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Copyright of Ekonomske Ideje i Praksa is the property of Centar za Izdavacku Delatnost Ekonomskog Fakulteta u Beogradu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Climate change, increased government efforts towards sustainable economic growth, and all types of resource constraint have raised concern among academics and practitioners about the path to follow for keeping firms' competitive advantage in such a dynamic environment. The purpose of the paper is to explore how firms operating in the agricultural sector have understood the need to identify and follow the best practitioners in the market, performing a benchmarking analysis aimed at providing insights on firms' financial sustainability. As the literature has not sufficiently addressed the problem of firms' financial sustainability operating in the Romanian Agriculture sector, we provide some empirical evidence related to the before and post-pandemic periods. The benchmarking analysis is developed using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, which measures firms' efficiency in terms of financial performance. Overall, the results suggest there is still much work to be done, and firms operating in the agricultural sector show high variation in terms of productivity from the perspective of financial indicators. The results are even more relevant in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, showing that only a part of the firms analyzed have developed their own dynamic capabilities that help them effectively find solutions to adjusting to the volatility of the market in a short timeframe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental performance indicators are key to monitoring the sustainability of production processes. In the salmon industry, there is a growing concern about the excess of nutrients that have accumulated at the bottom of marine ecosystems and the negative externalities of those nutrients on the environment. In this paper, we measure environmental performance in the salmon industry in Chile by applying a set of data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. In these models, we incorporate pollutants as undesired outputs of the production process. Our data start in the years of the ISA virus outbreak and continue into the subsequent years of recovery in which stricter sanitary norms were implemented. All the models suggest a negative trend in both average technical and environmental efficiencies during the ISA virus outbreak and a subsequent increase in efficiency scores in the following years. A gap can be observed between environmental and technical efficiency measures, a gap that widened during the first years of the regulatory change and decreased at the end of the period. We argue that these findings offer preliminary evidence that environmental performance improved because of the new regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proven that developing urban rail transit (URT) is the key to solving the traffic problems in big cities, and transport efficiency is essential for scientific line planning and construction, operation management and sustainable development of urban rail transit. This paper focuses on the transport efficiency of the URT network and adopts shadow efficiency theory creatively to combine factors of passengers, capacity, and efficiency effectively. A quantitative calculation method of system utility based on "double time penalty" is proposed. According to the characteristics of Beijing URT, this paper puts forward a single optimization strategy and combinatorial optimization strategy and analyzes the results with DEA. The simulation of Beijing subway network proves the availability of the method and its optimization effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contains a regression model for assessing the average value of the efficiency of the scale of operations by leasing companies in Ukraine, which is built on the basis of DEA analysis. To determine the factors that cause a statistically significant impact on performance indicators obtained on the basis of DEA analysis, the authors use the appropriate regression models for panel data. To assess the efficiency of the scale of Ukrainian leasing companies for the analyzed period, the input-oriented DEA model with variable VRS and sustainable CRS scale effects was used. A statistical sample of the performance indicators of 21 leasing companies in Ukraine was formed, which was obtained from their financial and accounting statements for 2019-2020. Due to the significant sensitivity of SE scale efficiency to input and output variables, it was proposed to use an average scale efficiency value based on eight different DEA models. It is noted that if the CCR model determines the success of the management of a leasing company in the transformation of input resources into the output ones, then the efficiency of scale evaluates the correctness of choosing the scale of the leasing company. The analysis showed that the efficiency of the scale of the lessor’s activities in most cases depends on determinants such as administrative costs, fixed assets, and net profit of such companies. The obtained results indicate that with the increase in the size of the leasing company, the efficiency of the scale of their active operations decreases, since with an increase in the size of fixed assets and the volume of administrative costs, the average efficiency of the scale of their activities decreases. It is shown that the greater the net profit, the closer leasing companies work to the optimal scale of activity for them, which is determined by the volume of long-term receivables of the lessor and the size of his assets.

Copyright of Exacta is the property of Exacta - Engenharia de Producao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper presents research results of efficiency of tourism sector in certain European countries and regions obtained by applying DEA method. The primary goal of the paper is to determine to what extent tourism sector in certain European countries and regions is efficient in relation to set parameters, while the secondary goal is aimed at providing recommendations for its improvement. In relation to this, the methodology of the DEA analysis is based on the input and output parameters which were used to determine the efficiency. The input parameters included: number of hotels and similar accommodation capacities, number of rooms and number of bed places, whereas the output parameters included: number of inbound tourists, number of bed-nights and tourism expenditure during their stay abroad. One of the conclusions of the paper is that the total efficiency was shown in Croatia, Belgium, and Denmark, while the technical efficiency was also present in North Macedonia, France, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.

The article proposed a series of input-oriented DEA (data envelopment analysis) models with variable VRS (variable returns to scale) and constant CRS (constant returns to scale) scale effects to assess the performance of Ukrainian leasing companies. Based on the obtained DEA models, an efficiency analysis of these companies scale of operation was also conducted. Performance assessments based on the DEA methodology were obtained using the Efficiency Measurement System (EMS) package. The analysis showed that the assessment of the leasing companies’ performance based on DEA models is sensitive to the choice of input and output variables. Therefore, to obtain a comprehensive assessment of efficiency, we used the average of the corresponding technical efficiency values for different sets of input and output variables. Current liquidity ratios, receivables, aggregate assets and profitability ratios, namely net income, net income and other operating income, were used as output variables in the various DEA models. The input variables were total assets, administrative expenses and other operating expenses, fixed assets and intangible assets, cost of goods sold and other expenses. It has been argued that input-oriented DEA models are more suitable for analyzing the effectiveness of the leasing business, as the management of such companies has much more capability to control inputs such as labor, costs, interest rate policy, equity, etc. than output (the amount of leasing agreements, company income, etc.). To obtain performance estimates based on DEA models, a statistical sample was formed based on the accounting and financial statements of domestic leasing companies participating in the Ukrainian Association of Lessors for 2019 and 2020. Analysis based on the obtained DEA models showed that, despite the high growth rates of leasing operations in the second half of 2020, leasing companies demonstrated a bit higher efficiency in 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proven that developing urban rail transit (URT) is the key to solving the traffic problems in big cities, and transport efficiency is essential for scientific line planning and construction, operation management and sustainable development of urban rail transit. This paper focuses on the transport efficiency of the URT network and adopts shadow efficiency theory creatively to combine factors of passengers, capacity, and efficiency effectively. A quantitative calculation method of system utility based on “double time penalty” is proposed. According to the characteristics of Beijing URT, this paper puts forward a single optimization strategy and combinatorial optimization strategy and analyzes the results with DEA. The simulation of Beijing subway network proves the availability of the method and its optimization effects.

Based on data drawn from the national section of the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) database, the study investigates the efficiency of a panel sample of Italian farms practising other gainful activities. An output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis is performed for each year from 2012 to 2017. A second step of analysis is carried out by using the Malmquist Index in order to analyse inter-temporal productivity changes and to decompose its variation into three components, that is, the variations in pure technical efficiency, the variation in scale efficiency and the technological progress for every two years. Results show there is much room for improving the performances of diversified farms, even when considering the variability observed among farms in terms of efficiency scores and across the investigated period. Some variables at contextual and farm levels – farm's location and size– relate to the efficiency performances of diversified Italian farms. Over the investigated period of time, the technological change supports farms' performances and contrasts some situations of low managerial efficiency. • A sample from Italian FADN, consisting of 505 diversified farms observed from 2012 to 2017, has been investigated. • DEA analysis and Malmquist Index are employed to assess farms' efficiency. • Italian diversified farms show low efficiency levels. • Technological change supports farms' performances and contrasts some situations of low managerial efficiency. • Policy choices should foster the efficiency of diversified farms, due to their relevance in rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we propose a method for ranking tourist destinations and evaluating their performances under a sustainability perspective: a fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making method is applied for determining sustainability performance values and ranking destinations accordingly. We select a set of sustainability evaluation criteria and use a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to weight the selected criteria. We also optimize each evaluator's membership function support by means of a fuzzy entropy maximization criteria. A case study is illustrated and results are compared with two data envelopment analysis–based models. The simplicity of the proposed approach along with the easy readability of the results allow its direct applicability for all involved stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Exacta is the property of Exacta - Engenharia de Producao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Efficiency of the banking sector has, due to its significance, lately been increasingly analysed by individual countries, through the application of modern economic and mathematical methods and models. This is the case with the banking sector in the Republic of Serbia, as well. For this particular reason, the paper deals in a 2016 efficiency analysis of the banking sector of the Republic of Serbia by applying the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) analysis. The obtained results of the survey conducted on the sample of thirty (30) banks show that only eight (8) banks were business efficient. With the view of increasing the future business efficiency of the entire banking sector (in particular of the inefficient banks),it is necessary to more efficiently manage the assets and liabilities, human resources, capital, operating income and profit. Moreover, there is a need for a more efficient cost management through the application of modern concepts, such as cost accounting by activities and/or Japanese business philosophy.

We examine energy efficiency in the European Union (EU) using an integrated model that connects labor and capital as production factors with energy consumption to produce GDP with a limited amount of environmental emissions. The model is a linear output-oriented BCC data envelopment analysis (DEA) that employs variables with non-negative values to calculate efficiency scores for a sample of 28 EU member states in the period 2010–2018. We assume variable returns to scale (VRS) considering the natural inclination of countries to adopt technologies that allow them to produce higher outputs over extended periods of time, which we observed through the trends of increasing labor productivity and decreasing energy intensity over the analyzed period. The average EU inefficiency margin in the sample period is 16.0%, with old member states being significantly more efficient (4.2%) than new member states (29.5%). Energy efficiency management does not improve over time, especially in new member states that had substantially worse efficiency by 2018 than in 2010. New member states could increase energy efficiency through the liberalization of the energy market, the support of energy-saving and technologically advanced industries, and the introduction of measures aimed at increasing the productivity levels in the economy.

The sanctions imposed on the Iranian port's operators and shipping lines during the period of year 2012 to 2018 were huge challenges for Iranian seaports and maritime trades. Its impact on container business was instantaneous and port throughput shrank by 38 percent. In order to evaluate the Iranian port's performance and their relative efficiency during the sanction period, 10-year data had been collected for five container ports of Iran. This set of data was then analyzed by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). All ports had shown decreased port average efficiency after imposed sanction. Then four ports namely Khorramshahr (from 0.73 to 0.51), Bushehr (from 0.78 to 0.83), Bandar Imam Khomeni (from 0.27 to 0.33) and Chabahar (slight increase) had shown increased port average efficiency only one port namely Shahid Rajaei (from0.89 to.083). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with energy efficiency examined through an integrated model that links energy with environment, technology, and urbanisation as related areas. Our main goal is to discover how efficiently developed countries use primary energy and electricity (secondary energy). We additionally want to find out how the inclusion of environmental care and renewable energy capacity affects efficiency. For that purpose, we set up an output-oriented BCC data envelopment analysis that employs a set of input variables with non-negative values to calculate the efficiency scores on minimising energy use and losses as well as environmental emissions for a sample of 30 OECD member states during the period from 2001 to 2018. We develop a couple of baseline models in which we find that countries have mean inefficiency margins of 16.1% for primary energy and from 10.8 to 13.5% for electricity. The results from the extended models show that taking care about environment does not affect efficiency in general, while the reliance on energy produced from renewable sources does slightly reduce it.

The aim of this study is to examine the relative efficiency of the teaching process (study) at the largest faculty in Serbia based on enveloped data (DEA analysis). The analysis was conducted in the 2013/14 academic year and includes 863 graduate students who have completed their studies in 13 academic programs. Input variables used in this analysis were the average secondary school grade and the number of scores earned on the entrance exam, while the output variables were the average grade achieved during the study and the length of study. Our approach integrates the DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) approach and the statistical analysis of variance with the aim of developing an expanded model for measuring the efficiency of the teaching process. Measurements of efficiency of higher education institutions will be presented using the DEA analysis in measuring the efficiency of each student individually and measuring the efficiency of students of specific study programs or faculties. Efficiency of studying which is measured for each student individually is over 70%, while the efficiency of study programs is over 85%. The efficiency of studying was measured on the example of a faculty consisting of 13 departments and 17 study programs of basic academic studies. As per the law there are no integrated universities in the Republic of Serbia but each faculty is a separate institution, each department of the Faculty of Technical Sciences can be considered a separate faculty, while the faculty itself can be considered a university. Thus, this analysis can describe the measurement of efficiency of the university.

Reproductive Child Health (RCH) programme is one of the most important programmes for reproductive women and child health development in India and Madhya Pradesh, the Empowered Action Group (EAG) is one of them. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, this study calculates and analyses the technical efficiency of RCH programme in Madhya Pradesh. The main objective was to assess the degree of efficiency of RCH programme in the districts of Madhya Pradesh and to recommend performance targets for those districts, which come under inefficient technical inefficiency. The findings show that 64.45 per cent of the districts of the state are technically inefficient and scale inefficient; and used more resources that they actually did not need. The results broadly pointed out to grave inefficiency in the RCH at district level and that significant amounts of resources could be saved if measures were put to curb the wastage.

Innovation, in contemporary times, has been established as the lynchpin of growth and national competitive advantage among countries. Supranational and national resources have jointly combined to create sound innovation strategies and diffusion policies for member states in recent times. However, there is the question of whether increased innovation translates to effective diffusion of innovation. With this in mind, the present research aims to comparatively assess and evaluate the efficiency of diffusion of innovation of European Union member states in reference to their European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) rankings. Using the Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), the present research found contrasting diffusion efficiency scores of member states with different innovation performances as most innovative member states had much lower efficiency scores compared to some supposedly weak innovating member states. We also computed the input-redundancy and output-deficiency of member states, provided recommendations for efficient input-output combinations based on findings of respective member states and innovation groups, and finally, outlined directions for future studies.

The predominance of small organizations in local environments, organized as production systems, require the exercise of strategic functions. Thus, performance measures provide improved conditions for the activity, in other words, when an economic agent uses inputs to turn them into products. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) can potentially provide better competitive conditions to farmers, especially when interpreted and used with the knowledge and own judgments about these operations. Within this theme, as proposed methodologically present the DEA analysis from an economic viewpoint, efficiency refers to the ability of a firm has to combine the optimal proportions of resources that makes it possible to obtain greater volume of product, considering that management should not only be summed up in economic indicators for analysis, in order to contribute to rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to measure relative efficiency in utilizing public education and R&D expenditures in the new EU member states in comparison to the selected EU (plus Croatia) and OECD countries. As resources allocated to education and R&D sector are significantly limited, a special emphasis should be given to their efficient use regarding the institutional and legal constraints. By applying non-parametric methodology, i.e. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a relative efficiency is defined as the deviation from the efficiency frontier which represents the maximum output/outcome attainable from each input level. An analysis of (output-oriented) efficiency measures shows that among the new EU member states Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia seem to be good benchmark countries in the field of primary, secondary and tertiary education, respectively. On the other hand, Cyprus and again Hungary dominate in the field of R&D sector, even if for different reasons. The empirical results also suggest that, in general, new EU member states show relatively high efficiency in tertiary education, while lag well behind in the R&D efficiency measures.

Copyright of Erwerbs-Obstbau is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Polish banking industry has been transformed since the country’s transition to a market economy which began at the end of the 1980s. The industry has now developed and expanded to encompass more than 60 participants and it can thus be described today as a relatively competitive market. Against this background, this paper evaluates the financial performance at the industry over time, based on the ten largest Polish banks that represent around 80 percent of the total sector in terms of assets. In particular, cost efficiency of the banks is analyzed on the basis of six production models. Efficiency scores are obtained using Data Envelopment Analysis between 1995-2003 period, using intertemporal and locally intertemporal data. Productivity changes within the sector are investigated using the Malmquist Index approach.

This paper measures and evaluates the relative efficiency of the Jordanian banks over the period 2005-2010. The measurement of efficiency is estimated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Sample data contains 12 banks; three of them are Islamic banks. Constant return to scale (CRS) and variable return to scale (VRS) were used in order to measure the relative efficiency of the Jordanian banks, using annual data from 2005 through 2010. The results show that, on the technical efficiency scale only a few Jordanian banks were efficient in managing their financial resources and generating profit. Furthermore, only few banks were found to be efficient on the scale of pure technical efficiency and only so in a few years. The financial crisis was found to have a significant impact on banks' efficiency. These findings can be used by the regulators, policy makers and banks management to further investigate the reasons behind the inefficient decision-making units (DMUs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to measure relative efficiency in utilizing public education and R&D expenditures in the new EU member states in comparison to the selected EU (plus Croatia) and OECD countries. As resources allocated to education and R&D sector are significantly limited, a special emphasis should be given to their efficient use regarding the institutional and legal constraints. By applying non-parametric methodology, i.e. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a relative efficiency is defined as the deviation from the efficiency frontier which represents the maximum output/outcome attainable from each input level. An analysis of (output-oriented) efficiency measures shows that among the new EU member states Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia seem to be good benchmark countries in the field of primary, secondary and tertiary education, respectively. On the other hand, Cyprus and again Hungary dominate in the field of R&D sector, even if for different reasons. The empirical results also suggest that, in general, new EU member states show relatively high efficiency in tertiary education, while lag well behind in the R&D efficiency measures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper measures and evaluates the relative efficiency of Jordanian banks over the period 2005-2010. The measurement of efficiency is estimated using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Our sample contains 12 banks; three of them are Islamic banks. Constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable retursn to scale (VRS) were used in order to measure the relative efficiency of the Jordanian banks, using annual data from 2005 through 2010. The results show that, on the technical efficiency scale only a few Jordanian banks were efficient in managing their financial resources and generating profit. Furthermore, only a few banks were found to be efficient on the scale of pure technical efficiency and in few years. The financial crisis was found to have a significant impact on banks' efficiency. These findings can be used by regulators, policy makers and bank management to further investigate the reasons behind the inefficient DMUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper uses stochastic frontier models to assess whether technical efficiency at Newark Liberty International, New York John F. Kennedy International, and New York LaGuardia airports improved from June to August 2008 compared with the summers of 2000 and 2007. An airport is efficient if it can handle operations on-time by minimizing overall demand and maximizing available airport capacity. Granger-causality tests determined the factors that may cause changes in key components and indicators of airport performance. Compared with the other airports, JFK experienced the greatest improvement in technical efficiency. The Granger-causality tests stressed the significance of airport operations and en route factors in supporting efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we have analyzed both the main traits of efficient firms and the main sources of firms' efficiency through a representative sample of 2.029 small and medium size Catalan firms. Our results demonstrate the importance for managers of realizing that firms' efficiency shows a significant improvement when advanced ICT uses are combined with human resources practices focused on the promotion of workers autonomy, flexibility and decentralization of firm's decision making process, and with the adoption of employees assessment systems based on human values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, using census data from the assembly industry during the period 1960–2000, we attempt to expand the knowledge about how innovation and imitation lead to the exploitation of long-term subcontract networks and agglomeration economies; thus having an effect on an improvement in productivity. To this end, a data envelopment analysis is employed to decompose productivity into innovation and imitation. The main findings make it evident that as time passes innovation most noticeably tends to occur towards the outskirts of the core area, and that the level of efficiency readily improves in areas where the division of labor is advanced by relatively small establishments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]