O setor sucroenergético é um importante setor dentro da economia brasileira, e também um dos mais significativos para o estado de São Paulo, que em 2015 respondeu por 57% do valor de toda a produção agrícola do estado, segundo dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE (2017), além de empregar mais de 220 mil pessoas e gerar cerca de R$ 560 milhões em renda, segundo o Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego - MTE (2017). A partir da década de 2000, houve um crescimento expressivo da área cultivada com cana-de-açúcar, tanto em São Paulo quanto no Brasil, se expandindo para regiões anteriormente ocupadas por outras culturas. Nesse período também ocorreu a substituição da colheita manual com uso de fogo pela colheita mecanizada sem uso de fogo. Tendo em vista tais transformações observadas pelo setor sucroenergético, este trabalho propõe o uso do método Análise Envoltória de Dados – DEA a fim de avaliar a eficiência econômica, social e ambiental das microrregiões canavieiras do estado de São Paulo, com o objetivo de identificar quais regiões foram eficientes em converter seus fatores de produção em fatores econômicos, sociais e ambientais durante o período de 2007 a 2014. Foram montados quatro modelos considerando os fatores de produção capital, terra e trabalho como inputs para todos eles; já como outputs, foram consideradas variáveis que representassem cada um dos modelos: econômico, social, ambiental e sustentável. Os resultados indicam que, de maneira geral, em determinadas regiões, sobretudo as áreas de expansão, o nível de eficiência é maior que naquelas tradicionais, demonstrando que o setor vem crescendo de maneira mais eficiente nas regiões de expansão, e que as políticas a fim de promover melhores indicadores de sustentabilidade estão apresentando resultados positivos. Contudo, o setor canavieiro ainda necessita de ações voltadas à melhoria de alguns de seus índices de sustentabilidade, sobretudo em relação aos pilares econômicos e sociais, a fim de direcioná-lo a um coerente desenvolvimento sustentável. / The sugarcane industry is an important sector for the Brazilian economy, and also one of the most significant to the state of São Paulo, which in 2015 accounted for 57% of the value of all agricultural production in the state, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE (2017), besides employing more than 220 thousand people and generating around R$ 560 million in income, according to the Ministry of Labor and Employment - MTE (2017). Since the 2000s, there has been an expressive growth of the cultivated area with sugarcane, in São Paulo and Brazil, expanding to regions formerly occupied by other crops. During this period, the manual sugarcane harvest by the use of fire was replaced by the mechanized sugarcane harvest, without needing the use of fire. In order to evaluate the economic, social and environmental efficiency of sugarcane microregions in the state of São Paulo, this work proposes the use of the Data Envelopment Analysis - DEA method to identify which regions were efficient in converting their factors of production into economic, social and environmental factors during the period from 2007 to 2014. Four models were constructed considering factors of production - capital, land and labor - as inputs for all of them. In relation to the outputs, it was considered variables that represented each one of the models: economic, social, environmental and sustainable. Generally, the results indicated that in some regions, especially in the expansion areas, the level of efficiency was higher than in the traditional ones, showing that the sector has been growing more efficiently in the expansion regions, and that policies that aimed the promotion of better sustainability indicators are showing positive results. However, the sugarcane industry still needs actions aimed at improving some of its sustainability indices, especially in relation to the economic and social pillars, in order to direct it towards a coherent sustainable development.

ABSTRACT After the national universities in Taiwan implementing the college affairs funds, the expenditure comes from not only the government supply but also universities themselves. It¡¦s for the purpose of their needs on teaching, researching, and serving. In order to enhance the elasticity that the funds use independently and the competitiveness of higher education, it is bound to put more focus on both the managing and cost efficiency. This research adopts the efficiency-measuring mode of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to weigh the conditions of managing results and efficiency fluctuations¡]the fluctuation of Malmquist productivity¡^of 51 national universities in Taiwan from year 2001 to 2004. The conclusion of obtaining is as follows: From the aspect of managing efficiency, National Chiao Tung University and National Dong Hwa University perform the best among the general universities; as for the technological universities and vocational colleges, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and National Chin-Yi Institute of Technology perform the best. The lacks of valid managements in resource usages causes the technical inefficiencies; the general universities performed like the technological and vocational colleges were rather similar and relatively inefficient from the year 2001 to 2004. The reasons of inefficiency came from the technological efficiency of bad management with reached the scale efficiency of the best scale at the same time. The Malmquist indices of National Tsing Hua University and National Taichung University were more than 1 from the year 2001 to 2004; as for the technological and vocational colleges, the Malmquist indices of National Tai-Chung Institute of Technology, National Taichung Nursing College, National Taiwan Junior College of Performing Arts, and National Tainan Institute of Nursing were more than 1 as well. There is a decline trend gradually of productivity in 2001-2004 in both the general universities and technological and vocational colleges, it was mainly that the production technology efficiency retrogresses. Finally, implementing college affair funds may be still affected by other external objective environments, the one of great impact among them: external parameters, such as size of the school, the history of the school, and the location of the school. Through the regression analysis, there are strong correlation between campus size and management efficiency for the general universities; however, not between history and location of the school. On the other hand, the technological and vocational colleges, do not have dominance to whole efficiency value. From the analysis, we can understand the over-all performing, efficiency of the universities in Taiwan. The fund governors should manage and advent different efficiencies with various methods in order to promote the managing efficiency of the whole. KEY WORDS¡GCollege affair funds Efficient evaluation Data envelopment analysis Malmquist index.

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Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Economia, Mestrado Profissional em Economia, 2017. / Submitted by Raquel Almeida (raquel.df13@gmail.com) on 2017-08-07T16:12:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_JoséCarlosPenaGonzález.pdf: 3162756 bytes, checksum: ec0d1212147051def90af1740c761709 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana (raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2017-09-12T14:56:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_JoséCarlosPenaGonzález.pdf: 3162756 bytes, checksum: ec0d1212147051def90af1740c761709 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T14:56:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_JoséCarlosPenaGonzález.pdf: 3162756 bytes, checksum: ec0d1212147051def90af1740c761709 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-12 / Este trabalho propõe-se a avaliar a eficiência da Graduação e da Pós-Graduação das Instituições de Ensino Superior Federais nos anos de 2010 e 2013, e a mudança na produtividade do ano de 2010 para 2013. Foram avaliadas 89 instituições no ano 2010 e 93 no ano de 2013 utilizando o método Network DEA com quatro estágios para a Graduação e quatro para a Pós-Graduação. Por meio do índice de Malmquist foi analisada a mudança na produtividade e sua decomposição em mudança da eficiência técnica e mudança tecnológica. Os resultados apontam que as melhores performances foram do primeiro estágio com dez instituições eficientes e mediana de 80% em 2010, e nove instituições eficientes com mediana de 77,4% em 2013, seguido do segundo estágio que na Graduação apresentou sete instituições eficientes nos dois anos com medianas de 54% em 2010 e 56,8% em 2013, e na Pós-Graduação com oito e nove instituições e medianas de 70,5% e 71,6% para os anos de 2010 e 2013, respectivamente. Estas medianas indicam que, para serem eficientes, metade das instituições devem elevar o desempenho no primeiro estágio em 20% no ano de 2010 e 22,6% no ano de 2013, no segundo estágio da Graduação em 46% no ano de 2010 e 43,2% no ano de 2013, e no segundo estágio da PósGraduação em 29,5% em 2010 e 28,4% no ano de 2013. Em relação à mudança na produtividade o melhor resultado da Graduação foi o segundo estágio no qual 61 instituições apresentaram melhoria no índice de produtividade de Malmquist com uma elevação média de 10,8% da produtividade, e o melhor resultado da Pós-Graduação foi o quarto estágio com 86,8% das instituições apresentando melhoria no índice de produtividade de Malmquist com uma elevação de 56,8% em média da produtividade. O modelo proposto e o método utilizado podem ajudar na avaliação das IES tanto pela identificação dos processos eficientes de cada instituição quanto pela análise da mudança da produtividade das instituições e dos processos avaliados. / The goal of this work is to evaluate the efficiency of Undergraduate and Graduate programs of Federal Higher Education Institutions in the years 2010 and 2013, as well as the change in productivity from 2010 to 2013. We evaluated 89 institutions in 2010 and 93 in 2013 using the Network DEA method with four stages for the Undergraduate program and also four for the Graduate. Through the Malmquist index, we analyzed the change in productivity and its decomposition into technical efficiency change and technological change. The results show that the best performances were from the first stage, with ten efficient institutions with a median of 80% in 2010, and nine efficient institutions with a median of 77.4% in 2013, followed by the second stage, which, regarding the Undergraduate programs, revealed seven efficient institutions in those two years with medians of 54% in 2010 and 56.8% in 2013, while in the Graduate programs we observe eight and nine institutions, and medians of 70.5% and 71.6%, for the years 2010 and 2013, respectively. These medians indicate that in order to be efficient, half of the institutions must increase their performance in the first stage by 20% in 2010 and 22.6% in 2013, in the second stage of Undergraduate program by 46% in 2010 and 43,2% in 2013, and in the second stage of the Graduate Program in 29.5% in 2010 and 28.4% in 2013. With respect to the change in productivity, the best result in the Undergraduate programs was in the second stage, in which 61 institutions showed improvement in the Malmquist productivity index with an average increase of 10.8% in productivity, while the best result in the Graduate programs was in the fourth stage, with 86.8% of the institutions showing improvement in the Malmquist productivity index and with an increase of 56.8% in average productivity. The proposed model and the method used can help in the evaluation of HEI both by identifying the efficient processes of each institution and by analyzing the change in the productivity of the institutions and processes evaluated.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Agronegócios, 2017. / Submitted by Albânia Cézar de Melo (albania@bce.unb.br) on 2017-08-03T17:16:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_MuriloRossetto.pdf: 3071726 bytes, checksum: c2d96336588f7654184d2cdb46e94773 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana (raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2017-09-12T15:40:31Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_MuriloRossetto.pdf: 3071726 bytes, checksum: c2d96336588f7654184d2cdb46e94773 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T15:40:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2017_MuriloRossetto.pdf: 3071726 bytes, checksum: c2d96336588f7654184d2cdb46e94773 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-12 / A soja, cultura tradicional na agricultura brasileira desde meados de 1960, tornou-se uma atividade com amplo impacto nas exportações e no Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) brasileiro, principalmente com a disseminação do cultivo dessa oleaginosa nas novas fronteiras agrícolas. No entanto, um dos principais desafios do setor trata-se do elevado custo logístico de distribuição, os quais prejudicam a competitividade da sojicultora. Neste contexto, o presente trabalho estimou as fronteiras de eficiência e avaliou a produtividade dos principais municípios sojicultores brasileiros, utilizando-se do método da Análise Envoltória de Dados (DEA), da análise de janela com retornos constantes (CRS) e orientação a produção. Complementarmente, utilizou-se da abordagem metafronteira e do teste de Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney, a fim de verificar o impacto dos custos logísticos de distribuição na eficiência dos municípios, modelando-se dois grupos: 1) cenário limitado à produção interna à propriedade e 2) cenário que incorpora ao desempenho da propriedade, os custos logísticos de distribuição (aferidos na receita média de sacas por hectare). Por fim, utilizou-se o Índice de Malmquist (IMP) visando analisar a dinâmica dos níveis de produtividade e verificar a variação na eficiência técnica e a mudança tecnológica. Os resultados indicam que, em média, a eficiência “dentro da fazenda” (1º cenário) está aproximadamente 82% do que poderia ser, e com a inclusão dos custos logísticos (2º cenário) a eficiência é de algo em torno de 62% da produtividade máxima. Há de ressaltar que apenas quatro municípios, independentemente dos anos, se mantiveram na fronteira eficiente durante ambos os cenários: Sorriso, Sapezal, Rio Verde e Barreiras, sendo que esses municípios se encontram localizados na nova fronteira agrícola. Os resultados também confirmam o impacto dos custos logísticos de distribuição na eficiência da sojicultora, indicando que a solução dos gargalos logísticos poderia elevar a eficiência da sojicultora em aproximadamente 20%. Além disso, a média do IPM no período 2007-2014 indica um decréscimo de 8% da produtividade, explicado pelo retrocesso nas mudanças tecnológicas de aproximadamente 12%, cujo efeito foi amortecido pela evolução positiva da eficiência técnica (3%). Esses resultados revelam a necessidade de intervenções que visem melhorar a competitividade da sojicultora. / Soybean, a traditional crop in Brazilian agriculture since the mid-1960s, has become an activity with a large impact on exports and the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP), mainly with the spread of grain cultivation in the new agricultural frontiers. However, one of the sector's main challenges is the high costs of the distribution logistics, which undermine the competitiveness of soybeans. In this context, the present work estimated frontiers of the efficiency and evaluated the productivity of the main municipalities of Brazilian soybean production, using the method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), window analysis with constant returns (CRS) and product orientation. In addition, the meta-frontier approach and the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test were used to verify the impact of the logistics costs of distribution on the efficiency of municipalities, with two groups being modeled: 1) scenario limited to internal production of property and 2) scenario that incorporates to the performance of the property, logistic costs of distribution (measured in the average revenue of bags per hectare). Finally, the Malmquist Index (IMP) was used to analyze the dynamics of productivity levels and verify the variation in technical efficiency and technological change. The results indicate that, on average, efficiency "on the farm" (1st scenario) is approximately 82% of what it could be, and with the inclusion of logistical costs of distribution (2nd scenario) efficiency is around 62% of the maximum productivity. It should be noted that only four municipalities, regardless of the years, remained at the efficient frontier during both scenarios: Sorriso, Sapezal, Rio Verde and Barreiras, and these municipalities are located on the new agricultural frontiers. The results also confirm the impact of the logistic costs of distribution on soybean efficiency, indicating that the solution of the logistic bottlenecks could increase soybeans efficiency by approximately 20%. In addition, the IPM average in the period 2007-2014 indicates a decrease of 8% in productivity, explained by the decline in technological changes of approximately 12%, the effect of which has been dampened by the positive evolution of technical efficiency (3%). These results reveal the need for interventions aimed at improving soybeans' competitiveness.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Agronegócios, 2015. / Submitted by Tania Milca Carvalho Malheiros (tania@bce.unb.br) on 2015-10-20T12:46:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_CristianoMoreiraRaimundo.pdf: 2870738 bytes, checksum: db29476f6aa744139dcc1cd8e08187c2 (MD5) / Rejected by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br), reason: on 2015-10-20T14:08:48Z (GMT) / Submitted by Tania Milca Carvalho Malheiros (tania@bce.unb.br) on 2015-10-20T14:12:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_CristianoMoreiraRaimundo.pdf: 2870738 bytes, checksum: db29476f6aa744139dcc1cd8e08187c2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Raquel Viana(raquelviana@bce.unb.br) on 2015-10-28T19:05:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_CristianoMoreiraRaimundo.pdf: 2870738 bytes, checksum: db29476f6aa744139dcc1cd8e08187c2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-28T19:05:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_CristianoMoreiraRaimundo.pdf: 2870738 bytes, checksum: db29476f6aa744139dcc1cd8e08187c2 (MD5) / A indústria de alimentos é uma das principais e proeminentes indústrias de transformação presentes no Brasil. Com a emersão de necessidades e exigências socioambientais, urge a necessidade de que a inovação sendo um fator de competitividade considere seus efeitos sobre a sociedade e o meio ambiente, de modo a abranger esses aspectos do ambiente organizacional. Nesse contexto, este estudo buscou analisar quantitativamente a inovação sustentável da indústria de alimentos em relação às demais indústrias de transformação no País, nos anos de 2007 a 2012. As medidas de inovação relacionadas às dimensões econômica, social e ambiental foram extraídas com apoio do método DEA-Malmquist. A análise comparada das medidas de inovação extraídas foi realizada pelo Teste de Wilcoxon (5% de probabilidade) e as suas classificações, conforme grau de desempenho individual, foram realizadas pelo método de agrupamento k-médias (5% de probabilidade). Construíram-se, através da padronização dos dados em distâncias percentuais, o Índice de Inovação Sustentável (IIS) e o Índice de Ajuste à Inovação Sustentável (IAIS). Por último, utilizou-se o coeficiente correlação linear de Spearman (5% de probabilidade) para analisar a associação entre o esforço financeiro em inovar e as medidas de inovação obtidas. Os dados utilizados são provenientes das Pesquisas Industriais Anuais (PIAs) e das Pesquisas de Inovação Tecnológica (PINTECs) promovidas pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). Como principais resultados encontrados, cita-se que não se evidenciou ocorrência de inovação sustentável na divisão indústria de alimentos. Entretanto, isoladamente, observou-se ocorrência de inovação sustentável no grupo fabricação de óleos e gorduras vegetais e animais. Observou-se ocorrência de inovação relacionada às dimensões econômica e social, sendo estas medidas estatisticamente não diferentes entre si, porém, superiores à medida de inovação ambiental. Sugere-se, respectivamente, influências dos aumentos expressivos dos outputs receita líquida, despesas com pessoal e despesas com água e esgoto na divisão indústria de alimentos sobre as suas medidas de inovação obtidas. O IIS e o IAIS da indústria de alimentos foram classificados no grupo de médio desempenho, ambos estatisticamente significativos, sugerindo medidas de inovação sustentável e necessidade de ajuste moderadas. A análise de correlação linear evidenciou, principalmente, uma associação positiva e moderada, estatisticamente significativa, entre o IIS e o total de dispêndios realizados em atividades inovativa, sugerindo que o esforço financeiro em inovar conduz à sustentabilidade, porém, sem uma estratégia aparentemente diferenciada a cada dimensão. Por fim, a ausência de associações estatisticamente significativas entre as medidas de inovação sugerem a ausência de um sistema de gestão coordenado e orientado à inovação sustentável. / The food industry is one of the leading and prominent manufacturing industries presented in Brazil. With the emergence of social and environmental needs and requirements is an urgent need for innovation and a competitiveness factor consider its effects on society and the environment, covering aspects of the organizational environment. In this context, this study sought to quantitatively analyze the sustainable innovation of the food industry in relation to other manufacturing industries in the country, in the years 2007 to 2012. The innovative measures related to economic, social and environmental dimensions were extracted with support bye the DEA-Malmquist method. The comparative analysis of the extracted innovation measures was performed using the Wilcoxon Test (5% of probability) and their ratings, as degree of individual performance, were performed by the k-means clustering method (5% of probability). The Sustainable Innovation Index (IIS) and the Adjustment Index for Sustainable Innovation (IAIS) were built through the standardization of data in percentage distances. Finally, we used the Spearman's correlation coefficient (5% of probability) to analyze the association between financial effort to innovate and obtained innovation measures. The data used are from the Annual Industrial Surveys (PIAs) and the Technological Innovation Surveys (PINTECs) promoted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). As main results, it mentions that was not found sustainable innovation in the food industry division. However, singly, it was observed occurrence of sustainable innovation in the group of manufacturing of oils and fats from vegetables and animals. It was observed occurrence of innovation related to the economic and social dimensions, with non-statistically difference by each other. However, both measures were, statistically, higher than the environmental innovation measure. Respectively, it is suggested the influence by the significant increases in output net revenue, personnel expenses and costs of water and sewage in the food industry division on their innovative measurements. The IIS and the IAIS indexes of the food industry were classified as medium performance group, both statistically significant, suggesting moderate settings of sustainable innovation and its adjustment. The linear correlation analysis showed, mainly, a positive and moderate correlation, statistically significant, between the IIS index and the total expenditures made in innovative activities, suggesting that the financial effort to innovate leads to sustainability, but, without a strategy, apparently, differentiated for each dimension. Finally, there were no, statistically significant, associations between the innovative measures, suggesting a lack of a coordinated management system oriented through sustainable innovation.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / This study focuses on the productivity and on-farm efficiency impacts of adopting biotechnology enhanced soybeans (BES). Previous research suggests the adoption of BES and subsequent time savings resulted in labor allocation to off-farm employment and reduced on-farm efficiency. Using continuous panel data for 129 farms enrolled in the Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA) with production and financial crop records from 1993 through 2011 that also provided information on their BES adoption experience, this study provides estimates on the technical efficiency, cost efficiency, and Malmquist productivity indexes (MI) with decompositions into efficiency change (EC) and technical change (TC) to provide insights on the impacts of adopting BES for set of sample farms. Using data envelopment analysis to construct nonparametric efficiency frontiers and measurements assuming constant returns-to-scale (CRS) and variable returns-to-scale (VRS) technologies for the farms, this study provides insights on the impact of yield impacts of BES adoption. A biennial Malmquist productivity index (BMI) is developed to consider estimation of the productivity impacts between BES adopters and non-adopters assuming VRS. This analysis used five input categories: Labor, general, direct inputs, maintenance, and energy; and five outputs: corn, soybeans, sorghum, wheat, and other crops. Tobit regression analysis of the panel of Kansas farms provided evidence of a positive impact from adoption of biotechnology enhanced soybeans on on-farm technical efficiency. Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit distributional hypothesis tests showed significant differences between analyzing the farms under CRS and VRS assumptions. T-tests showed a bias existed when assuming CRS if the true underlying technology was VRS in productivity analysis. However, there was not a strong statistically significant difference between the distributions of productivity measures from the underlying populations of BES adopters and non-adopters in the sample of Kansas farms. A revenue-indirect cost efficiency analysis of the sample farms demonstrated that different conclusions were reached under CRS and VRS when considering the differences in the average of the means of estimated efficiency scores and Tobit regression results considering BES adoption. Assuming CRS resulted in positive marginal effects for adopting BES of 0.017 significant at the 5% level. The marginal effect of BES adoption was not statistically significant under VRS.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Allen M. Featherstone / This dissertation focuses on measuring the efficiency and productivity for agricultural cooperatives in the United States using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Economic measures such as cost efficiency, economies of scale, and economies of scope are measured by estimating a cost frontier in a multiproduct framework. Productivity growth is measured using the biennial Malmquist index approach. The cost frontier is the basis for calculating cost efficiency, economies of scale, and economies of scope as the cost frontier estimation in a multiproduct approach describes how cost changes as output changes. The estimates of economies of scale and scope have important implications for agricultural cooperatives because most of the cooperatives sell more than one product. Understanding the impact of changing output levels or mixes on the cost structure is helpful to improve the performance of cooperatives. Further, scope economies estimate the percentage of cost savings through product diversification in a multiproduct firm. The trade-off between cost efficiency and multiproduct scale economies allows the estimation of whether a higher percentage of cost can be eliminated by becoming cost efficient or changing the scale of operations. The economic measures are estimated using a single cost frontier (multi-year frontier) and annual cost frontiers. Multiproduct economies of scale and economies of scope exist indicating that increasing scale and product diversification can reduce cost for agricultural cooperatives. The mean values of product-specific economies of scale for all outputs are close to one indicating that cooperatives are operating close to constant returns to scale. The comparison between cost efficiency and scale economies suggests that smaller cooperatives can save a higher percentage of cost by increasing the scale of operations rather than just becoming cost efficient. Because larger incentives exist for small cooperatives to increase scale, mergers will likely continue until economies of scale are exhausted in the industry. Annual estimates show that agricultural cooperatives have become less cost efficient over time, but economies of scale and economies of scope remain consistent across years. Many agricultural cooperatives face economies of scale indicating that variable returns to scale as opposed to constant returns to scale is the appropriate technology for modeling agricultural farm marketing and supply cooperatives. Further, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test and two sample t-test are used to examine whether economic measures estimated from a single frontier and annual frontiers are statistically different. The KS test and t-test indicate that economic measures obtained from the single frontier are statistically different from those measures calculated from annual frontiers. This indicates that the cost frontier has shifted over time. Productivity growth of agricultural cooperatives is estimated using the biennial Malmquist productivity index (BMI) under variable returns to scale over the period 2005 to 2014. The BMI avoids numerical infeasibilities under variable returns to scale compared to traditional methods. The BMI is decomposed into efficiency change and technical change to evaluate the sources of productivity growth. Overall, agricultural cooperatives gained 34% cumulative productivity growth during the decade allocated by -2% and 37% cumulative technical efficiency change and technical change over the study period. Technical change was the major source of productivity growth rather than efficiency change. Cooperatives can achieve higher productivity by increasing managerial efficiency and by investing in technology.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Centro de Estudos e Regulação de Mercados, Mestrado Profissional em Regulação e Gestão de Negócios, 2013. / Submitted by Alaíde Gonçalves dos Santos (alaide@unb.br) on 2014-04-24T13:39:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_LeopoldoHeitorCapeliniKirchner.pdf: 2164844 bytes, checksum: 6402b2d69e2612abc12d2dc1fc2bce01 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br) on 2014-06-06T15:00:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_LeopoldoHeitorCapeliniKirchner.pdf: 2164844 bytes, checksum: 6402b2d69e2612abc12d2dc1fc2bce01 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-06T15:00:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_LeopoldoHeitorCapeliniKirchner.pdf: 2164844 bytes, checksum: 6402b2d69e2612abc12d2dc1fc2bce01 (MD5) / Atualmente, a eficiência dos portos passou a ser alvo de vários estudos. Cada vez mais tem-se a necessidade de se medir, de alguma maneira, não só a eficiência em um determinado ponto no tempo, mas também a evolução do indicador ao longo de uma série histórica. Esta dissertação tem o objetivo principal fornecer subsídios para uma metodologia inicial de análise de eficiência e produtividade. O universo de atividades portuárias é muito grande e muito diversificado, e em razão disso deve-se segmentar a análise por natureza de carga. Neste trabalho o foco será dado à análise da eficiência dos terminais que movimentam contêineres. Serão aplicadas duas metodologias: a análise envoltória de dados – DEA, que tem como objetivo principal medir o desempenho de unidades tomadoras de decisão (DMUs), que transformam inputs em outputs e o índice de Malmquist, que analisa a produtividade de cada DMU relativamente ao conjunto de unidades que se deseja comparar ao longo do tempo. Nesta dissertação a análise está restrita aos períodos de 2010, 2011 e 2012, contudo, a ideia principal é criar uma metodologia de aplicação contínua para obter, em alguns anos, uma série histórica que poderá indicar quais medidas devem ser tomadas previamente para se alcançar melhores índices de eficiência e produtividade. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / Ports efficiency has currently become the subject of several studies. Consequently, the need to measure it at a given point in time and its evolution at some point in the future has increased. This paper aims to provide subsidies to build an initial methodology for efficiency and productivity analyses. The universe of port activities is very large and very diverse, and for this reason it should be a segmental analysis by type of cargo. In this work the focus will be given to the analysis of the efficiency of container terminals. Two methodologies will be applied: the data envelopment analysis – DEA, whose main objective is to measure the performance of decision making units (DMUs), which transform inputs into outputs, and the Malmquist index, which analyzes the productivity of each DMU in relation to all the units that we want to compare over time. In this dissertation, the analysis is restricted to the periods of 2010, 2011 and 2012. However, the main idea is to create a methodology for continuous application, and in a few years, build a time series that may indicate which actions should be taken in advance in order to achieve better levels of efficiency and productivity.

Toda organización necesita, medir su desempeño como requisito previo para mejorar. Este trabajo propone un modelo para evaluar el sector asegurador argentino, analizando la eficiencia y productividad relativa de las compañías de seguros durante el periodo 2002 - 2011, utilizando la técnica de frontera eficiente conocida como Análisis Envolvente de Datos y el Índice de Malmquist. Los resultados indican que en los últimos diez años el mercado no ha mejorado su productividad. Una de las causas se atribuye al deterioro tecnológico sufrido en el periodo. Las empresas necesitaron más recursos para seguir produciendo lo mismo, no han invertido en pos de mejorar sus prácticas administrativas y tecnológicas, o bien sus inversiones no se han traducido en un aumento en el nivel de primas negociadas. Palabras clave: Mercado asegurador, Eficiencia, Productividad, Data Envelopment Analysis, Índice de Malmquist. / All organizations need to measure their performance as a prerequisite for improvement. This thesis proposes a model to evaluate the Argentine insurance sector, analyzing efficiency and relative productivity during the period 2002-2011, using a technique of efficient frontier known as Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Index. The results indicate that in the last ten years the market has not improved its productivity. One of the causes is attributed to the technological decline suffered in the period. Companies needed more resources to continue producing at the same level, they have not invested in pursuit of improving its administrative and technological practices, or investments have not translated into an increase in the level of negotiated premiums. Key words: Insurance market, Efficiency, Productivity, Data Envelopment Analysis, Malmquist Index.