Computing DEA/AR efficiency and profit ratio measures with an illustrative bank application

This paper describes how the recent, published DEA/AR theory, in conjunction with software, provides measures of radial efficiency and profit ratios, This new DEA theory does not require use of the non-Archimedean principle, i.e., positive infinitesimals, and it allows for analysis of zero data entries. Further, this theory provides a comprehensive classification of the measures for both the efficient and inefficient decision-making units (DMUs). As programmed in the software, the efficiency principles are relative to the Charnes-Cooper-Rhodes ratio model and the Banker-Charnes-Cooper convex model, and the profitability principles are relative to the Thompson-Thrall profit ratio model. An illustrative application to 48 large U.S. banks illustrates some of the most fundamental computations, which are developed for a base option. Additional options may be exercised by the user to more fully utilize the theory. Additions to the software are being made to computer analytic centers and to make multiplier sensitivity analyses. Software utility updates and new DEA theory contributions continue to complement this computational capability.DEA is an advanced operations research method called Data Envelopment Analysis, and AR is an assurance region method used to bound the multipliers in the DEA model. Underlying data have been deposited with the editors.     

General and multiplicative non-parametric corporate performance models with interval ratio data

The increasing intensity of global competition has led organizations to utilize various types of performance measurement tools for improving the quality of their products and services. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a methodology for evaluating and measuring the relative efficiencies of a set of decision making units (DMUs) that use multiple inputs to produce multiple outputs. All the data in the conventional DEA with input and/or output ratios assumes the form of crisp numbers. However, the observed values of data in real-world problems are sometimes expressed as interval ratios. In this paper, we propose two new models: general and multiplicative non-parametric ratio models for DEA problems with interval data. The contributions of this paper are fourfold: (1) we consider input and output data expressed as interval ratios in DEA; (2) we address the gap in DEA literature for problems not suitable or difficult to model with crisp values; (3) we propose two new DEA models for evaluating the relative efficiencies of DMUs with interval ratios, and (4) we present a case study involving 20 banks with three interval ratios to demonstrate the applicability and efficacy of the proposed models where the traditional indicators are mostly financial ratios.     

DEA with efficiency classification preserving conditional convexity

We propose to relax the standard convexity property used in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) by imposing additional qualifications for feasibility of convex combinations. We specifically focus on a condition that preserves the Koopmans efficiency classification. This yields an efficiency classification preserving conditional convexity property, which is implied by both monotonicity and convexity, but not conversely. Substituting convexity by conditional convexity, we construct various empirical DEA approximations as the minimal sets that contain all DMUs and are consistent with the imposed production assumptions. Imposing an additional disjunctive constraint to standard convex DEA formulations can enforce conditional convexity. Computation of efficiency measures relative to conditionally convex production set can be performed through Disjunctive Programming (DP).     

Measurement of the worst practice of decision-making units in the presence of non-discretionary factors and imprecise data

The objective of the present paper is to propose a novel pair of data envelopment analysis (DEA) models for measurement of relative efficiencies of decision-making units (DMUs) in the presence of non-discretionary factors and imprecise data. Compared to traditional DEA, the proposed interval DEA approach measures the efficiency of each DMU relative to the inefficiency frontier, also called the input frontier, and is called the worst relative efficiency or pessimistic efficiency. On the other hand, in traditional DEA, the efficiency of each DMU is measured relative to the efficiency frontier and is called the best relative efficiency or optimistic efficiency. The pair of proposed interval DEA models takes into account the crisp, ordinal, and interval data, as well as non-discretionary factors, simultaneously for measurement of relative efficiencies of DMUs. Two numeric examples will be provided to illustrate the applicability of the interval DEA models.     

Cost,Revenue and Profit Efficiency Models in Generalized Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis

One of the most important information given by data envelopment analysis models is the cost, revenue and profit efficiency of decision making units (DMUs). Cost efficiency is defined as the ratio of minimum costs to current costs, while revenue efficiency is defined as the ratio of maximum revenue to current revenue of the DMU. This paper presents a framework where data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to measure cost, revenue and profit efficiency with fuzzy data. In such cases, the classical models cannot be used, because input and output data appear in the form of ranges. When the data are fuzzy, the cost, revenue and profit efficiency measures calculated from the data should be uncertain as well. Fuzzy DEA models emerge as another class of DEA models to account for imprecise inputs and outputs for DMUs. Although several approaches for solving fuzzy DEA models have been developed, numerous deficiencies including the $\alpha$-cut approaches and types of fuzzy numbers must still be improved. This scheme embraces evaluation method based on vector for proposed fuzzy model. This paper proposes generalized cost, revenue and profit efficiency models in fuzzy data envelopment analysis. The practical application of these models is illustrated by a numerical example.     

Evaluating the performances of decision-making units based on interval efficiencies

Efficiency could be not only the ratio of weighted sum of outputs to that of inputs but also that of weighted sum of inputs to that of outputs. When the previous efficiency measures the best relative efficiency within the range of no more than one, the decision-making units (DMUs) who get the optimum value of one perform best among all the DMUs. If the previous efficiency is measured within the range of no less than one, the DMUs who get the optimum value of one perform worst among all the DMUs. When the later efficiency is measured within the range of no more than one, the DMUs who get the optimum value of one perform worst among all the DMUs. If the later efficiency is measured within the range of no less than one, the DMUs who get the optimum value of one perform best among all the DMUs. This paper mainly studies an interval DEA model with later efficiency, in which efficiency is measured within the range of an interval, whose upper bound is set to one and the lower bound is determined by introducing a virtual ideal DMU, whose performance is definitely superior to any DMUs. The efficiencies, obtained from interval DEA model, turn out to be all intervals and are referred to as interval efficiencies, which combine the best and the worst relative efficiency in a reasonable manner to give an overall assessment of performances for all DMUs. Assessor's preference information on input and output weights is also incorporated into interval DEA model reasonably and conveniently. Through an example, some differences are found from the ranking results obtained from interval DEA model and bounded DEA model using the Hurwicz criterion approach to rank the interval efficiencies.     

决策单元的投影问题研究

在传统的DEA模型中,不论是最优相对效率模型或者最差相对效率模型,它们研究投影问题都是在不同的约束域内进行的,得出的结论都有一定的片面性.在bounded DEA模型中,决策单元的效率计算是在一个区间内进行的,可以同时研究非DEA有效的决策单元在有效前沿面上的投影和非DEA无效的决策单元在DEA无效面上的投影,得出的结论更加科学合理,并以定理的形式给出了投影结果的表达式.通过一个实例将投影结果与传统模型中得出的投影结果进行了比较,发现bounded DEA模型得到的投影结果对实际的生产具有更强的指导意义.     

Context-dependent performance standards in DEA

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a mathematical approach to measuring the relative efficiency of peer decision making units (DMUs). It is particularly useful where no a priori information on the tradeoffs or relations among various performance measures is available. However, it is very desirable if “evaluation standards,” when they can be established, be incorporated into DEA performance evaluation. This is especially important when service operations are under investigation, because service standards are generally difficult to establish. The approaches that have been developed to incorporate evaluation standards into DEA, as reported in the literature, have tended to be rather indirect, focusing primarily on the multipliers in DEA models. This paper introduces a new way of building performance standards directly into the DEA structure when context-dependent activity matrixes exist for different classes of DMUs. For example, two sets of branches, whose transaction times are known to be different from each other, usually have two different activity matrixes. We develop a procedure so that a set of standard DMUs can be generated and incorporated directly into the DEA analysis. The proposed approach is applied to a sample of 100 branches of a major Canadian bank where different sets of time standards exist for three distinct groups of branches.     

Interval cross efficiency for fully ranking decision making units using DEA/AHP approach

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a popular technique for measuring the relative efficiency of a set of decision making units (DMUs). Fully ranking DMUs is a traditional and important topic in DEA. In various types of ranking methods, cross efficiency method receives much attention from researchers because it evaluates DMUs by using self and peer evaluation. However, cross efficiency score is usual nonuniqueness. This paper combines the DEA and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to fully rank the DMUs that considers all possible cross efficiencies of a DMU with respect to all the other DMUs. We firstly measure the interval cross efficiency of each DMU. Based on the interval cross efficiency, relative efficiency pairwise comparison between each pair of DMUs is used to construct interval multiplicative preference relations (IMPRs). To obtain the consistency ranking order, a method to derive consistent IMPRs is developed. After that, the full ranking order of DMUs from completely consistent IMPRs is derived. It is worth noting that our DEA/AHP approach not only avoids overestimation of DMUs’ efficiency by only self-evaluation, but also eliminates the subjectivity of pairwise comparison between DMUs in AHP. Finally, a real example is offered to illustrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed procedure.     

Incorporating performance measures with target levels in data envelopment analysis

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a technique for evaluating relative efficiencies of peer decision making units (DMUs) which have multiple performance measures. These performance measures have to be classified as either inputs or outputs in DEA. DEA assumes that higher output levels and/or lower input levels indicate better performance. This study is motivated by the fact that there are performance measures (or factors) that cannot be classified as an input or output, because they have target levels with which all DMUs strive to achieve in order to attain the best practice, and any deviations from the target levels are not desirable and may indicate inefficiency. We show how such performance measures with target levels can be incorporated in DEA. We formulate a new production possibility set by extending the standard DEA production possibility set under variable returns-to-scale assumption based on a set of axiomatic properties postulated to suit the case of targeted factors. We develop three efficiency measures by extending the standard radial, slacks-based, and Nerlove–Luenberger measures. We illustrate the proposed model and efficiency measures by applying them to the efficiency evaluation of 36 US universities.     

A Complete Efficiency Ranking of Decision Making Units in Data Envelopment Analysis

The efficiency measures provided by DEA can be used for ranking Decision Making Units (DMUs), however, this ranking procedure does not yield relative rankings for those units with 100% efficiency. Andersen and Petersen have proposed a modified efficiency measure for efficient units which can be used for ranking, but this ranking breaks down in some cases, and can be unstable when one of the DMUs has a relatively small value for some of its inputs. This paper proposes an alternative efficiency measure, based on a different optimization problem that removes the difficulties.     

The interval efficiency based on the optimistic and pessimistic points of view

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a data-oriented approach for evaluating the performances of a set of peer entities called decision-making units (DMUs), whose performance is determined based on multiple measures. The traditional DEA, which is based on the concept of efficiency frontier (output frontier), determines the best efficiency score that can be assigned to each DMU. Based on these scores, DMUs are classified into DEA-efficient (optimistic efficient) or DEA-non-efficient (optimistic non-efficient) units, and the DEA-efficient DMUs determine the efficiency frontier. There is a comparable approach which uses the concept of inefficiency frontier (input frontier) for determining the worst relative efficiency score that can be assigned to each DMU. DMUs on the inefficiency frontier are specified as DEA-inefficient or pessimistic inefficient, and those that do not lie on the inefficient frontier, are declared to be DEA-non-inefficient or pessimistic non-inefficient. In this paper, we argue that both relative efficiencies should be considered simultaneously, and any approach that considers only one of them will be biased. For measuring the overall performance of the DMUs, we propose to integrate both efficiencies in the form of an interval, and we call the proposed DEA models for efficiency measurement the bounded DEA models. In this way, the efficiency interval provides the decision maker with all the possible values of efficiency, which reflect various perspectives. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed DEA models.     

Super-efficiency and DEA sensitivity analysis

This paper discusses and reviews the use of super-efficiency approach in data envelopment analysis (DEA) sensitivity analyses. It is shown that super-efficiency score can be decomposed into two data perturbation components of a particular test frontier decision making unit (DMU) and the remaining DMUs. As a result, DEA sensitivity analysis can be done in (1) a general situation where data for a test DMU and data for the remaining DMUs are allowed to vary simultaneously and unequally and (2) the worst-case scenario where the efficiency of the test DMU is deteriorating while the efficiencies of the other DMUs are improving. The sensitivity analysis approach developed in this paper can be applied to DMUs on the entire frontier and to all basic DEA models. Necessary and sufficient conditions for preserving a DMU’s efficiency classification are developed when various data changes are applied to all DMUs. Possible infeasibility of super-efficiency DEA models is only associated with extreme-efficient DMUs and indicates efficiency stability to data perturbations in all DMUs.     

模糊条件下的决策单元相对有效性评价

研究了模糊条件下决策单元的相对有效性评价问题。首先分析了模糊性因素对决策单元相对有效性的影响;然后根据模糊规划取截集方法和DEA评价的经济含义,给出了模糊DEA模型的求解方法;最后定义了决策单元的模糊DEA有效性以及进行有效性排序的平均置信有效性。文末是一个模糊DEA应用的例子。     

Overall performance evaluation: new bounded DEA models against unreachability of efficiency

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) performance evaluation can be implemented from either optimistic or pessimistic perspectives. For an overall performance evaluation from both perspectives, bounded DEA models are introduced to evaluate decision making units (DMUs) in terms of interval efficiencies. This paper reveals unreachability of efficiency and distortion of frontiers associated with the existing bounded DEA models. New bounded DEA models against these problems are proposed by integrating the archetypal optimistic and pessimistic DEA models into a model with bounded efficiency. It provides a new way of deriving empirical estimates of efficiency frontiers in tune with that identified by the archetypal models. Without distortion of frontiers, all DMUs reach interval efficiencies in accordance with that determined by the archetypal models. A unified evaluation and classification result is derived and the efficiency relationships between DMUs are preserved. It is shown that the newly proposed models are more reliable for overall performance evaluation in practice, as illustrated empirically by two examples.     

Evaluating the performance of Swedish savings banks according to service efficiency

This article develops principles for an evaluation of the efficiency of a savings bank. It starts out from the observation that such a bank is less profit oriented than a commercial bank. The customer is a vital stakeholder to the savings bank implying a greater emphasis on customer service provision. We are using data envelopment analysis (DEA) as a method to consider the service orientation of savings banks. We thereby demonstrate how an evaluation of the performance of savings banks according to “service efficiency” differs from an evaluation based on the traditional “profit” or shareholder concept. We determine the number of Swedish savings banks being “service efficient” as well as the average degree of service efficiency in this industry.     

基于复合DEA模型高校办学效益评价方法研究

传统DEA只能在固定投入(或产出)的情况下,将产出(或投入)尽量扩大(或缩小),而造成决策单元非DEA有效的原因,既有投入方面的因素,也有产出方面的因素,是由投入和产出两方面的原因共同造成的,而不仅仅是一方面的原因.本文考虑投入和产出两方面的因素,构造了复合DEA模型,并研究了基于复合DEA模型高校办学效益评价方法.     

Measuring the performances of decision-making units using interval efficiencies

Efficiency is a relative measure because it can be measured within different ranges. The traditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) measures the efficiencies of decision-making units (DMUs) within the range of less than or equal to one. The corresponding efficiencies are referred to as the best relative efficiencies, which measure the best performances of DMUs and determine an efficiency frontier. If the efficiencies are measured within the range of greater than or equal to one, then the worst relative efficiencies can be used to measure the worst performances of DMUs and determine an inefficiency frontier. In this paper, the efficiencies of DMUs are measured within the range of an interval, whose upper bound is set to one and the lower bound is determined through introducing a virtual anti-ideal DMU, whose performance is definitely inferior to any DMUs. The efficiencies turn out to be all intervals and are thus referred to as interval efficiencies, which combine the best and the worst relative efficiencies in a reasonable manner to give an overall measurement and assessment of the performances of DMUs. The new DEA model with the upper and lower bounds on efficiencies is referred to as bounded DEA model, which can incorporate decision maker (DM) or assessor's preference information on input and output weights. A Hurwicz criterion approach is introduced and utilized to compare and rank the interval efficiencies of DMUs and a numerical example is examined using the proposed bounded DEA model to show its potential application and validity.     

Deriving the DEA frontier for two-stage processes

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a method for measuring the efficiency of peer decision making units (DMUs). Recently DEA has been extended to examine the efficiency of two-stage processes, where all the outputs from the first stage are intermediate measures that make up the inputs to the second stage. The resulting two-stage DEA model provides not only an overall efficiency score for the entire process, but as well yields an efficiency score for each of the individual stages. Due to the existence of intermediate measures, the usual procedure of adjusting the inputs or outputs by the efficiency scores, as in the standard DEA approach, does not necessarily yield a frontier projection. The current paper develops an approach for determining the frontier points for inefficient DMUs within the framework of two-stage DEA.     

Equivalence in two-stage DEA approaches

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a linear programming problem approach for evaluating the relative efficiency of peer decision making units (DMUs) that have multiple inputs and outputs. DMUs can have a two-stage structure where all the outputs from the first stage are the only inputs to the second stage, in addition to the inputs to the first stage and the outputs from the second stage. The outputs from the first stage to the second stage are called intermediate measures. This paper examines relations and equivalence between two existing DEA approaches that address measuring the performance of two-stage processes.