This thesis is concerned with measuring and explaining the productive efficiency of firms or organizations. In particular, the study compares three alternative methods of measuring efficiency, namely, the deterministic frontier method, the stochastic frontier method, and the data envelopment analysis method (DEA). The dissertation consists of two parts. In Part I, the relative merits of the three methods are discussed and evaluated through a Monte Carlo study under certain known conditions. The study focuses on the effects of exogenous variables on efficiency estimates. The results show that the stochastic frontier method generally produces better efficiency estimates than the other two methods. The DEA, however, has a slight advantage in cases where there are weak input substitution and large variations in input variables. In Part II, the three methods are examined empirically through their applications to a panel of 19 railways in OECD countries and a panel of 36 international airlines. Comparison of the three sets of efficiency estimates confirms that on average the stochastic frontier method yields higher efficiency estimates than the other two methods, as indicated by the Monte Carlo results. The efficiency estimates by the two parametric methods are highly correlated, whereas there are considerable differences between the DEA estimates and those from the parametric methods. This is also consistent with the Monte Carlo results. By comparing the alternative efficiency estimates in the two applications, it is found that there is less discrepancy among the three sets of efficiency estimates in the airline case than in the railway case. This can be partly attributed to the fact that there are fewer variations in the operating environments in the airline case than in the railway case. The simulation results in Part I provide some general guidelines regarding the relative merits of the three alternative methods under certain known conditions. The two applications of the three methods in Part II serve as examples of how these three methods can be applied to practical problems where no a priori knowledge of either the production technology nor the efficiency profile exists. They illustrate some of the problems that may be encountered in empirical applications.

No description available.

This thesis is concerned with measuring and explaining the productive efficiency of firms or organizations. In particular, the study compares three alternative methods of measuring efficiency, namely, the deterministic frontier method, the stochastic frontier method, and the data envelopment analysis method (DEA). The dissertation consists of two parts. In Part I, the relative merits of the three methods are discussed and evaluated through a Monte Carlo study under certain known conditions. The study focuses on the effects of exogenous variables on efficiency estimates. The results show that the stochastic frontier method generally produces better efficiency estimates than the other two methods. The DEA, however, has a slight advantage in cases where there are weak input substitution and large variations in input variables. In Part II, the three methods are examined empirically through their applications to a panel of 19 railways in OECD countries and a panel of 36 international airlines. Comparison of the three sets of efficiency estimates confirms that on average the stochastic frontier method yields higher efficiency estimates than the other two methods, as indicated by the Monte Carlo results. The efficiency estimates by the two parametric methods are highly correlated, whereas there are considerable differences between the DEA estimates and those from the parametric methods. This is also consistent with the Monte Carlo results. By comparing the alternative efficiency estimates in the two applications, it is found that there is less discrepancy among the three sets of efficiency estimates in the airline case than in the railway case. This can be partly attributed to the fact that there are fewer variations in the operating environments in the airline case than in the railway case. The simulation results in Part I provide some general guidelines regarding the relative merits of the three alternative methods under certain known conditions. The two applications of the three methods in Part II serve as examples of how these three methods can be applied to practical problems where no a priori knowledge of either the production technology nor the efficiency profile exists. They illustrate some of the problems that may be encountered in empirical applications. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

In this work I integrate some of my recent research developments in the theory and practice of Productivity and Efficiency Analysis of Economic Systems. In particular, I present some new theoretical relationships between various measures of efficiency and productivity, propose new solutions to some aggregation problems in efficiency analysis and apply the existing theory and the new findings to empirical analysis in Industrial Organization. / Graduation date: 2003

Water supply managers often look for easily applied metrics to determine where water use can be curtailed. Unfortunately, the one-size-fits-all mentality comes with a price of failing to fully grasp the consequences decision-making based on such metrics. One issue that water supply regulator like to use is per capita water use. Per capital water use is often used to show where there is “wasted” water use, such as excessive irrigation. However such a metric may not be truly applicable depending on other economic factors. A heavily industrial area may add to apparent per capital use, but actually is an economic development activity. The focus of this project is to look at various water utilities and their per capital usage with the intent of discerning whether or not a better metric could be developed that consider the economic development activities of the region and water use. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The thesis focuses on efficiency method measurement in the process of recruiting and selection of the employees. The main goal of the thesis is to describe the options and to measure the efficiency of recruiting and selection of the employees. The theoretical part of the work focuses on methods of the recruitment and describes efficiency measurement of recruitment. The part two focuses on certain efficiency of e - recruitment in different business companies and evaluates the influence of the HR information systems on recruitment efficiency.

China has undertaken a series of comprehensive economic and banking reform programs over the past three decades. As part of the WTO agreement, the domestic financial sector is fully open to foreign investors from WTO member countries in 2006. To answer the challenges, the policy makers and management of SOCB have been introducing two major steps to improve the Competitiveness of the commercial banks: transfer the bad debts to asset management companies and inject foreign exchange reserves to capital. However, the qualitative study shows that the general performance of the state-owned commercial banks is unstable during this period. It is high time that the consequences and efficiency of the reform were examined on an objective basis. This research offers a careful and rigorous examination of the condition and determinants of banking efficiency and competitiveness in China, with the focus on the state-owned commercial banks. The key contribution of this study is to develop a comprehensive empirical framework to measure and explain the performance of the state-owned commercial banks during the crucial transitional period from 1998 to 2003. This research examines the banking market conditions on the basis of a synthesis of the traditional Structure-Conduct-Performance paradigm and other alternative hypotheses. The thesis reveals that the state-owned commercial banks still dominate in both retail and business banking markets. The interest earnings remain the dominant source of commercial revenues. Due to the special relationship with government and their operational characters in the financial market, the state-owned commercial banks are not sensitive to monetary policy adjustments. The competition from other type of commercial banks has been strengthening, but the impact is rather limited. The main contribution of this study to the empirical literature on the Chinese banking market is the employment of the Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the efficiency of the state-owned commercial banks at provincial level, followed by a panel econometric investigation into the differences in banking efficiency across the stat-owned commercial banking groups as well as individual provinces. The results show that the level of banking efficiency was generally very low and there was a significant extent of input surplus among the provincial branches. The source of inefficiency is different among individual banking groups. The econometric study reveals that the SOCBs benefit from the concentrated market structure and strong complementary relationship with their traditional business areas. The empirical results have also shed light on further policy measures to enhance banking competition and performance in China.

No description available.

The following thesis documents application of Data Envelopment Analysis method on the sample of eight banks which were functioning on the Czech banking market during the period 2007 -- 2010 in order to measure their technical efficiency. Thesis consists of two major parts -- theoretical and practical one. The first part includes main principles, areas of application of the method and theoretical base of the DEA which will be used in the practical part. Second part presents brief description of the trends on the Czech banking market and it's development during the period 2007 -- 2010. Practical part also contains results of the measurement, its interpretation and analysis of main reasons of banks' inefficiency.

The thesis focuses on the evaluation of the efficiency of recruiting employees in ExxonMobil Corporation. The main aim is to evaluate methods that are used to reach MPT Experienced hires. The theoretical part describes the recruitment process and the traditional and modern methods of attraction. The practical part introduces the reader to the situation on the labour market in the petrochemical industry, presents ExxonMobil Corporation and evaluates methods of attraction, which are used in six selected states of the European Union for filling positions with MPT experienced hires. In the end the ideas that could contribute to the development of regional sourcing strategy of MPT experienced hires will be suggested.