Measuring retail company performance using credit scoring techniques

This paper discusses models for evaluating credit risk in relation to the retailing industry. Hunt’s [Hunt, S.D., 2000. A General Theory of Competition. Sage Publications Inc., California] Resource–Advantage Theory of Competition is used as a basis for variable selection, given the theory’s relevancy to retail competition. The study focuses on the US retail market. Four standard credit scoring methodologies: Naïve Bayes, Logistic Regression, Recursive Partitioning and Artificial Neural Network, are compared with Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO), using a sample of 195 healthy companies and 51 distressed firms over five time periods from 1994 to 2002.     

Evaluating environmental performance using statistical process control techniques

This paper builds on recent work on measuring and evaluating environmental performance of a process using statistical process control (SPC) techniques. We propose the CUSUM chart as a tool to monitor emissions data so that abnormal changes can be detected in a timely manner, and we propose using process capability indices to evaluate environmental performance in terms of the risk of non-compliance situations arising. In doing so, the paper fills an important gap in the ISO 14000 and TQEM literatures, which have focused more on environmental management systems and qualitative aspects rather than on quantitative tools. We explore how process capability indices have the potential to be useful as a risk management tool for practitioners and to help regulators execute and prioritize their enforcement efforts. Together, this should help in setting up useful guidelines for evaluating actual environmental performance against the firm's environmental objectives and targets and regulatory requirements, as well as encouraging further development and application of SPC techniques to the field of environmental quality management and data analysis.     

Shortening the comparison process in the AHP

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has become a popular decision aid since its development by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970's. However, the number of pairwise comparisons which must be made during the course of this method often become prohibitive. This paper summarizes a method to reduce the number of comparisons by using the derivatives of the right Perron vector and the graph-theoretic interpretation of a positive reciprocal matrix.     

Measuring air routes performance using a fractional network data envelopment analysis model

This paper aims to propose a unified framework of data envelopment analysis (DEA) model so as to facilitate legitimate comparisons of performance among the production and service processes as well as overall operations. The fractional measure network DEA (FNDEA) model is constructed by analytically stratifying the structure of an operational network according to the transport service characteristics of air routes. We compare the proposed model with separate multi-stage DEA evaluation results by using an actual data set from the domestic air routes of an airline in Taiwan. The results show that the FNDEA model is significantly different from the separate multi-stage DEA model in magnitude of performance scores. Managerial strategies for the improvement of performance for the airline are also suggested.     

Stochastic decision making using multiplicative AHP

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has found a number of applications in decision making problems. Its multiplicative version, called the Multiplicative AHP (MAHP), has been proposed to overcome some of the criticisms of the conventional version. Both these methodologies operate by obtaining expert judgements on the ratios of perceived importance of objects under consideration. The literature on MAHP in dealing with these judgements, when they are specified without uncertainty, is well developed. However, stochastic aspects of these judgements have not received much consideration in the literature so far. Stochastic judgements are considered in this paper for use in MAHP. The fact that weight derivation in MAHP can be handled using mathematical programming is exploited and the literature on stochastic programming is adapted to the MAHP context.     

Measuring the performance of nations at the Summer Olympics using data envelopment analysis

In this paper a well known tool for relative efficiency assessment, namely Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), is used to measure the performance of the nations participating at the last five Summer Olympic games. The proposed approach considers two inputs (GNP and population) and three outputs (number of gold, silver and bronze medals won). To increase the consistency of the results, weight restrictions are included, guaranteeing a higher valuation for gold medals than for silver medals and higher for the latter than for bronze medals. Variable returns to scale are assumed. The results for the last five Summer Olympics are analysed. For each of them, a performance index as well as benchmarks are computed for each country. In addition, plotting the performance of a specific country for the different games can help identify trends as well as objective successes and disappointments.     

Measuring and managing educational performance

Performance measures have come to play a central role in the management of the education sector. This paper identifies a number of desirable properties for educational performance measures, whose breach is likely to result in sub-optimal patterns of educational outcomes and resource management. Recent trends in the study of mathematics in schools give particular cause for concern. The paper examines several outstanding issues that require further attention if performance evaluation techniques are to provide reliable measures of school effectiveness.     

Measuring the performance of nations at the Olympic Games using DEA models with different preferences

It is well known that Olympic Games often use Lexicographic preference to rank the nations that won the medals. However, Lexicographic preference is not the underlying preference that is used in the standard DEA models. Hence, we discuss the issue of the underlying preferences in DEA models for measuring the performance of nations at the Olympic Games, and then propose new DEA models with Lexicographic preference to measure the performance of the nations.     

Prioritization of organizational capital measurement indicators using fuzzy AHP

Organizational capital is a sub-dimension of the intellectual capital which is the sum of all assets that make the creative ability of the organization possible. To control and manage such an important force, the companies must measure it first. This study aims at defining a methodology to improve the quality of prioritization of organizational capital measurement indicators under uncertain conditions. To do so, a methodology based on the extent fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied. Within the model, three main attributes; deployment of the strategic values, investment to the technology and flexibility of the structure; their sub-attributes and 10 indicators are defined. To define the priority of each indicator, preferences of experts are gathered using a pair-wise comparison based questionnaire. The results of the study show that “deployment of the strategic values” is the most important attribute of the organizational capital.     

Evaluating higher education teaching performance using combined analytic hierarchy process and data envelopment analysis

Evaluating higher education teaching performance is complex as it involves consideration of both objective and subjective criteria. The student evaluation of teaching (SET) is used to improve higher education quality. However, the traditional approaches to considering students’ responses to SET questionnaires for improving teaching quality have several shortcomings. This study proposes an integrated approach to higher education teaching evaluation that combines the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). The AHP allows consideration of the varying importance of each criterion of teaching performance, while DEA enables the comparison of tutors on teaching as perceived by students with a view to identifying the scope for improvement by each tutor. The proposed teaching evaluation method is illustrated using data from a higher education institution in Greece.     

Measuring naval presence using blotto games

Although the combat capabilities of alternative aircraft carrier designs have been much analyzed, force structure comparisons for peacetime uses, such as the projection of presence, are less often quantified. This paper uses a Blotto game framework to evaluate equal cost forces of alternative carrier designs in the presence role.     

Multi-criteria supplier segmentation using a fuzzy preference relations based AHP

One of the strategic activities of a firm is supplier segmentation, whereby a firm creates groups of suppliers to handle them differently. Existing literature provides several typologies of suppliers, each of which uses different dimensions/variables. In this paper, different typologies are combined by distinguishing two overarching dimensions, the capabilities and the willingness of suppliers to cooperate with a particular firm. These dimensions cover almost all the existing supplier segmentation criteria mentioned in existing literature. For each particular situation, these dimensions can be specified using a multi-criteria decision-making method. A methodology is proposed that includes a fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) which uses fuzzy preference relations to incorporate the ambiguities and uncertainties that usually exist in human judgment. The proposed methodology is used to segment the suppliers of a broiler company. The result is a segmentation of suppliers based on two aggregated dimensions. Finally some strategies to handle different segments are discussed and concluding remarks and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Measuring performance improvement of Taiwanese commercial banks under uncertainty

In order to enable domestic commercial banks to be more competitive globally, the Taiwanese government has twice attempted to financially restructure them, in 2001 and 2004. Different from other studies which use deterministic analyses to measure changes in performance between two periods, this paper adopts probabilistic analysis to take the uncertainty related to certain factors into account. Data from six years, from 2005 to 2010, are divided into two periods, 2005–2007 and 2008–2010, to calculate the global Malmquist productivity index (MPI) as a measure of the change in performance. By assuming beta distributions for the data, a Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to find the distribution of the MPI. The results show that, in general, the performance of the commercial banks has indeed improved. While conventional deterministic analyses may mislead top managers and make them overconfident about results that are actually uncertain, probabilistic analysis can produce more reliable information that can thus lead to better decisions.     

AHP model for performance evaluation of employees in a Czech management consulting company

Central European Journal of Operations Research - The article is focused on an application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to the performance evaluation of employees of a management...     

Measuring surface temperatures using Thermochromic Liquid Crystals

Thermochromic Liquid Crystals (TLCs) are used to measure the temperature distribution and to examine convective heat transfer on surfaces. This technique is specifically intended for investigating outer surface temperature fields and requires complex image data decomposition with colour analysis. This study presents a new method of using TLCs for the temperature measurement inside experimental models. The change of optical behaviour of TLCs is measured with a luminance camera. Therefore, it is possible to measure the complete distribution of the surface temperature, i.e. both inside and outside of the model. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Measuring overall efficiency and effectiveness using DEA

This paper presents a framework where data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to measure overall efficiency and show how to apply this framework to assess effectiveness for more general behavioral goals. The relationships between various cone-ratio DEA models and models to measure overall efficiency are clarified. Specifically it is shown that as multiplier cones tighten, the cone-ratio DEA models converge to measures of overall efficiency. Furthermore, it is argued that multiplier cone and cone-ratio model selection must be consistent with the behavioral goals assigned or assumed for purposes of analysis. Consistent with this reasoning, two new models are introduced to measure effectiveness when value measures are represented by separable or linked cones, where the latter can be used to analyze profit-maximizing effectiveness.     

Measuring the performance of operations of Hong Kong's manufacturing industries

The relative operational performance of Hong Kong's manufacturing industries is measured and analyzed for the period from 1987 to 1993. The measurement technique used is the recently developed operational competitiveness rating (OCRA) procedure. The comparison of the overall operational performance of Hong Kong's nine manufacturing industry groups is based on the OCRA computations of relative resource consumption and revenue generation performance. The implications of OCRA results in terms of industry performance trends are discussed and strategic issues are reviewed.     

Characterizing the performance of process flexibility structures

The objective is to identify preferred flexibility structures in service or manufacturing systems, when demand is random and capacity is finite. Considering a network flow type model as the basis of the analysis, general structural properties of flexibility design pertaining to the marginal values of flexibility and capacity are identified.     

The expectation of aggregate discounted dividends for a Sparre Anderson risk process perturbed by diffusion

In this paper, we study the expectation of aggregate dividends until ruin for a Sparre Andersen risk process perturbed by diffusion under a threshold strategy, in which claim waiting times have a common generalized Erlang(n) distribution. For this strategy, we assume that if the surplus is above certain threshold level before ruin, dividends are continuously paid at a constant rate that does not exceed the premium rate, and if not, no dividends are paid. We obtain some integro-differential equations satisfied by the expected discounted dividends, and further its renewal equations. Finally, applying these results to the Erlang(2) risk model perturbed by diffusion, where claims have a common exponential distributions, we give some explicit expressions and numerical analysis. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.