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1 – 10 of over 26000Shivam Kushwaha, Shankar Prawesh and Anand Venkatesh
The objective of the paper is to get a better understanding of capacity utilisation (CU) in Indian public bus companies. More specifically, this paper would be measuring CU and…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of the paper is to get a better understanding of capacity utilisation (CU) in Indian public bus companies. More specifically, this paper would be measuring CU and identifying the drivers of the same. Finally, the influence of CU on the financial performance of Indian bus companies is examined.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted data envelopment analysis (DEA) to measure the CU in Indian public bus companies. Truncated regression was used to identify the drivers of CU. Subsequently, the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to analyse the influence of CU on Indian bus companies' financial performance. The period of study was from 2013 to 17.
Findings
The significant drivers of CU were fleet age, passenger lead and fleet utilisation. Additionally, it was found that CU had a significant positive influence on the financial performance of Indian public bus companies and a unit increase in unused capacity has led to an increase of 7% in the operating ratio of the bus companies.
Practical implications
Getting insights into CU, apart from technical efficiency, is of immense use to both public transport researchers and practitioners. Managers of public bus companies should be mindful of CU as it has a significant bearing on their financial performance.
Originality/value
This is the first study in public transport, which establishes the linkage between CU and financial performance. Besides, a modified measure of cost-efficiency has also been conceptualised in this study.
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Hümeyra Adıgüzel and Marios Floros
The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study about the capacity utilization analysis in a small-sized manufacturing company through the application of time-driven…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study about the capacity utilization analysis in a small-sized manufacturing company through the application of time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC). After a brief overview of development of the TDABC system, a detailed application of TDABC and capacity utilization analysis in a bakery is given.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a case study about the application of TDABC in a small-sized Greek manufacturing firm. In the case study, time equations were developed for the supporting, operating and manufacturing departments and product costs determined based on the model. Capacity utilization analysis made through the application of TDABC system.
Findings
The study shows that TDABC is more applicable in small-sized manufacturing companies because of their labor-intensive nature. In contrast to previous studies, authors argue that even in small firms simple excel sheets are not enough to capture the complexity of the time equations and business intelligence software and programming coding is required.
Research limitations/implications
Although the fundamental structure of TDABC is the same for all companies there is no strict form of application.
Practical implications
The practical implication of this paper is that each firm has unique characteristics that need to be reflected in the application of the TDABC model.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by providing insights into cost accounting in SMEs. More specifically, this paper contributes to the TDABC literature regarding the application of the system in small and medium sized manufacturing firms.
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Víctor Giménez, Diego Prior and Jorge R. Keith
This paper aims to investigate the efficiency implications of belonging to a strategic hospital alliance (SHA) and measuring the effects over capacity utilization of such…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the efficiency implications of belonging to a strategic hospital alliance (SHA) and measuring the effects over capacity utilization of such agreements in a Mexican healthcare context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is the nonparametric methodology used, which supports both objectives. Technological gaps ratios are calculated by using DEA-metafrontier approach to compare efficiency between SHA members and a hospital’s control group. Also, hospital capacity utilization ratios are used as the maximum rate of output possible from fixed inputs in a frontier setting using directional distance functions. Data were collected from an alliance called Consorcio Mexicano de Hospitales in México, which has 29 general private hospitals and a group of 47 hospitals with same characteristics from a database made by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía for year 2014.
Findings
The results indicate that efficiency is better at hospitals that belong to an alliance; it also shows an improvement of installed capacity management for hospital alliances in México.
Originality/value
The results can be useful for both private health organization managers and regulators themselves to adopt management practices that may end up having a favorable impact on cost and prices containment. Additionally, there are no previous studies neither in Mexico nor in Latin America that analyze the impact of strategic hospitality alliances on the efficiency and utilization of the capacity of private hospitals.
Propósito
Este documento tiene como objetivo investigar las implicaciones de pertenecer a una alianza hospitalaria estratégica (AHE) en la eficiencia, así como cuantificar los efectos sobre la utilización de la capacidad de dichos acuerdos en el contexto mexicano de atención médica.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
El Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA) es la metodología no paramétrica utilizada para lograr ambos objetivos. Las brechas tecnológicas se estiman empleando meta-fronteras calculadas mediante modelos DEA, comparando la eficiencia entre los miembros de la AHE y un grupo de control de hospitales. El nivel de utilización de la capacidad hospitalaria se calcula, utilizando funciones direccionales de distancia, a partir del máximo output alcanzable a partir de la dotación de inputs fijos. Los datos fueron obtenidos de la alianza Consorcio Mexicano de Hospitales en México, integrada por 29 hospitales privados generales, y de un grupo de 47 hospitales con las mismas características obtenidos de una base de datos del Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía para el año 2014.
Resultados
adosLos resultados indican que los niveles de eficiencia son superiores en los hospitales pertenecientes a la alianza, así como una mejor gestión de la capacidad instalada en la alianza hospitalaria en México.
Originalidad/valor
Los resultados pueden ser útiles tanto para los administradores de las organizaciones de salud privadas como para los reguladores, de forma que puedan adoptar prácticas de gestión con un impacto favorable en la contención de costos y precios. Asimismo, no existen estudios previos ni en México ni en América Latina que analicen el impacto de las alianzas estratégicas hospitalarias en la eficiencia y la utilización de la capacidad de los hospitales privados.
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Álvaro Rodríguez-Sanz and Luis Rubio-Andrada
An important and challenging question for air transportation regulators and airport operators is the definition and specification of airport capacity. Annual capacity is used for…
Abstract
Purpose
An important and challenging question for air transportation regulators and airport operators is the definition and specification of airport capacity. Annual capacity is used for long-term planning purposes as a degree of available service volume, but it poses several inefficiencies when measuring the true throughput of the system because of seasonal and daily variations of traffic. Instead, airport throughput is calculated or estimated for a short period of time, usually one hour. This brings about a mismatch: air traffic forecasts typically yield annual volumes, whereas capacity is measured on hourly figures. To manage the right balance between airport capacity and demand, annual traffic volumes must be converted into design hour volumes, so that they can be compared with the true throughput of the system. This comparison is a cornerstone in planning new airport infrastructures, as design-period parameters are important for airport planners in anticipating where and when congestion occurs. Although the design hour for airport traffic has historically had a number of definitions, it is necessary to improve the way air traffic design hours are selected. This study aims to provide an empirical analysis of airport capacity and demand, specifically focusing on insights related to air traffic design hours and the relationship between capacity and delay.
Design/methodology/approach
By reviewing the empirical relationships between hourly and annual air traffic volumes and between practical capacity and delay at 50 European airports during the period 2004–2021, this paper discusses the problem of defining a suitable peak hour for capacity evaluation purposes. The authors use information from several data sources, including EUROCONTROL, ACI and OAG. This study provides functional links between design hours and annual volumes for different airport clusters. Additionally, the authors appraise different daily traffic distribution patterns and their variation by hour of the day.
Findings
The clustering of airports with respect to their capacity, operational and traffic characteristics allows us to discover functional relationships between annual traffic and the percentage of traffic in the design hour. These relationships help the authors to propose empirical methods to derive expected traffic in design hours from annual volumes. The main conclusion is that the percentage of total annual traffic that is concentrated at the design hour maintains a predictable behavior through a “potential” adjustment with respect to the volume of annual traffic. Moreover, the authors provide an experimental link between capacity and delay so that peak hour figures can be related to factors that describe the quality of traffic operations.
Originality/value
The functional relationships between hourly and annual air traffic volumes and between capacity and delay, can be used to properly assess airport expansion projects or to optimize resource allocation tasks. This study offers new evidence on the nature of airport capacity and the dynamics of air traffic design hours and delay.
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Shamsuddin Ahmed and Francis Amagoh
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the service delivery system of a dental clinic in Kazakhstan to maximize the clinic’s efficiency.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the service delivery system of a dental clinic in Kazakhstan to maximize the clinic’s efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses process analysis to determine the capacity utilization and areas of bottlenecks in the dental clinic’s system.
Findings
The analysis shows that the most severe bottleneck is identified in step 16 of the 20-step patient flow process. The system efficiency is approximately 62 per cent.
Practical implications
The study will help similar health-care organizations identify areas of bottlenecks in their operational system. This would allow management to deploy optimal resources that would improve systems’ performance.
Originality/value
The paper provides a framework for health-care managers to identify how to reduce patient throughput time and increase patient satisfaction.
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Yas Alsultanny and Sara AlZuhair
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the Saudi cement companies’ market share.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the Saudi cement companies’ market share.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collected from the annual reports and financial statements of 12 companies.
Findings
The analysis of the production indicators showed that seven Saudi companies had a steady state of production capacity, while the other five companies had an increase in their production capacity.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited to the Saudi cement companies.
Practical implications
The Saudi cement companies add expenditures annually to update their managerial technologies, production equipment and machinery in plants and processes.
Originality/value
The Saudi cement companies must be creating more competition between the cement companies through the opportunity of developing or acquiring new technologies.
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Between 1963 and 1971 the number of places available at Government Training Centres (GTCs) increased by over 400 per cent, so that by 1971 there were 52 centres with 11,000 places…
Abstract
Between 1963 and 1971 the number of places available at Government Training Centres (GTCs) increased by over 400 per cent, so that by 1971 there were 52 centres with 11,000 places capable of retraining about 20,000 persons annually. Early in 1972 the Conservative Government announced plans for a further large expansion in the manpower training and retraining programme. The long term aim of that government was to provide retraining opportunities for about 100,000 annually, but as an interim measure it hoped to provide such opportunities for 60–70,000 people by 1975. The government intended that about half of these opportunities—i.e. 30,000—would be catered for by the GTCs, of which there would be 64 by 1975, with a total of 17,000 training places.
The recent interconnection and trade of electricity between NSW and Victoria is likely to exacerbate any misallocation of resources due to inefficient pricing. The aim of this…
Abstract
The recent interconnection and trade of electricity between NSW and Victoria is likely to exacerbate any misallocation of resources due to inefficient pricing. The aim of this article is to investigate the likely divergence between electricity generation costs using current market prices of coal and natural gas, and those when coal and natural gas are priced efficiently. To do so, the paper applies the concept of full social cost pricing to five different generation technologies in the two states. It concludes that the current movement to privatisation and interconnection in the electricity sector, while it may promote pricing closer to marginal private costs, will not result in efficient outcomes in the presence of external costs and the different tax regimes which currently apply to each generation fuel and in each state.
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Nice Chukwuma-Ume and Chukwuma Otum Ume
This study aims to focus on assessing the status of agribusiness enterprises in Nigeria. The specific goals were to ascertain the level of performance of different categories of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on assessing the status of agribusiness enterprises in Nigeria. The specific goals were to ascertain the level of performance of different categories of agribusiness enterprises, and determine the institutional and firm-level characteristics that influence agribusiness performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on secondary data. These data were sourced from the World Bank business enterprise survey. The World Bank Enterprise survey employed a purposive sampling technique to select major staple agribusiness categories in Nigeria. The categories selected were those included in the World Bank's categorization of agribusiness enterprises. These categories include tobacco, food, textiles, leather, garments, paper industries and wood. The individual firms included in the survey were randomly selected from the selected agribusiness categories. In total, 721 agribusiness firms were selected. Data were analyzed with multiple linear regression at a 5% probability level.
Findings
The result of the analysis showed that small-scale agribusiness enterprises have the best performance based on an average of the five performance indicators considered in this study. The determinants of agribusiness performance showed that the credit constraint, size of enterprise, bureaucracy and corruption negatively and significantly affected the performance of agribusiness enterprises in the country, while the gender and educational status of the top manager were positively significant.
Research limitations/implications
The findings imply that small agribusinesses are instrumental in the development of the agribusiness sector and by extension the economy of the nation.
Originality/value
This study enhances the understanding of how best to deliver improved system-level performance policy and wealth creation, especially within the agribusiness subsector.
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