Does China's power supply chain systems perform well? A data-based path-index meta-frontier analysis
Industrial Management & Data Systems
ISSN: 0263-5577
Article publication date: 12 September 2020
Issue publication date: 23 September 2021
Abstract
Purpose
To improve the sustainable performance of the power supply chain system (PSCS), the Chinese government proposed a series of relevant policies and promoted the application of various technologies in the power industry. This study analyzes the sustainable performance and technology levels of PSCSs in various regions of China.
Design/methodology/approach
To quantify the technological heterogeneity between PSCSs, this study incorporates a meta-frontier into the performance evaluation model. To increase the performance of inefficient PSCSs, this study also proposes a series of performance improvement path indexes.
Findings
Empirical analysis of China's provincial PSCSs, using data from 2014 to 2017, has yielded several key findings. First, the average performance of PSCSs of all provinces in China is 0.7192, indicating that PSCSs in China have great potential for improvement. Second, independent of power generation subsystem (PGS) or power retail subsystem (PRS), regional differences affect the technological heterogeneity of PSCSs in China. Third, for PGS, the technological level of PSCSs in the eastern region displays a high level, while the management level can still be greatly improved. Fourth, only the PSCS of Beijing is best in both PGS and PRS. The two subsystems of the PSCSs in the other provinces are either insufficiently managed or technologically inadequate.
Originality/value
Compared with the traditional performance model, the model proposed in this study considers the technological heterogeneity between PSCSs. In addition, the path indexes proposed in this study clearly indicate an improvement direction and the specific improvement level for inefficient PSCSs.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. This research is partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the grant nos. 71871153, 71971027, 71501139, 91746110 and 71521002; National Key Research and Development Project of China under the grant no. 2018YFB1701802; Beijing Philosophy and Social Science Foundation under the grant no.19JDGLB017; the Special Items Fund of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education. Jiasen Sun thanks the sponsorship of the Tang Scholar of Soochow University.
Citation
Sun, J., Xu, S. and Li, G. (2021), "Does China's power supply chain systems perform well? A data-based path-index meta-frontier analysis", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 121 No. 9, pp. 2048-2070. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2020-0183
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited