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This paper analyses the efficiency of individual retail stores belonging to a Portuguese multi‐market hypermarket retailing chain, employing data envelopment analysis (DEA). The use of DEA for the analysis of intra‐chain comparative store efficiency can be of value in examining the competitiveness of the chain as a whole. Competitiveness should be based on benchmarking the retail outlets which compose the chain. We conclude from our research that some outlets are at the frontier of best practice, while others are inefficient. Managerial implications arising from the study are considered.

This paper analyses the cost efficiency of Italian football clubs using a stochastic frontier model. The frontier estimation confirmed that the model fits the data well with all coefficients correctly signed and in line with the theoretical requirements. Marketing and Sponsorship is taken into account as an explanatory variable and the factors which contributed to these findings, as well as other policy implications, are provided.

Sporting events usually attract corporate sponsors because of the promise of easy, wide-reaching promotion of their brands through association with the event. This study investigates the brand recall and brand preferences of Portuguese citizens in relation to the sponsors of the UEFA Football Championship finals, Euro 2004. A questionnaire was carried out immediately after the event. A structural equation model with latent variables is estimated and managerial policy implications are derived.

The aim of the paper is to estimate the cost efficiency of supermarket chains in the Spanish retailing industry.

The methodology applied is based on a random stochastic frontier model that enables separation of the covariates in the cost function into homogeneous and heterogeneous variables. The methodology is applied to panel data on a sample of 78 supermarket chains between 2001 and 2004.

The results reveal high levels of cost inefficiency in the Spanish retail sector. The results also reveal that the random frontier models better describe Spanish retailers than homogeneous frontier models.

The generalisation of the conclusions of the study to the whole sector should be made with caution, given the fact that only one of the players in the distribution channel has been analysed.

Managers should be aware of the importance that cost efficiency has for their own firms. Further, a common government retailing policy will be unable to reach all retailing companies, since heterogeneity exists.

For the first time, the cost efficiency of the intermediaries in the Spanish retailing sector is studied.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the pay and performance of chief executive officers (CEOs) in Portuguese, non‐profit organizations (NPOs), focusing on the role played by the economic performance of the organization, together with that played by the structure of the board and the individual characteristics of the manager. If the CEO can influence the board structure, agency problems arise, which in turn allow the CEO to extract rent and demand compensation in excess of the equilibrium level.

An ordinary least squares (OLS) model and an instrumental variable (IV) models are estimated for comparative purposes. The IV permits to account for endogenous variables in the regression.

It is concluded that governance is important in the Portuguese non‐profit sector. Several variables affect the CEO, namely, organization performance variables, board composition variables and individual variables. This result highlights the urgent need for a code of governance practice to be introduced in this sector. Moreover, the paper integrates human capital in the definition of the earnings, concluding that this also contributes to earnings.

This paper has two limitations. The first is related to the data set and the second with the method adopted. With the reference to the data set, the span is limited and therefore the generalization of this result is questionable. A larger data span is needed to confirm the present results. Relative to the method, the OLS is unable to handle endogeneity variables in a regression. The instrumental variables (IV) can overcome this result, but some critics to this method have appear recently, when there are heterogeneous across subjects and local IV are needed.

A governance code should be adopted, involving NPO managers in their definition. A regulatory agency that will be the watch dog of the process should be implemented to enforce the modernization of Portuguese NPO.

This is the first paper analyzing governance issues on Portuguese NPO and the second paper at European level on NPO governance. It clarifies two issues, the absence of governance principles in Portuguese NPO and the need of a regulatory agency in this context.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse a representative sample of hypermarkets and supermarkets working in the Portuguese market, using a benchmark procedure to compare companies that compete in the same market and thereby deriving managerial and policy implications.

A two‐stage procedure to benchmark the companies was adopted. In the first stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used and in the second stage a Tobit model is employed to estimate the efficient drivers.

First, that, on average, the efficiency of hypermarket and supermarket retail companies is high compared with that to be found in other sectors. Second, larger retail groups are, on average, more efficient than the smaller retailers, and third, that national retailers are on average more efficient than regional retailers. Finally, scale plays an important role in this market. The efficiency drivers are market share, number of outlets and location. Finally, regulation has a negative effect on efficiency.

This paper has two limitations. The first is in relation to the data set, and the second in relation to the DEA method. With reference to the data set, the homogeneity of the retailers used in the analysis is questionable, since retailers of different sizes, production characteristics and locations are compared, which may face different restrictions and therefore might not be considered to be directly comparable. However, it can always be claimed that the units are not comparable and that it would consequently be equally impossible to undertake a ratio analysis. Moreover, the data set is short, so that the conclusions are limited. For the conclusions to be generalised, a larger panel data set would be required.

These can be separated into managerial and competitive – more importantly, the latter with its implications for the retailing industry and its future evolution.

Clarifies two issues: the changes in the fortunes of the retail companies, as observed in their sales volume ranking, and the need to look for the causes of retail efficiency, apart from internal managerial procedures.

The aim of this paper is to call the attention of public entities for the econometric frontier models which allows benchmarking the tax offices accurately. In the context of the European Maastricht, the European countries face public receipts shortage and to focus in the management of the tax agencies in order to maximize receipts. The procedure adopted in this paper allows benchmarking the tax agencies accurately.

The paper adopts the stochastic frontier model to benchmark the tax offices. This model is presently very popular in benchmarking exercises, based on its statistical framework.

The paper finds that the tax offices analysed vary along the sample and along the period.

The homogeneity of the tax offices and the short data set are the main limitations of the paper. Relative to the first, since they are managed by the same entity and perform the same task we can claim that they are similar, relative to the second critic, we cannot overcome it because of the secrecy related to this units.

The efficiency rankings are due to the way the tax offices handle costs and outputs. The way they handle the combination of output and inputs is explained in the literature by the principal‐agent relationship, by collective‐action problem, due to asymmetric information between different tax offices and X‐inefficiency. The public policy has to address these problems in order to upgrade the efficiency of the tax offices.

This is the first paper adopting the stochastic frontier model in tax offices.

In all European national defense‐sector industries, organizational efficiency forms a vital component of the operations that improves competitiveness in the market. The Portuguese government subsidizes companies that are active in this sector in its mission for the companies to achieve improved operational competitiveness, thereby increasing exports and, consequently, become profitable. The policy of subsidization is intended to provide incentives for increasing productive efficiency, which, in the long run, would contribute to the defense industry sharing in the social gains in the form of greater employment and local development. The issue considered in this paper is whether government subsidies have, in fact, resulted in an increase in the technical efficiency and allocative efficiency of the Portuguese defense‐sector companies. The results are, at best, mixed, leading to the conclusion that the incentive regulation carried out by the Ministry of Defense is not achieving its aims. Therefore, a policy revision to enforce efficiency is proposed, based on a governance environment framework.