Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) introduces a model for weights determination maximizing efficiency of the decision-making units. The primary focus of the DEA model is to compare decision-making units (alternatives) in terms of their efficiency in converting inputs into outputs. The multicriteria decision making (MCDM) method VIKOR uses a common set of weights expressing a decision maker's preferences. In contrast, the CCR model of DEA does not provide a common set of weights that could express the preferences of a decision maker. The weights in MCDM do not have a clear economic significance, but their use provides the opportunity to model the real aspects of decision making, such as the preference structure. A comparison of DEA and MCDM shows that DEA resembles MCDM, but the results differ. In spite of these differences, DEA could be used as a supplement for screening alternatives within MCDM. An application of DEA and MCDM is illustrated by an example of hydropower system planning.

Cadre théorique 1.1. Notion d'efficacité technique L'intérêt de l'étude de l'efficacité n'a été mis en évidence qu'au début des années soixante, suite aux innovations technologiques en général et, en particulier, pour les nou-Mesure et déterminants de l'efficacité d'usage de l'eau d'irrigation dans la production du blé dur: cas de Chabika (Tunisie)

La transferencia de conocimiento de la investigación pública a la sociedad se ha convertido en un elemento estratégico y fundamental por varios aspectos. La transferencia representa una fuente de financiación para la actividad investigadora, una fuente de innovación para las empresas y una fuente de desarrollo económico. Además, es parte fundamental del objetivo de construir una economía basada en el conocimiento y constituye el tercer eje de la Estrategia española de ciencia y tecnología y de innovación. A este respecto, resulta fundamental evaluar la actividad de transferencia para conocer la situación actual y proponer acciones de mejora. En este trabajo proponemos un modelo de evaluación de la eficiencia de los hospitales españoles en producción científica, dato que podría utilizarse como indicador de transferencia de conocimiento.

The present paper discusses the use of statistics methods of forecasting and the use of data envelopment analysis to assist in the definition of goals for sustainability index in the context of Agenda 2030. The proposed methodology consists in the time series analysis using Loess method for identification and removal of outliers, forecasting the time series using exponential smoothing, in the definition of the benchmark using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and posterior definition of global goal and finally, in the distribution of global goal by the least squares method, combining the benchmark and the forecasting. For

We undertake network efficiency analysis within an input-output model that allows us to assess potential technical efficiency gains by comparing technologies corresponding to different economies. Input-output tables represent a network where different sectoral nodes use primary inputs (endowments) to produce intermediate input and outputs (according to sectoral technologies), and satisfy final demand (preferences). Within the input-output framework it is possible to optimize primary inputs allocation, intermediate production and final demand production by way of non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques. DEA allows us to model the different subtechnologies corresponding to alternative production processes, to assess efficient resource allocation among them, and to determine potential output gains if inefficiencies were dealt with. The proposed model optimizes the underlying multi-stage technologies that the input-output system comprises identifying the best practice economies. The model is applied to a set of OECD countries.

The issue of the implication of interlinkage of factor markets on the allocative efficiency level of the farm households deserves a special attention in the light of the controversy among two distinct schools of thought: the Neoclassical and the Marxist. An attempt has been made in the paper to measure allocative and cost efficiencies of the interlinked holding vis-à-vis a comparable group of non-interlinked holding in the framework of Data Envelopment Analysis. Empirical evidence establishes the Neo-classical proposition that interlinked factor markets can be considered as one of the “efficiency improving institutional change” in rural agrarian economy. JEL classification: D61, C87, Q14. Keywords: Interlinkage, Allocative Efficiency, Rural Credit, Data Envelopment Analysis

This paper attempts to identify sources of resource use inefficiency for cotton production in Pakistan's Punjab. The use of a non-parametric method, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), is developed to study the relative technical and allocative efficiencies of individual farms which use similar inputs, produce the same product and operate under comparable circumstances. In the 'cotton-wheat' system of Pakistan, there are a considerable number of farms that are both technically and allocatively inefficient. The use of DEA shows that the technique provides a clear identification of both the extent and the sources of technical and allocative inefficiencies in cotton production. However, both the interpretation of the farm level results generated and the projection of these results to a higher level require care, given the technical nature of the agricultural production processes.

The current study, using data envelopment analysis (DEA), aims to assess the healthcare systems efficiency of 26 European countries with Covid-19. This study developed DEA models to assist decision-makers in European countries via seven different scenarios to address the inefficiency of health systems following Covid-19. The input variables of the adopted DEA models include the number of conducted tests, medical doctors, nurses, hospital beds, and GDP. Whereas, the output variables include the number of affected, recovered, and deaths cases. Various output scenarios were considered and analyzed. Out of 26 European Countries, twelve were found efficient in all the assumed output scenarios. Moreover, we found four countries efficient in four scenarios out of the seven. Besides, another five countries have an efficiency level between 50%-90% in all the assumed out-put scenarios. Lastly, five countries have total efficiency levels at most 35% in each scenario. According to the developed DEA models, the countries under study can be divided into four main levels: efficient, efficient with some inefficiency, inefficient, and severely inefficient. Generally, more than 50% of the European countries have moderate to severe problems in their healthcare systems. Those countries have major issues in facing virus transmission. In general, healthcare-system-adapted DEA allows assessing the relative efficiency for countries. It is easy to perform, and it can provide helpful information which assists policymakers in continuous improvement.

This paper presents a review of the most recently published works of the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) in the evaluation of websites of different fields such as healthcare, e-business, e-commerce, and e-government.
The evaluation of websites is performed using web diagnostic tools (WDTs). Some studies have evaluated e-government websites using WDTs only, while others integrate them with data envelopment analysis. We summarize each study including the country that was conducted in, the size of data set,
inputs to DEA, outputs from DEA, the approach used, the tools used,
and the results obtained. It also covers whether there is a use of combination between DEA and data mining or machine learning approaches to classify the efficiency of these websites.

Veri zarflama analizi (VZA) farklı ölçüm birimleri ile ifade edilen çoklu girdi ve çıktılara sahip karar verme birimlerinin göreli etkinlik analizinde yaygın bir şekilde kullanılan etkinlik analizi yöntemlerinden birisidir. VZA yöntemi etkinlik ölçümünün yanı sıra hem olumlu hem de olumsuz kriterlere sahip karar problemlerinin çözümünde de kullanılmaktadır. Veri zarflama analizi yöntemi veri odaklı bir yöntem olduğu için girdi ve çıktı değişkenleri kesin değeri bilinen değişkenler olmalıdır. Ancak, gerçek hayat problemlerinde girdi ve çıktı değişenlerin değerleri her zaman
kesin değer olarak ifade edilememektedir. Göreli etkinlik analizinde kesin değeri bilinen verilerle birlikte dilsel ifadelerin (sıralı veriler) ve sınırlandırılmış girdi ve çıktı değişkenlerinin kullanımına olanak sağlamak için “Bulanık veri zarflama analizi” (BVZA) yöntemi kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada bir perakende mağaza zincirinin İzmir ilinde açmayı planladığı mağaza yerlerinin belirlenmesinde bulanık veri zarflama analizi yöntemi uygulanmıştır. Firma tarafından belirlenen yirmi iki mağaza yeri alternatifi elde edilen göreli etkinlik analizi sonuçlarına göre sıralanmıştır

It is usual to rank the participant countries in the Olympic Games in accordance with the number of medals they have won. An alternative ranking is suggested in this paper. This ranking is based on each countryÕs ability to win medals in relation to its available resources. This is an efficiency that can be measured with the help of data envelopment analysis (DEA) for which two models exist: the traditional DEA model, that takes into account variable returns to scale, and a DEA model based on the premise that the sum of the gains is zero (constant sum of outputs). It is the latter that is developed in this paper.

Many authors have been used different mathematical models to study the results of the Olympic Games. Some of these studies try to find new ways to establish alternative performance rankings while others evaluate the efficiency of the countries participating to the competition. Some use economics variables as inputs, others, included social aspects but in general, all of them chose the output orientation. In this work we are interested in studying the results of the Winter Olympic Games, held in Vancouver, Canada in 2010. We choose FDH (Free Disposal Hull) model but we decided to use input orientation. We brought into account the number of athletes of each country as input. As outputs, we use the number of gold, silver and bronze medals. The unit of analysis will be all the countries that took part in the games, even though they had not won any medals.

This paper applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) to explore the quantitative relative efficiency of 18 classes of freshmen students studying a course of English conversation in a university of Taiwan from the academic year 2004e2006. A diagram of teaching performance improvement mechanism is designed to identify key performance indicators for evaluation in order to help teachers concentrate their efforts on the formulated teaching suggestions. The sensitivity study highlights the priority of the richness of course contents over the other evaluated indicators. The performance improvement mechanism can help decision-makers to design educational policies.

This paper assesses farming eco-efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques. Eco-efficiency scores at both farm and environmental pressure-specific levels are computed for a sample of Spanish farmers operating in the rain-fed agricultural system of Campos County. The determinants of eco-efficiency are then studied using truncated regression and bootstrapping techniques. We contribute to previous literature in this field of research

Conventional benchmarking measures focus mainly on water produced whilst ignoring water produced but not reaching consumers, unaccounted for water (UFW). Benchmarking must credit utilities for a reduction in UFW and improvements in service delivery. This study measures the performance of 20 urban water utilities using data from an Asian Development Bank survey of Indian water utilities in 2005. It applies directional distance function as an analytical tool for measuring performance of water utilities. The results reveal that at the mean level, Indian water utilities have the potential of increasing water delivery levels and reducing UFW by 20%. About half of that can be realized by changing the scale of operation. Metering of the water delivered and the length of the distribution network are major determinants of performance of water utilities.

Example of DEA model with weight constraints to virtuals inputs and outputs
Data (Cooper,W.W, Seiford, L.M., Tone, K. Data Envelopment Analysis: A comprehensive text with models, applications, references and DEA-Solver software, Kluwer Academic Publishers,2000)
https://rpubs.com/PESSANHA/591579

An index to compare supercomputers is proposed in the study. This index is based on the concept of technical efficiency and is developed adopting a non-parametric technique, e.g. Data Envelopment Analysis. The index is used to calculate the technical efficiency of 500 high-performing computing systems listed in the TOP500 supercomputers database. Finally, statistical analysis is performed to assess the weight that some supercomputers characteristics have on their efficiency.

A four-stage methodological framework useful to analyze the performance of a product development process, with a focus on the information flow inefficiencies is presented. The formal and informal communication exchange between interacting tasks is captured through the Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) representation, while the properties of the information flow structure are explored calculating metrics of Social Network Analysis (SNA). Information exchange inefficiency of process tasks is calculated performing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).

Tourism destination benchmarking and the assessment of tourism management performances are a crucial and challenging task in the direction of evaluating tourism sustainability and reshaping tourism activities. However, assessing tourism management efficiency per se may not provide enough information concerning long-term performances, which is what sustainability is about. Natural resources management should therefore be included in the analysis to provide a more exhaustive picture of long-run sustainable efficiency and tourism performances. Indeed, while the environmental endowment of a site is a key feature in tourism destination comparison, what really matters is its effective management. Therefore, in this paper we assess and compare tourism destinations, not only in terms of tourism services supply, but also in terms of the performance of environmental management. The proposed efficiency assessment procedure is based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA is a methodology for evaluating the relative efficiency when facing multiple input and output. Although the methodology is extremely versatile, for the sake of exemplification, in this paper it is applied to the valuation of sustainable tourism management of the twenty Italian regions.

Law 68 of March 12, 1999, whose aim is the regulation and promotion of the employment of persons with disabilities, delegates to the regions the management of the labour market. Consequently, its successful implementation depends almost exclusively on the regions' actions and ability to efficiently coordinate the various actors involved in the work integration of disabled people. The main objective of this paper is to verify which Italian regions are ranked among the most efficient ones in the application of this law. To this purpose, the efficiency analysis is carried out by applying the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to Italian regions data for the year 2005. In this context, we implement a "cascade" analysis by introducing both environmental variables and social capital variables in different steps of the analysis. The results show that the sheer presence of potential employers and of employment offices is not enough to make a region able to correctly apply the law 68/1999. Both environmental and socio-welfare factors have to be considered, as they are important in determining the efficiency of each region in providing employment for disabled people. Hence, the present study represents an additional source of useful information to policy makers for future economic policy actions in order to promote the integration of disabled people in the labour market: environmental and social capital variables ought to be included as policy instruments within the context of law 68/1999.

The purpose of this study is to determine the efficiency of the surgical and medical services of a public hospital in Eskisehir,-Turkey. In this study, the efficiency levels of 10 surgical and 11 medical services in the hospital are examined through output maximization-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) models with 4 inputs(the number of beds, the total number of physicians, the number of other healthcare personnel and the bed-occupancy rate). In evaluating the efficiency of medical services, the total number of surgical operations is not used as an output variable because surgical operations are not conducted by medical services-and a single output model is prepared for medical services. In addition, the output variables for the model developed for surgical services are the number of discharged inpatients and the total number of surgical operations. According to the findings obtained from DEA, surgical services are much more successful in performing their activities than medical services. With these findings, it is possible to assert that services that will be established in the hospital must include efficiency in their feasibility studies. In this context, it may be necessary for inefficient services to 253 review the basic input factors such as number of beds and the total number of personnel in terms of efficiency and reorganize according to the results of the analysis

This paper investigates the short-term market reaction of nine profit-efficiency, pre-classified merger deals of US banks over the time period from 1992 to 2003. The findings show that mergers combining low efficiency acquirers and targets create significant market returns following the merger event, while mergers combining the least efficient acquirers with moderately efficient targets diminish the acquirer's wealth more than any other type of merger. Furthermore, findings show that acquirers generally lose about 2.5% of their wealth upon the merger announcement while targets experience, on average, significant market returns of 15.5% following the merger announcement. The findings of the cross sectional analysis show that the CARs of acquirers are positively related to their technical efficiency and geographic diversification, while targets' CARs are negatively related to both target size and revenue efficiency.

Millennium development goals Human development index Data envelopment analysis Principal component analysis a b s t r a c t This research develops a framework to estimate the relative efficiency of developing countries in utilizing both their domestic and external resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The analysis highlights distinct efficiency differences across lending groups and geographic regions e.g. between Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The performance of regions exposed to natural disasters and political violence need to be analyzed individually and risk management ought to be an integrated part of development policy. The gap between the Millennium Development Goals and human rights approaches is then examined. Finally, we qualify a country's performance level as potentially sustainable in terms of human, social and environmental welfare, in turn searching for realistic benchmarks and intermediate targets for the relatively inefficient countries. Principal component analysis in combination with data envelopment analysis was applied to solve the problem of efficiency overestimation with multidimensional scaling used to present the issue graphically. In summary, the aim of this work is not to rank countries in a league table rather to provide a framework that combines economic, environmental and social issues in order to search for sustainable, pragmatic benchmarks, pushing the boundaries of the Human Development Index.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a body of research methodologies to evaluate overall efficiencies and identify the sources and estimate the amounts of inefficiencies in inputs and outputs. In DEA, the best performers are called DEA efficient and the efficiency score of a DEA efficient unit is denoted by an unity. In the last decade, ranking DEA efficient units has become the interests of many DEA researchers and a variety of models (called super-efficiency models) were developed to rank DEA efficient units. While the models developed in the past are interesting and meaningful, they have the disadvantages of being infeasible or instable occasionally. In this research, we develop a super-efficiency model to overcome some deficiencies in the earlier models. Both theoretical results and numerical examples are provided.

The motivation of this study is to propose an equitable method for ranking decision making units (DMUs) based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) concept. For this purpose, first, the minimum and maximum efficiency values of each DMU are computed under the assumption that the sum of efficiency values of all DMUs is equal to unity. Then, the rank of each DMU is determined in proportion to a combination of its minimum and maximum efficiency values.

Performance assessment is key to business management in any industry sector as it helps organizations to control, compare and even correct their performance. This paper proposes a model to evaluate the Argentine insurance sector, analyzing efficiency and relative productivity during the 2002-2011 period, using an efficient frontier technique known as Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist Index. The results indicate that the market has not improved its productivity over the last ten years. One of the causes is attributed to the technological decline suffered in the period. Companies needed more resources to keep up their production, they have not invested in pursuit of improving their administrative and technological practices, or investments have not brought an increase in the volume of negotiated premiums.

Conventional banks) operating in Pakistan and gives a comparative analysis between them over a recent unstudied period, using DEA (Data Envelope Analysis) model. As banking systems render as an important factor towards the economic development of a country. Calculating Technical efficiency can help us determine which banking system is more technically efficient and can facilitate in the economic development and stability of a developing nation such as Pakistan. In this study, a sample of 34 different banks is taken which includes Islamic, conventional and foreign banks working in Pakistan. By taking Investments and Advances as outputs and number of employees, operating fixed asset and deposits as inputs in DEA analysis, the technical efficiencies of the banks are found and compared and then Tobit regression is use to determine the internal and external factor's impact on bank's efficiency.

Conditions are established under which DEA models are translation invariant. Specifically, an affine displacement does not alter the efficient frontier for models incorporating the convexity constraint. This affords a ready solution to the problems of scaling and the presence of zero values which arise in Data Envelopment Analysis.

One of the most powerful and applicable tools to evaluate the efficiency of decision making units (DMUs) is data envelopment analysis (DEA). In order to evaluate the efficiency of multi-division DMUs, it is essential to pay attention to the internal or linking activities among their different divisions, and also, we have presented a model of DEA, due to uncertainty in some input and output indexes of units, which beside paying attention to internal or linking activities, the data have been entered into the model in a fuzzy form. The suggested model is a slacks-based measure (SBM) model which deals with evaluating the efficiency of DMUs. At the end, a case study on the Iran regional power companies using the suggested model is presented. Mean whilst the proposed model is compared with other existing models and the results prove its advantages as well as the validity of our model.

Data Envelopment Analysis DEA is an increasingly popular management tool. This write-up is an introduction to Data Envelopment Analysis DEA for people unfamiliar with the technique. For a more in-depth discussion of DEA, the interested reader is referred to Seiford and Thrall 19900 or the seminal work by Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes 19788. DEA is commonly used to evaluate the eeciency of a number of producers. A typical statistical approach i s c haracterized as a central tendency approach and it evaluates producers relative t o a n average producer In contrast, DEA compares each producer with only the "best" producers. By the way, in the DEA literature, a producer is usually referred to as a decision making unit or DMU. DEA is not always the right tool for a problem but is appropriate in certain cases. See Strengths and Limitations of DEA. In DEA, there are a number of producers. The production process for each producer is to take a set of inputs and produce a set of outputs. Each producer has a varying level of inputs and gives a v arying level of outputs. For instance, consider a set of banks. Each bank has a certain number of tellers, a certain square footage of space, and a certain number of managers the inputs. There are a number of measures of the output of a bank, including numb e r o f c hecks cashed, number of loan applications processed, and so on the outputs. DEA attempts to determine which of the banks are most eecient, and to point out speciic ineeciencies of the other banks. A fundamental assumption behind this method is that if a given producer, A, is capable of producing YA units of output with XA inputs, then other producers should also be able to do the same if they were to operate eeciently. Similarly, if producer B is capable of producing YB units of output with XB inputs, then other producers should also be capable of the same production schedule. Producers A, B, and others can then be combined to form a composite producer with composite inputs and composite outputs. Since this composite producer does not necessarily exist, it is typically called a virtual producer. The heart of the analysis lies in nding the "best" virtual producer for each real producer. If the virtual producer is better than the original producer by either making more output with the same input or making the same output with less input then the original producer is ineecient. The subtleties of DEA are introduced in the various ways that producers A and B can be scaled up or down and combined. 12.1 Numerical Example To illustrate how DEA works, let's take an example of three banks. Each bank has exactly 10 tellers the only input, and we measure a bank based on two outputs: Checks cashed and Loan 147

As the green movement spreads across the globe, organizations are under pressure to reduce the emissions across their supply chain. On the other hand, they need to cut supply costs to gain a competitive edge. This paper proposes Green DEA (GDEA), a comprehensive approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with carbon footprint monitoring. GDEA builds on an existing DEA model with weight restrictions and dual role factors, and introduces carbon footprints as necessary dual role factors with weight restrictions. Unlike other researches, GDEA incorporates heterogeneous suppliers and also takes into account regional emission compliance standards and laws. GDEA encourages suppliers to go green and cut down their carbon footprints and comply with emission norms along with reducing costs in order to survive competition. Results from model validation in a well-known automobile spare parts manufacturer in India are presented to verify the GDEA approach. Overall, GDEA cuts across a huge and varied supplier base, caters to almost all businesses, is environment-friendly and robust.

Analitik Hiyerarşi Prosesi (AHP) kalitatif nitelik taşıyan sübektif sonuçlara bağlı olarak karar değişkenlerini değerlendirmektedir. DEA ise kantitatif yapılı göreceli etkinlik düzeylerini belirlemede kullanılan bir yöntemdir. Bu iki tekniğin aynı karar probleminde kullanılması, karar modelinde sübjektivite ve objektivitenin aynı anda yansıtılmasına imkân tanımaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, giderek yaygınlaşan kripto paraların, gelecekte sıklıkla kullanılması olası turizm alanında faaliyet gösterenlerinin etkinlik düzeylerinin ölçülmesi ve etkin turizm kripto paralarının saptanarak gelecekte piyasaya sürülecek ya da mevcutta faaliyet gösteren turizm kripto paralarına referans olarak gösterilmesidir.

The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) evaluates the decision variables based on the subjective results of qualitative nature. On the other hand, DEA is a method used to determine relative efficiency levels with a quantitative structure. The use of these two techniques in the same decision problem allows the simultaneous reflection of subjectivity and objectivity. The aim of this study is to measure the activity levels of cryptocurrencies, those operating in the field of tourism, which are likely to be used frequently in the future, and to determine the effective tourism cryptocurrencies and to show them as a reference to the tourism cryptocurrencies that will be released in the future or that are currently operating.

As a result of the liberalisation of airline markets; the strong growth of low cost carriers; the high volatility in fuel prices; and the recent global financial crisis, the cost pressure that airlines face is very substantial. In order to survive in these very competitive environments, information on what factors impact on costs and efficiency of airlines is crucial in guiding strategic change. To evaluate key determinants of 58 passenger airlines' efficiency, this paper applies a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, with partially bootstrapped random effects Tobit regressions in the second stage. Our results suggest that the effects of route optimisation, in the sense of average stage length of the fleet, are limited to airline technical efficiency. We show that airline size and key fleet mix characteristics, such as aircraft size and number of different aircraft families in the fleet, are more relevant to successful cost management of airlines since they have significant impacts on all three types of airline efficiency: technical, allocative and, ultimately, cost efficiency. Our results also show that despite the fuel saving benefits of younger aircraft, the age of an airline's fleet has no significant impact on its technical efficiency, but does have a positive impact on its allocative and cost efficiency.

This paper reports different aspects of telecommunications development that need to be addressed when performing cross country performance assessments. The paper proposes an integrated approach in terms of theoretical background and analytical tools for benchmarking. The proposed threedimensional benchmarking model, called ISER, consists of the assessment of 'Information Society, sector Efficiency and Regulatory' framework. The model is also composed of two commonly used analytical tools in the benchmarking telecommunications sector: 1) Composite Indicators (CIs) and 2) Data Envelopment Analyses (DEA). An empirical example is given for 20 developing (transition) countries in 2002 and 2007. The results are discussed in terms of policy making.

L'approche DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) permet de proposer de nouveaux indicateurs de la performance pour les réseaux de distribution intégrés. Après avoir précisé la méthode de construction d'un indicateur de productivité des points de vente respectant les critères de contrôlabilité et de cohérence transversale, nous modélisons le lien entre un indicateur de performance de la tête de réseau et l'indicateur de productivité pour garantir la cohérence hiérarchique. Enfin, nous insérons ces indicateurs dans un outil d'aide à la décision conforme à l'organisation verticale des réseaux de distribution : un système de tableau de bord prospectif. Mots clés : Data Envelopment Analysis-agences bancaires-tableaux de bord prospectifs-contrôlabilité.

In this paper, the provision of bus services along different routes that comprise a public transit network is assessed taking into consideration, the service providers, the users and the societal perspectives. This model is based on Data Envelopment Analysis DEA) [Charnes, A., Cooper W.W., Rhodes, E., 1978. Measuring the efficiency of decision-making units. European Journal of Operational Research 2, 429-444] and derives from the Network Model in DEA [Färe, R., Grosskopf, S., 2000. Network DEA. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 34, 35-49] and Goal Programming in DEA [Athanassopoulos, A., 1995. Goal programming and data envelopment analysis (GoDEA) for target-based multi-level planning: allocating central grants to the Greek local authorities. European Journal of Operational Research 87, 535-550]

ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to apply a Cobb-Douglas, Translog Stochastic Production Function and Data Envelopment Analysis in order to estimate inefficiencies over time as well as respective TFP (Total Factor Productivity) sources for main Brazilian grain ...

ÖZET Limanlar bulundukları bölgelerde, ticaret olanaklarının gelişmesine, sanayileşmeye, yaşam standartlarının iyileşmesine, istihdam artışına ve bunların paralelinde sosyal imkânların artmasına katkı sağlarlar. Ekonomik ve sosyal katkılarının yanı sıra ulusal ve uluslararası güvenlik açısından da hayati önem taşırlar. Ulusal ve uluslararası arenada bu denli önem taşıyan limanların ticari hayatta tercih edilebilir olması için verimli çalışması zorunludur. Limanların bulundukları ülke ekonomisindeki verimliliğini arttırmak için de limanlar ve hinterlantları (art bölge) ile birlikte düşünülerek gelişim süreçlerinin planlanması gerekmektedir. Her liman belirli bir hayat dönemine sahip olduğu gibi yıllar içinde artan veya azalan ticaret hacmi ile birlikte dinamik olarak değişime zorlanırlar. Bu değişim gerçekleşmediği takdirde limanlar tercih sebebi olmaktan çıkacaktır. Azalan yük hacmi liman bölgesini ve hinterlandını olumsuz etkileyecek ve liman verimsiz çalışmasıyla ülkenin bilançosunda negatif tarafta yer alacaktır. Ancak limanın gelişen ticaret hacmine ve teknolojiye ayak uydurması ile kaynakların verimli kullanımı sonucunda artan verimlilik ile gelişimi sağlanabilir ve hayat dönemi sürdürülebilir. Günümüzde birçok gelişmiş şehirde görülebileceği üzere liman kavramı ticaret merkezi olmayı devam ettirirken üretim yapılabilen sanayi merkezi haline de gelmiştir. Bu makalede 2010-2013 yılları arasında Karadeniz Bölgesi'nin önemli illerindeki limanlarının Karadeniz Ereğli Limanı'na göre verimlilikleri analiz edilmiştir. Karadeniz Bölgesi'nin önemli illeri yük hacimlerine ve hinterlandına göre seçilmiş olup karşılaştırılan limanın Karadeniz Ereğli Limanı olmasının sebebi söz konusu limanın Karadeniz Bölgesi'nin sanayi olarak en gelişmiş yerinde olması ve limanlarının elleçlenen yük oranına karşın girdilerinin düşük olmasıdır. Bu makalede farklı birimlerde girdilerin kolay karşılaştırılabilmesi için metod olarak Veri Zarflama Analizi kullanılmıştır. Yapılan analiz çerçevesinde uluslararası bazı sebeplerden dolayı verimlilik değişimleri belirtilmiş ve daha verimli olabilmeleri için öneriler sunulmuştur.

A company's performance significantly depends on how well a company manages its finances keeping in view the short term hurdles and long term goals. One objective of financial statement analysis is to determine firm value. Research suggests that a firm's value is a function of the expected future growth and profitability of the firm (e.g., . The purpose of this study is to assess the performance of the top players in the Indian FMCG industry and benchmark the best player's actions in different scenarios to be the best practice in the industry. The author mainly concentrates on which company stood in what place in tacking different finance constraints of supply chain. Inputs and outputs are strategically selected to show cases ranging from short term transfers to company capital structure. The results show that each company is good at different cases and they did earn them with good management. Also it is evident that company that has been managing its finances well was rewarded with a good market share.

The North African countries located in the Southern Mediterranean region are among those that experience the most severe water shortages and face the greatest challenges in terms of future water availability. Most of these countries have a semi-arid climate with limited and variable rainfall. Moreover, much of the rainfall is lost through evaporation (Hamdy and Lacirignola, 1999). During the last three decades, it has been common policy in these North African countries to develop irrigation infrastructure and to control renewable water resources to increase stability in terms of water supply (Ben Mechlia, 2004). Agriculture, being an important component of food security policies, is the main consumer of this supplied water. On average, agriculture accounts for around 80% of total water consumption in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. However, these supply policies have led to substantial use of irrigation water at heavily subsidized cost (Thabet et al., 2005). In the early 1980s, there was a shift in agricultural water policies towards demand management. This alternative has been widely applied at a global level and involves rationalization of the current demand, instead of increasing the current supply. In other words, this means greater efficiency in the allocation and use of water in agriculture. Rainfall in Tunisia varies greatly, ranging from an average of less than 100 mm year À1 in the South, to more than 1000 mm year À1 in the extreme north of the country. In the north, however, the topography is mountainous, leaving relatively little cultivable land in the high rainfall areas. As a result, most agricultural activity is undertaken in areas with limited and highly variable rainfall, making irrigation necessary to stabilize or increase production by reducing climatic uncertainty. Currently, almost 385,000 ha (7% of useful agricultural land) are irrigated in Tunisia. The irrigation sector consumes 80% of the available water resources and provides 35% of the agricultural production value, 95% of horticultural crops, 30% of dairy production, almost 22% of agricultural sector exports, and 26% of total agricultural employment (Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, 2004). Moreover, the demand for irrigation water continues to rise, due largely to the development of new irrigation projects and the intensification of irrigation within existing areas. Therefore, during recent decades concerns regarding the efficient use of water resources in the country have increased. These concerns have been addressed in three ways: (i) modernizing the management of collective irrigation systems by enhancing the role played by water users' associations and by promoting user participation in all aspects of management, (ii)

Spreadsheets can play an important role in the MS/OR practitioner's toolkit. This is because they are an effective software development platform, supporting powerful commercial MS/OR add-ins and providing advantages in deploying models to clients. Spreadsheets also provide access to the power of MS/OR for large numbers of unsophisticated end-user modelers. In this special issue, we highlight the benefits of spreadsheet MS/OR across 10 different high-impact applications.

This paper presents the results of an empirical study aimed at evaluating the cost efficiency of 108 Italian major municipalities, and investigating to what extent the municipality efficiency is also associated to the effectiveness of public expenditure, and consequently to quality of services offered to citizens. The study implements Data Envelopment Analysis to calculate the efficiency score and understand if it is influenced by scale economies and determine the type of these economies. For this purpose, every municipality was modeled as a production function using 6 cost item inputs and 2 outputs. Finally, the study implemented a truncated regression equation using the bootstrapped efficiency estimate as the dependent variable, and a selection of indicators measuring the quality of public services offered in the context as the independent variables.

Results reveal that there exist important scale inefficiencies in a number of municipalities, but unexpectedly a great amount of inefficiencies are caused by decreasing returns to scale. Additionally, the study suggests that a trade-off between expenditure efficiency and effectiveness, i.e. the quality of public service, seems to exist.