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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 January 2024

Joonho Na, Qia Wang and Chaehwan Lim

The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental efficiency level and trend of the transportation sector in the upper–mid–downstream of the Yangtze River Economic Belt…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental efficiency level and trend of the transportation sector in the upper–mid–downstream of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the JingJinJi region in China and assess the effectiveness of policies for protecting the low-carbon environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the meta-frontier slack-based measure (SBM) approach to evaluate environmental efficiency, which targets and classifies specific regions into regional groups. First, this study employs the SBM with the undesirable outputs to construct the environmental efficiency measurement models of the four regions under the meta-frontier and group frontiers, respectively. Then, this study uses the technology gap ratio to evaluate the gap between the group frontier and the meta-frontier.

Findings

The analysis reveals several key findings: (1) the JingJinJi region and the downstream of the YEB had achieved the overall optimal production technology in transportation than the other two regions; (2) significant technology gaps in environmental efficiency were observed among these four regions in China; and (3) the downstream region of the YEB exhibited the lowest levels of energy consumption and excessive CO2 emissions.

Originality/value

To evaluate the differences in environmental efficiency resulting from regions and technological gaps in transportation, this study employs the meta-frontier model, which overcomes the limitation of traditional environmental efficiency methods. Furthermore, in the practical, the study provides the advantage of observing the disparities in transportation efficiency performed by the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei regions.

Details

Journal of International Logistics and Trade, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1738-2122

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 February 2020

Oswald Mhlanga

This paper aims to identify drivers of efficiency and their influence on airline performances in South Africa. Unfortunately, the methods currently used to measure airline…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify drivers of efficiency and their influence on airline performances in South Africa. Unfortunately, the methods currently used to measure airline efficiency fail to address the heterogeneity problem, which blurs inefficiency.

Design/methodology/approach

To remedy the heterogeneity problem, this paper adopts the meta-frontier framework to identify drivers of efficiency. The interesting feature of the model is that it ensures that heterogeneous airlines are compared based on one homogeneous technology. The model is tested using a panel data sample of nine South African airlines, which operated from 2015 to 2018.

Findings

The paper demonstrates that structural drivers, namely, “aircraft size”, and “airline ownership” and one executional driver, namely, “the cost structure” significantly influence (p < 0.05) airline efficiency thereby corroborating evidence from some prior studies.

Research limitations/implications

First, because of the small size of the industry, fewer airlines and a lack of detailed data, the study could not consider other important factors such as optimal routing and network structure. Second, a more rigorous analysis over a period of time would yield better understanding about the growth of the industry in South Africa and recognise the variation in the influence of drivers of efficiency on airline performances over time.

Practical implications

The results have potential policy implications. First, as the market in South Africa is too small to operate with a smaller aircraft probably, for airlines that operate with smaller aircraft to operate efficiently they should first identify niche markets where they can have a route monopoly. Second, while all state-owned airlines are perfect statehood symbols that define and represent countries, most state carriers in South Africa are highly inefficient. The researcher recommends policymakers to privatise state airlines or seek equity partners. Many nationalised airlines have turned losses to profits in the run-up to privatisation. British Airways, once a large burden on the British taxpayer, is now one of the world’s most efficient airlines. After the privatisation of Air France and Iberia, all two turned from loss-making concerns into profitable airlines. It, therefore, makes no sense for the South African government to expect state carriers to pursue a commercial mandate with such political interference. The very notion of efficiency itself is at risk.

Originality/value

This paper is a first attempt to identify drivers of operational efficiency using a bootstrapped meta-frontier approach in the airline industry in South Africa. By applying the meta-frontier approach the paper ensures that all heterogeneous airlines are assessed based on their distance from a common and identical frontier.

Details

International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6182

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 July 2018

Kwaku Ohene-Asare, Victor Sosu Gakpey and Charles Turkson

The purpose of this study is to compare the production efficiencies and frontiers differences of oil-producing countries (OPCs) in four inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) in…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to compare the production efficiencies and frontiers differences of oil-producing countries (OPCs) in four inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) in the international petroleum industry with the aim of providing such countries understanding of group characteristics that help maximize their supply interests.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analysis is based on 14 years of panel data covering the period from 2000 to 2013. In all 46 unique countries who are members of four IGOs relevant to the international petroleum industry are examined on individual and group bases. The authors use both metafrontier analysis and global frontier difference in examining the group average and group frontiers, respectively.

Findings

Groups with high inter and intra-group collaborations which ensure exchange of information, organizational learning and innovation tend to do better than groups with even higher hydro-carbon endowment. Additionally, hydro-carbon resource endowment may not be the solution to group inefficiency without higher endowment in human capital, economic stability, technology and infrastructure.

Practical implications

Choice of inter-governmental organizational membership should be based on the level of inter- and intra-group collaborations, human capital endowment among others and not mere historic links or even resource endowment.

Originality/value

This is among the few studies to compare and rank IGOs. Specifically, it is among the first studies to analyze the petroleum production efficiencies of IGOs involved in the international petroleum industry. This study assesses the performance differences among OPCs with the aim of identifying for OPCs the characteristics of inter-governmental groups that are beneficial to efficiency in upstream petroleum activities.

Details

International Journal of Energy Sector Management, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6220

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 November 2018

Thanh Pham Thien Nguyen

Given some similarities in the banking industry and economic condition across Vietnam, China and India, the purpose of this paper is to estimate and compare the cost and revenue…

Abstract

Purpose

Given some similarities in the banking industry and economic condition across Vietnam, China and India, the purpose of this paper is to estimate and compare the cost and revenue efficiency of banks across these three countries over the period 1995–2011.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs the meta-frontier of Battese et al. (2004) and O’Donnell et al. (2008) which envelops the three country-frontiers to measure the cost and revenue efficiency of banks in these three countries.

Findings

This study finds that Chinese banks adopt the most advanced cost-reducing and revenue-increasing technology when providing banking products to their customers, followed by Indian banks. Indian banks are as cost-efficient as Chinese banks, but more cost-efficient than Vietnamese banks. Indian banks are as revenue-efficient as Vietnamese banks, but less revenue-efficient than Chinese banks. Over the analysis period, banks in the three countries have employed the more advanced technology in reducing costs, and they have become more cost-efficient. Nonetheless, for revenue side, the improvement in revenue efficiency and adopted technology are observed only in Chinese banks. The main source of meta-cost and meta-revenue inefficiency of these banking systems stems from undertaking inferior technology rather than managerial ability. Results from comparison across bank types show that state-owned banks (SOBs) are more cost and revenue-efficient than privately owned banks, with Indian and Chinese SOBs being the most cost- and revenue-efficient, respectively.

Practical implications

To improve meta-cost efficiency, Chinese and Indian banks would constitute a relevant benchmark for Vietnamese banks, while to improve meta-revenue efficiency, Chinese banks would be considered as a relevant benchmark for Vietnamese and Indian banks.

Originality/value

This is the first study which utilizes meta-frontier to compare cost and revenue efficiency and technology across banks in Vietnam, China and India.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 25 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2017

Ihsen Abid and Mohamed Goaied

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare the efficiency ratios and the technological gaps of banking industries in seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare the efficiency ratios and the technological gaps of banking industries in seven countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Design/methodology/approach

The meta-frontier model was used to evaluate efficiency across countries that may have different production technologies.

Findings

The results of the meta-frontier analysis of banking systems over the period from 1991 to 2011 showed that Tunisian banks were the most efficient in terms of cost and profit. For the cost (profit) model, the analysis of the technological gap showed that Egyptian (Tunisian) banks used the most advanced technology in offering financial services to clients. The comparison of efficiencies confirmed that most efficient banks in terms of cost are not necessarily the most efficient in terms of profit and vice versa. The authors also concluded that cost efficiency analysis provides a partial view of banking efficiency and hence, profit efficiency analysis is as important.

Originality/value

The study is relevant for policymakers, regulators and monetary authorities and for researchers to know more about the real differences of efficiency of banks across countries in MENA region and to clarify the sources of this inefficiency to better adapt to the new environment, to make strategic decisions and to reference the performance of banking institutions.

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 66 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2018

Jatin Goyal, Rajdeep Singh, Harpreet Kaur and Kanwaljeet Singh

The purpose of this study is to comprehend the efficiency levels of the Indian textile industry and also its sub-sectors in the light of changing global and national business…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to comprehend the efficiency levels of the Indian textile industry and also its sub-sectors in the light of changing global and national business environment. It is imperative to study the efficiency levels of textile industry for an emerging economy like India, where the industry contributes up to 13 per cent in export earnings, 10 per cent in total industrial production and 2 per cent in gross domestic product (GDP). The study holds an important place in the wake of phasing out of the quota regime existing under the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) and the rising competition being faced from countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study attempts to have an in-depth analysis of the efficiency levels in the Indian textile industry using meta-frontier data envelopment analysis, which is a non-parametric linear programming based frontier technique.

Findings

The findings highlight that the Indian textile industry is inefficient and has a huge scope of improvement in terms of efficiency. It also confirms the existence of different production functions among the sub-sectors of the industry. Among the different sub-sectors, the proximity of production frontier of readymade garments is the closest to meta-frontier followed by cotton and blended yarn, man-made fibre, cloth and others.

Practical implications

The findings bear strong implications for the policymakers in their attempt to regain the lost competitive position of the Indian textile industry and to enhance its contribution in the economy. As per the findings, policymakers should target the relatively inefficient sub-sectors of textile industry (cloth, man-made fibre, cotton and blended yarn) to infuse more efficiency in these sectors to enhance the market share of the Indian textile industry in the global textiles market.

Originality/value

The current study is a unique addition to the sparse literature on managing efficiencies in the textile industry, particularly of emerging economy like India. Looking at the methodological and geographical coverage of the previous work, it was found that no study has explored and analysed the efficiencies of the sub-sectors in the Indian textile industry using meta-frontier analysis. Therefore, this study will be the first of its kind which seeks to fill such gaps and intends to enrich the available literature.

Details

International Journal of Law and Management, vol. 60 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-243X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2014

Carlos Pestana Barros, Vincenzo Scafarto and António Samagaio

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…

Abstract

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.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2017

Brady Brewer and Allen M. Featherstone

The purpose of this paper is to examine how debt affects the cost structure of a farm. Agency costs arise when stakeholders of a farm manage their farm differently to obtain debt…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how debt affects the cost structure of a farm. Agency costs arise when stakeholders of a farm manage their farm differently to obtain debt which results in inefficiencies. These inefficiencies cause a farm to deviate from cost minimization strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the non-parametric technique of data envelopment analysis. Through this method, a non-stochastic cost frontier is constructed where all farms must lie on or above the frontier. This allows for the analysis of how debt affects the shape of the cost frontier and for how debt affects deviations away from cost-minimizing strategy. The shadow costs of the debt constraints in the linear programming problem are used to analyze the effect of debt at the cost frontier while a series of Tobit models are estimated to examine the effect of debt on deviations away from the frontier.

Findings

The findings of this paper support the existence of agency costs associated with debt for Kansas farms. The addition of debt and capital constraints lowered the minimum cost frontier increasing the average efficient cost under variable returns to scale. However, for those farms on the frontier, the shadow cost of debt was negative meaning an increase in debt would lower the overall variable cost. The increase of debt was found to be negatively correlated to the efficiency score of the farms.

Originality/value

This paper provides value by supporting the existence of agency costs which has been disagreed upon in the literature and also providing new insights for how to analyze agency costs. Since debt was found to have a negative shadow value for those farms on the frontier but negatively correlated with efficiency scores, this suggests that agency costs affect firms differently depending on where the farm is on the cost frontier.

Details

Agricultural Finance Review, vol. 77 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0002-1466

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 July 2020

Yu Jiang, Mingjun Li and Panpan Xia

Banking is the key industry to guarantee the core leading role of finance in the process of economic development. It is important to study the bank efficiency and optimal…

Abstract

Purpose

Banking is the key industry to guarantee the core leading role of finance in the process of economic development. It is important to study the bank efficiency and optimal allocation of bank’s resources. The purpose of our paper is to study the optimal allocation of resources between the bank savings system and loan system under the premise of environmental heterogeneity.

Design/methodology/approach

We use a two-stage meta-frontier Data Envelopment Analysis model to solve the relative efficiency of each city branch and use the multivariate statistical tools to analyze the empirical results.

Findings

This paper measures the relative efficiency of 16 Bank Branches of a state-owned bank in Anhui province considering regional heterogeneity. Based on the optimal resource allocation, we get the two-stage operation performance of all banks under group-frontier and meta-frontier and analyze the impact of the technical differences between the branches.

Originality/value

This study has a positive guiding significance for the banking industry to improve its operational efficiency in various business practices in the new era of big data. It will also provide practical suggestions and support for the government and relevant departments in the process of formulating macro-policies to ensure the healthy and stable development of the banking industry.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 121 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2003

E. Stewart Saunders

Examines 88 academic member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to determine their relative cost efficiency, using stochastic frontier regression and data…

1375

Abstract

Examines 88 academic member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to determine their relative cost efficiency, using stochastic frontier regression and data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. Both methods give average ARL cost efficiencies of around 80 percent. This places academic ARL libraries in the same range of efficiency as other institutions, including for‐profit and non‐profit institutions. Many libraries are above 80 percent efficiency. For those below, some speculation is given for the lower efficiency. The lack of an output measure for the use of electronic sources may contribute to lower efficiency for a few libraries. Large staff size and a large number of serial subscriptions do predict lower efficiency, but this is not a necessary consequence. The DEA model allows us to determine increasing, constant, or declining returns to scale for research libraries. From this, it appears research libraries with expenditures between $10,000,000 and $20,000,000 are operating at the most efficient scale. Since the methods used are outside the repertoire of most LIS research, a conceptual explanation is provided.

Details

The Bottom Line, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0888-045X

Keywords

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