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Purpose – The accounting literature has demonstrated increased concern over issues of sustainability. One of the most critical issues that corporations face at the moment is climate change. This especially concerns companies that are substantial consumers of materials and energy. Corporations have increasingly acknowledged that to address this issue the existing ways of managing business must be changed.

This study examines the challenges posed by measurement of energy efficiency performance in an energy-intensive industry. It covers the challenges encountered with respect to the energy efficiency indicator and its use as a management tool.

Methodology – The case study method was used to conduct the research, which took place in a single firm in an energy-intensive process industry.

Findings – The results indicate that the current energy efficiency indicator, specific energy consumption (SEC), does not meet the criteria for good performance measurement. In particular, the controllability of energy efficiency seems problematic. Another major challenge is target setting. Measurable targets are needed to identify and prioritise areas where consumption and emission can be reduced.

Practical implications – The study provides practical knowledge on what is happening in organisations that pursue sustainable development and in particular, environmental efficiency.

Originality/value – Although the conceptual challenges in energy efficiency measurement are well known in the technical literature, discussions dealing with its management have been few in number. This study is a cross-disciplinary work and combines technical energy efficiency literature and management accounting research on performance management.

The purpose of this chapter is to develop the indicators that are necessary for monitoring and controlling the efficiency of the process of implementation of information economy’s optimization model. For this, the authors used general scientific research methods – systemic, problem, structural, and functional analysis to determine the key components of balancing, along with a specific method of economics – the balance method – for determining the method of balancing of indicators.

On the basis of the complex analysis performed with the application of the above methods, the authors determined the main indicators of efficiency of the process of implementation of information economy’s optimization model essential for its successful monitoring and control. These indicators are systematized in connection to the noosphere levels and are presented in this work. The offered indicators of efficiency of the process of implementation of the information economy’s optimization model are recommended for systemic national and international monitoring and control during model implementation. The indicators for the current year, in comparison with the dynamics of previous years, could be used. The balance coefficients pose the largest value and provide the highest level of information as they reflect the results of analysis of intermediary indicators and offer information in the form that is ready for regulators. The offered indicators have to supplement the indicators used for evaluating the efficiency of economy’s formation according to the its old model.

The indicators offered in this chapter focus on the balance model of information economy, however to compile a complete picture on the progress of its formation requires consideration of the values of the indicators used within the old model.

This study aims to explore the nexus of equality and efficiency by considering public hospitals' development dynamics, capacity and technology indicators.

Data was collected from the Ministry of Health Public Hospital Almanacs from 2014 to 2017. The Gini index (GI) is used to estimate the inequality of distribution of hospital performance indicators. A bias-corrected efficiency analysis is calculated to obtain efficiency scores of public hospitals for the year 2017. A path analysis is then constructed to better identify patterns of causation among a set of development, equality and efficiency variables.

A redefined path model highlights that development dynamics, equality and efficiency are causally related and health technology (path coefficient = 0.57; t = 19.07; p < 0.01) and health services utilization (path coefficient = 0.24; t = 8; p < 0.01) effects public hospital efficiency. The final path model fit well (X²/df = 50.99/8 = 6; RMSEA = 0.089; NFI = 0.95; CFI = 0.96; GFI = 0.98; AGFI = 0.94). Study findings indicate high inequalities in distribution of health technologies (GI > 0.85), number of surgical operations (GI > 0.70) and number of inpatients (GI > 0.60) among public hospitals for the years 2014–2017.

Study results highlight that, hospital managers should prioritize equal distribution of health technology and health services utilization indicators to better orchestrate equity-efficiency trade-off in their operations.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of select technical higher education institutes of national importance in India. This helps to judge the efficiency and effectiveness of an institute to provide valuable insights on performance measurement and effectiveness not only to the respective institute but also to governmental agencies and policymakers.

The paper makes a comparative analysis across various educational institutes of repute. This paper looks at the performance of four technical higher education institutes of India. An integrated data envelopment analysis–analytic hierarchy processing (DEA–AHP) approach has been used to compare and evaluate the relative efficiencies in terms of input provided to the institute to produce outputs.

The results depict the performances of the four institutes over the period of five years and, in turn, help assess the increase or decrease in the performance of a particular institute in comparative assessment. The paper also helps identify the most efficient institute among the four institutes that have been compared, in terms of academic efficiency, research efficiency, teaching efficiency and consulting efficiency.

A study like this would furnish an insight into the performance of the select higher educational institutes. The findings can be useful for policymakers, educational planners and administrators in designing a system based on various criteria that can help improve the overall efficiency and decide about benchmarking and funding strategies.

This paper is an attempt toward defining, conceptualizing and measuring performance effectiveness of institutes of higher education in the Indian context. The effort at the integration of the methodologies (through comparison and DEA–AHP) has helped to provide insights that could not have been obtained through the use of the methods or techniques alone. The paper has helped identify critical strategic issues and parameters which when implemented would be useful for policymakers, educational planners and administrators in designing a system based on various criteria that can help improve the overall efficiency of educational institutes in higher education.

Services provided by urban public road passenger transport companies in Portugal are associated with widely differing economic and financial outcomes. The objective of this paper is to characterize these differences and discuss the potential contribution offered by the funding model implemented (including how the services provided are being subsidized).

The data available in the management and financial reports published by the six existing Portuguese corporations whose main object is to provide a public road transport service were used to establish a set of performance indicators. The paper takes into account three dimensions: resource‐efficiency, service‐effectiveness and resource effectiveness.

The comparative analysis implemented contributes crucially to an improved understanding of the current idiosyncrasies of urban public road transportation systems in Portugal, with a special emphasis on the productivity and performance results of different public management approaches.

The originality of this paper arises from the case studies presented to support the debate on the influence of local vs central public funding approaches on Portugal's urban public road transport companies’ performance.

Demands for accountability in education are not a new phenomenon, however, they have increased significantly in the recent past and have encompassed not only educational outcomes but also efficiency. In this study, ratio measures, similar to those recommended by the GASB, were compared to measures of relative efficiency determined through the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA). The consistency of the two approaches in distinguishing between relatively efficient and inefficient school districts was examined. It was found that compared to the DEA approach, the ratio measures, may be unable to provide reliable information for educational decision making.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the productive efficiency and the best operational practices in an armaments manufacturer.

A longitudinal case study is performed using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Using DEA, an assessment of six years in the company manufacturing process is conducted. The research aims at developing an internal benchmark on three production lines of the company.

The results show that only one of the three analyzed production lines increased efficiency over time. With this result, the most efficient production line may be used as a reference in relation to the best operational practices of the company. Moreover, it was found that the current indicators to evaluate efficiency are insufficient and may lead to wrong management decisions.

This research could allow a larger understanding of the factors that really contribute to increased operational efficiency. This is due to internal benchmark assist in the identification of the best practices. The identification of best practices can contribute to enhance the efficiency of inefficient operations without the need for external comparisons.

DEA contributes due to its robustness, for the evaluation of productive efficiency. One of the contributions of this study is to identify opportunities for improvement in key components of the operation through targets, internal benchmarking and robust assessment of productive efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to present and evaluate the performance of innovation systems by considering two indicators of efficiency and effectiveness. The scope of the evaluation is globally and due to the situation of each country, the suggested strategies are proposed to maintain the status quo or move toward the desired situation for countries.

The approach is to compare and benchmark the countries in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of their innovation system. The Global Innovation Index report’s input-to-output ratio and the global competitiveness report are used for the assessment.

The findings indicate that countries such as China, Switzerland and the USA have an efficient and effective innovation system. However, the innovation systems in countries such as Brazil and Zimbabwe are not only inefficient but also ineffective. The findings also indicate that the innovation systems of countries such as Iran, Armenia and Egypt are efficient but ineffective. Finally, the authors can name Australia, Qatar and Russia as countries with effective but inefficient innovation systems.

Assessment of national innovation system using efficiency and effectiveness performances is done for the first time at the global stage.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify and analyse existing resource efficiency (RE) and resource effectiveness measures and indicators (REMIs); and second, to identify gaps and develop a new indicator of “operational resource effectiveness” (ORE_ft) suitable for manufacturing units.

Research methodology consists of three stages: gap identification, development and testing. Through review of academic literature, 40 REMIs are identified and analysed. A survey of manufacturers is carried out to validate the hypothesis and seek inputs on the development of the new indicator. The proposed indicator is tested by comparing ORE_ft index of two manufacturing units with each other, with resource intensity per unit (RIPU), waste intensity per unit (WIPU) and with four other REMIs.

Analysis of 40 REMIs clearly points towards the absence of a hypothesised REMI. In total, 78 per cent of manufacturers surveyed in north England substantiate the hypothesis. Inverse correlation established between the proposed ORE_ft indicator, RIPU, WIPU and other comparisons is likely to validate the output generated by the proposed indicator.

Testing of this indicator is limited to two dissimilar manufacturing units that shared data.

The proposed indicator is useful for comparing the operational resource effectiveness of individual factories over a period as well as with other factories. RIPU and WIPU captured in this indicator also represent operational RE that can be used to initiate improvement action.

Inclusion of both, the resource consumption and the waste generation along with discount/multiplying factors that capture the circularity aspects is likely to be the distinguishing feature of this indicator.