Railway reforms: Do they influence operating efficiency?

This paper considers railway operations in 23 European countries during 1995-2001, where a series of reform initiatives were launched by the European Commission, and analyses whether these reform initiatives improved the operating efficiency of the railways. Efficiency is measured using Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis, which enables investigation of how railway reforms affect the inefficiencies of specific cost drivers. The main findings are that the reform initiatives generally improve operating efficiency but potentially differently for different cost drivers. Specifically, the paper provides clear empirical evidence that accounting separation is important for improving operating efficiency for both material and staff costs, whereas other reforms only influenced one of these factors.European railways; reforms; operating efficiency; Multi-directional Efficiency Analysis (MEA)

Credit scoring: Discussion of methods and a case study

The scenario considered is that of a credit association, a bank or an- other nancial institution which, on the basis of information about a new potential customer and historical data on many other customers, has to decide whether or not to give that customer a certain loan. We discuss three popular techniques: logistic regression, discriminant analysis and neural networks. We shall argue strongly in favour of the logistic regression. Discriminant analysis can be used, and for reasons that can be explained mathematically it will often result in approximately the same conclusions as a logistic regression. But the statistical assumptions are not appropriate in most cases, and the results given are not as directly interpretable as those of logistic re- gression. Neural network techniques, in their simplest form, su er from the lack of statistical standard methods for veri cation of the model and tests for removal of covariates. This problem disappears to some extend when the neural networks are reformulated as proper statistical models, based on the type of functions that are considered in neural networks. But this results in a somewhat specialized class of non{linear regression models, which may be useful in situations where local peculiarities of the response function are in focus, but certainly not when the overall | usually monotone | e ect of many more or less confounded covariates is the issue. We discuss, within the logistic regression framework, the handling of phenomena such as time trends and corruption of the historical data due to shifts of policy, censor- ing and/or interventions in highrisk customers' economy. Finally, we illustrate and support the theoretical considerations by a case study concerning mortgage loans in a Danish credit associati

Foreign Ownership and Long-term Survival

Does foreign ownership enhance or decrease a firm’s chances of survival? Over the 100 year period 1895-2001 this paper compares the survival of foreign subsidiaries in Denmark to a control sample matched by industry and firm size. We find that foreign-owned companies have higher survival probability. On average exit risk for domestic companies is 2.3 times higher than for foreign companies. First movers like Siemens, Philips, Kodak, Ford, GM or Goodyear have been active in the country for almost a century. Relative foreign survival increases with company age. However, the foreign survival advantage appears to be eroded by globalization, it decreases over time and disappears at the end of the century

Inefficiency patterns in family-owned banks in Bangladesh

Purpose Multi-directional efficiency analysis (MEA) is an alternative methodology to data envelopment analysis (DEA) that investigates the improvement potentials in each input and output dimension and identifies a benchmark proportional to these potential improvements. This results in a more nuanced picture of the sources of the inefficiency providing opportunities for additional conclusions about which variables the inefficiency is mainly located on. MEA provides insights into not only the level of the inefficiency but also the patterns within the inefficiency, i.e. its sources and location. This paper applies this methodology to Bangladeshi banks to understand the differences in the inefficiency patterns between different subgroups. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses the difference in the pattern of inefficiency between the older family-dominated banks and the newer non-family-owned banks in Bangladesh using the recently developed MEAs technology, which enables analysis of patterns within inefficiencies rather than only levels of (in)efficiency. The empirical results show that whilst there are few significant differences in the levels of variable-specific efficiency scores between the two subgroups, there are clearer differences on the inefficiency contributions from particular outputs in most of the study period and also on most variables in the time window of 2007–2009. This finding provides clues to differences in business models and management practice between the two types of banks in Bangladesh. Findings The empirical results show that whilst there are few significant differences in the levels of variable-specific efficiency scores between the two subgroups (older family-dominated banks and the newer non-family-owned banks), there are clearer differences on the inefficiency contributions from particular outputs in most of the study period and also on most variables in the time window of 2007–2009, during the Global Financial Crisis (GFCs). This finding provides clues to differences in business models and management practice between the two types of banks in Bangladesh. Practical implications DEA is a conventional tool for benchmarking in management science. However, conventional benchmarking exercises based on DEA do not reveal significant differences in the sources of inefficiency that show differences in business models. While DEA remains the most utilized technique in the efficiency literature, we think that a more flexible and deeper analysis requires something like MEA. Originality/value The contribution is twofold. First, examination of performances of family-owned firms is a well-established but analysis of performances of family-dominated banks is relative scarce. Secondly, isolating the sources of inefficiency which differs between types of banks even if there is no difference in inefficiency levels is absolutely new for a complete data set of conventional banks in Bangladesh. It turns out that there are few (significant) differences between the groups in terms of the inefficiency levels, whereas clear patterns emerge in terms of differences in inefficiency contributions between family-dominated and non-family-owned banks, during the Global Financial Crisi

Measuring inefficiency in the Norwegian bus industry using multi-directional efficiency analysis

To measure and analyze efficiency in the transportation industry, this paper introduces and demonstrates the advantages of multi-directional efficiency analysis (MEA) in the case of cost data with limited substitution possibilities. Norwegian bus data that has previously been analyzed using econometric models and data envelopment analysis is reconsidered using MEA. Findings show that using MEA makes it possible to disaggregate inefficiency into different components corresponding to different types of cost generating variables and thereby provides both managers of the bus companies and policy makers with more detailed information on possible improvements in performance. Specific results show that about 10% higher costs for companies operating in coastal areas are related to inefficient utilization of the fuel input. This suggests that part of the improvement potential of companies in coastal areas is caused by topographic factors and are thus beyond management control. Controlling for the costal effects shows that ownership has an effect on fuel utilization. The improvement potential in driver costs were found to be about 4% larger for public than for private companies

Effect of a multimodal high intensity exercise intervention in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: randomised controlled trial

Objective To assess the effect of a multimodal group exercise intervention, as an adjunct to conventional care, on fatigue, physical capacity, general wellbeing, physical activity, and quality of life in patients with cancer who were undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy or treatment for advanced disease

Foreign Ownership and long-term Survival

Does foreign ownership enhance or decrease a firm’s chances of survival? Over the 100 year period 1895-2001 this paper compares the survival of foreign subsidiaries in Denmark to a control sample matched by industry and firm size. We find that foreign-owned companies have higher survival probability. On average exit risk for domestic companies is 2.3 times higher than for foreign companies. First movers like Siemens, Philips, Kodak, Ford, GM or Goodyear have been active in the country for almost a century. Relative foreign survival increases with company age. However, the foreign survival advantage appears to be eroded by globalization, it decreases over time and disappears at the end of the century.na