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The objectives of this paper are to estimate the annual Malmquist TFP(total factor productivity) index of Korea and China’s road freight transport with DEA(data envelope analysis) and to decompose the index into technical efficiency change and technology change. In the process of the estimation, we used labor, capital, and fuel as input factors and ton-km of road freight transport as output factor. The panel data of Korea and China’s road freight transport industry from 1985 to 2004 are used. The results of the analysis show several points. First, there was no significant improvement in China’s TFP growth before 1997, but there was continuous growth in TFP since 1997 because of constantly increasing domestic freight transport demand. Second, there was downward trend in Korea’s TFP, especially there was a large reduction of productivity in 1998 because of the huge reduction of road freight transport demand during the period of the economic crisis. Third, the technology improvements play a significant role in the TFP growth and the technical efficiency had negative effects on the TFP growth of Korea. However, the technology improvements as well as the technical efficiency had positive effects on the TFP growth of China’s road freight transport industry.

This study aims to analyse Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Islamic and conventional banks’ productivity and to investigate the impact of Basel III on their productivity change. This study is conducted on 73 GCC banks (45 conventional and 28 Islamic) over the period of 2005-2015.

This study uses the data envelopment analysis-type Malmquist productivity change index and its component indexes to obtain a deep insight into the source of productivity change.

The results show that Islamic banks are less productive than their conventional counterparts. Also, the results indicate that Basel III accord has impeded the GCC banks’ productivity and this negative effect is larger on Islamic banks. However, there is scale efficiency progress in the past years that offsets the production frontier deterioration, which leads to stagnation in total productivity change for both banks.

This study differs from the previous GCC banks’ productivity studies in several ways. Firstly, it covers a recent period that includes major events such as the global crisis and focuses on the influence of Basel III accord on GCC banks’ productivity. Secondly, as opposed to the previous studies, this study will estimate the GCC banks’ productivity index and its components based on separate frontiers for Islamic and conventional banks that will ensure the homogeneity in the sample and the robustness of the results. Thirdly, this study uses a combination of parametric and non-parametric tests to confirm and check the robustness of the findings. Lastly, to the best of the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study that tries to analyse the GCC banking sector productivity around the new Basel III announcement.

This study attempts to comprehensively analyze the cost Malmquist productivity index of conventional and Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia, the largest dual banking sector in the world, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study employs the novel approach of cost Malmquist productivity index, which focuses on production costs, to measure the change in cost productivity so that the actual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could be captured.

The Saudi Central Bank has successfully mitigated the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the Saudi banking sector by implementing several policies and services. This success is reflected in the large positive shift in the production frontier of Saudi banks. Moreover, it was found that Islamic Saudi banks were by far more productive than conventional Saudi banks during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the total cost productivity index (CMPCH) of Islamic Saudi banks starts to decline sharply in the last quarter of 2022 compared to conventional Saudi banks, indicating that Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia are suffering the most from the tighter monetary policy recently implemented by the Saudi Central Bank.

The results provide insights for policymakers and investors on how different types of banks respond differently to economic crises and monetary policy changes. Targeted support measures may be needed to ensure all banks remain productive and efficient.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to use this innovative methodology to assess the impact of COVID-19 on bank performance in a dual banking sector.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a total factor productivity index for the African banking industry. It also investigates the impact of some internal and external determinants affecting bank productivity.

The biennial Malmquist productivity index and various regression models (ordinary least squares, Tobit and truncated bootstrapped regression) are employed in analyzing data from 120 banks in 24 African countries from 2007 to 2012.

The results indicate a general decline in productivity of banks in Africa, largely due to inadequate technological progress. State banks are found to be more productive than foreign and private banks. The regression analyses showed that non-executive directors, leverage, management quality, credit risk, competition and exchange rate have significant impact on bank productivity, but ownership and CEO-duality do not.

The results have implications for management of banks, governments and regulators. It shows the need for policy and investments that improve state-of-the art technology. The findings also seem to suggest poor management practices in input usage, especially in operational management, as well as costs emanating from non-interest sources. Bank managers need to address these deficiencies to improve productivity in African banking markets.

A major contribution of this paper is the productivity index provided for the African banking industry. This study is also the first to apply the biennial Malmquist to analyze productivity in the African banking industry.

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide small loans and other financial services to the poor. These institutions are established for helping the poor to raise income levels and to reduce poverty. Recently, MFIs are required to reduce their dependence on grants and subsidies. Consequently, they face conflicting objectives of improving reach and profitability. These can be achieved by improving productivity. This paper aims to investigate productivity change in 21 major MFIs in India which are rated by Credit Rating and Information Services of India Limited in 2014.

This paper attempts to examine total factor productivity change in 21 major Indian MFIs during the period from 2014 to 2016 using Malmquist productivity index. The inputs and outputs are selected considering objectives of outreach and financial sustainability. The authors have categorized MFIs in three categories, namely, large, medium and small, depending on asset size.

It is revealed that large MFIs are able to catch up with industry best practices by improving their systems and processes, but they need to improve scale efficiency. The Reserve Bank of India has recently initiated a policy of granting banking licenses to those financial institutions which have good outreach and are financially strong. It can be used for shortlisting MFIs before granting permission to operate as banks. The method can also be used for benchmarking them for productivity. It can also be replicated in other countries.

In India, MFIs are playing important role in economic development by providing microcredit to the poor. However, very few studies have been undertaken regarding productivity of MFIs in India. The present study intends to fill this gap. It will facilitate benchmarking of MFIs as competitive and sustainable financial institutions catering to the requirements of small borrowers.

This chapter provides a survey of alternative methodologies for measuring and comparing productivity and efficiency of airlines, and reviews representative empirical studies. The survey shows the apparent shift from index procedures and traditional OLS estimation of production and cost functions to stochastic frontier methods and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods over the past three decades. Most of the airline productivity and efficiency studies over the last decade adopt some variant of DEA methods. Researchers in the 1980s and 1990s were mostly interested in the effects of deregulation and liberalization on airline productivity and efficiency as well as the effects of ownership and governance structure. Since the 2000s, however, studies tend to focus on how business models and management strategies affect the performance of airlines. Environmental efficiency now becomes an important area of airline productivity and efficiency studies, focusing on CO₂ emission as a negative or undesirable output. Despite the fact that quality of service is an important aspect of airline business, limited attempts have been made to incorporate quality of service in productivity and efficiency analysis.

Against the backdrop of an Indian banking sector that finds itself entangled in the triple deadlock of increasing competition, technological changes and strict regulatory compliance, the study aims to examine the need for reinforcing stringent corporate and risk governance mechanisms as an instrument for improving efficiency and productivity levels.

The authors construct three separate indices, namely, supervisory board index, audit index and risk governance index to measure the governance practices of commercial banks. A slacks-based data envelopment analysis technical efficiency (TE) measure, a variable returns to scale cost efficiency model and Malmquist productivity index are employed to determine TE, cost efficiency and productivity change, respectively. A two-step system-generalized method of moments estimation accounts for the dynamic relationship between governance and efficiency.

The authors show that strict audit and risk governance mechanisms are associated with better efficiency and productivity levels. However, consistent with the free-rider hypothesis, large, independent and diverse boards lead to cost inefficiencies. Strict risk governance structures circumvent the negative effects of high regulatory capital and improve efficiency and total factor productivity. However, friendly boards do not perform efficiently in the presence of regulatory capital, implying that incentives arising from maintaining high levels of equity capital make them more susceptible to risk-taking, and board composition is unable to sidestep this behaviour.

The paper contributes to the literature that explores the linkages between governance, efficiency and productivity. The inferences hold relevance in the post-COVID world, as regulators try to circumvent the additional stress on the banking system by adopting sound corporate and risk governance mechanisms.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of cross-border acquisitions on the efficiency and productivity of acquired companies in the cement industry in the context of a transitional economy.

The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist Productivity Index were used to assess the efficiency and productivity of the acquired companies over the period 2000–2018. DEA and Malmquist index are combined with bootstrapping to perform succinct statistical inferences for determining the accuracy of results. The study assesses partial efficiency and productivity of three inputs: material, capital and labour, as well as the total factor efficiency and productivity of the acquired companies in the short and long term after the acquisitions.

The research results suggest that efficiency of material, efficiency of labour and the total factor efficiency of the acquired companies are higher after the acquisitions than before, while efficiency of capital is lower. In addition, the results show that the acquisitions had a positive impact on total factor productivity of the acquired companies.

The results of this study have practical implications for managers, especially for policy-makers and industry analysts in deciding whether to encourage or discourage cross-border acquisitions in transitional economies.

The study contributes to a better understanding of the impact of cross-border acquisitions on efficiency and productivity of acquired companies in the manufacturing industry. Research in transitional economies related to subject matter is limited, and this study is the first empirical investigation of the effect of cross-border acquisitions on the efficiency and productivity in the cement industry in Serbia by applying the Data Envelopment Analysis.

This paper analyzes the responsiveness of different ownership forms to changing business environment by drawing on Turkish experience.

This study is conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the paper uses Malmquist index theory, to estimate the total factor productivity change, technological change, efficiency change, pure efficiency change and scale efficiency change indexes for the Turkish banks. In the second stage, utilizing the generalized least regression format, it examines the significance of the productivity differences between different ownership forms after controlling for size and changes in the macro‐economy.

Under the “traditional banking definition,” productivity growth during the period was 1.2 percent for state banks, 3.9 percent for private banks and 14.2 percent for foreign banks. Under the “non‐traditional banking definition,” the productivity gain over the period was 2.9 percent for state banks, 9.5 percent for private banks and 17.0 percent for foreign banks.

The future research can extend the data set and may include more explanatory factors to characterize the bank forms that record the fastest productivity growth.

Private ownership appears to be more adaptive to new environment. Foreign banks can be used as a policy instrument to induce efficiency and productivity improvements in local banking industries. Liberalization of markets through competition boosts economic performance.

In analyzing impacts of reforms, the significance of inter‐temporal change should be tested to better guide regulators, investors and managers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of merger and acquisition (M&As) of “second financial restructuring” (SFR) on the productivity growth of commercial banks in Taiwan.

The paper uses the Malmquist productivity change index to evaluate the changes from pre-SFR to SFR period and from pre-SFR to post-SFR period. In addition, the bootstrapping regression method is applied to examine the relationship of SFR policy and productivity change.

Merged banks have improved their productivity and scale efficiency after the M&As program of SFR. In addition, the greater productivity growth of merged banks than non-merged banks is attributed to small-sized and private-voluntary merged banks. Furthermore, the small-sized merged banks have greater productivity growth and scale efficiency improvement than the big-sized merged banks, and the government-mandatory merged banks have lower productivity growth than private-voluntary merged banks after the SFR.

This study has an academic implication for providing additional empirical evidence related to the impact of government M&As policy on bank productivity growth in the developing countries.

The findings on this paper have implications for financial reform policy and banking management on M&As activity, in particular, as they clarify the differential effects of big-sized vs small-sized and government-mandatory vs private-voluntary merged banks.

Understanding the impacts of financial reform is particularly important as the banking industry has become increasingly competitive. This paper contributes to this area by assessing the impact of the M&As policy of SFR on productivity growth and evaluating differential effects of M&As.