiency frontier we focus on measures of quantities outputs/outcomes. The results show that the relatively high public expenditure per student in Croatia should have resulted in a better performance regarding the outputs/outcomes, i.e. a higher rate of higher education school enrolment, a greater rate of labor force with a higher education and a lower rate of the unemployed who have tertiary education. On the other hand, regardless of the input-output/outcome mix, the higher education system in Slovenia is shown to have a much higher level of efficiency compared to both Croatia and many other comparable new EU member states and OECD countries.public expenditure, efficiency, higher education, data envelopment analysis, Croatia, Slovenia, new EU member states, OECD

USING DEA AND VEA TO EVALUATE QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES

In this study we use data envelopment analysis (DEA), and an extension of DEA called value efficiency analysis (VEA), to explore the production of quality of life within counties in the mid-Atlantic region and the extent to which production frontiers and efficiency differ between rural and urban counties. These methods allow us to identify counties that are inefficient in their quality of life production, and to rank those counties according to their distance from a performance standard established by other observed counties (using DEA), or by a single unit designated as most preferred (using VEA) .International Development,

The funding and efficiency of higher education in Croatia and Slovenia: a non-parametric comparison

The paper applies a non-parametric approach, i.e. data envelopment analysis (DEA), to assess the relative technical efficiency of higher education across countries, with a particular focus on Croatia and Slovenia. When estimating the efficiency frontier we focus on measures of quantities outputs/outcomes. The results show that the relatively high public expenditure per student in Croatia could have resulted in a relatively better performance regarding the outputs/outcomes, i.e. a higher rate of higher education school enrolment, a greater rate of labor force with a higher education and a lower rate of the unemployed who have a tertiary education. On the other hand, regardless of the input-output/outcome mix, the higher education system in Slovenia is shown to have a much higher level of efficiency compared to both Croatia and many other comparable EU and OECD countries.higher education; funding; efficiency; DEA; Croatia; Slovenia; EU; OECD

A reasonable benchmarking frontier using DEA : an incentive scheme to improve efficiency in public hospitals

There exists research relating management concepts with productivity measurement methods that offers useful solutions for improving management control in the public sector. Within this sphere, we connect agency theory with efficiency analysis and describe how to define an incentives scheme that can be applied in the public sector to monitor the efficiency and productivity of managers. To fulfill the main objective of this research, we propose an iterative process for determining what we define as a ‘reasonable frontier’, a concept that provides the foundation required to establish the incentive scheme for the managers. Our ‘reasonable frontier’ has the following properties: i) it detects the presence of outliers, ii) it proposes a procedure to establish the influence introduced by extreme observations, and iii) it sorts out the problem of data masking. The proposed method is applied to a sample of hospitals taken from the public network of the Spanish health service. The results obtained confirm the applicability of the proposal made. Summing up, we define and apply a useful method, combining aspects of agency theory and efficiency analysis, which is of interest to those public authorities trying to design effective incentive schemes which influence the decision making of the public managers

Using DEA and VEA to Evaluate Quality of Life in the Mid-Atlantic States

In this study we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) and an extension of DEA called value efficiency analysis (VEA) to explore the “"production”" of quality of life within counties in the mid-Atlantic region and the extent to which production frontiers and efficiency differ between rural and urban counties. These methods allow us to identify counties that are inefficient in their quality of life production, and to rank (using DEA) those counties according to their distance from a performance standard established by other observed counties(using VEA), or by a single unit designated as "“most preferred"(using VEA).”data envelopment analysis, value efficiency analysis, quality of life, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

DOES SERVICE QUALITY MATTER IN MEASURING PERFORMANCE OF WATER UTILITIES?

Quality is a dimension of water services that has been repeatedly omitted in the study of performance of water utilities. In this paper, we make use of Data Envelopment Analysis techniques (DEA) to compute both conventional quantity-based and quality-adjusted indicators of technical efficiency for a sample of Spanish water utilities. The key assumptions are that a lack of quality (bad quality) can be regarded as a bad output, and the existence of a trade-off between quantity and quality. Our main results indicate that quality matters in measuring technical performance, the difference between conventional and quality-adjusted evaluations representing the opportunity cost of maintaining quality. Averages and distribution functions significantly differ between both assessments of performance, although water utilities do not seem to rank differently.water utilities; quality; Data Envelopment Analysis.