The development of effective personnel assignment methodologies has been the focus of research to academicians and practitioners for many years. The common theory among researchers is that improvements to the effectiveness of personnel assignment decisions are directly associated with favorable outcomes to organizations. Today, companies continue to struggle to develop high quality products in a timely fashion. This elevates the necessity to further explore and improve the decision-making science of personnel assignments. The central goal of this research is to develop a novel framework for human resource assignments in skill-based environments. An extensive literature review resulted in the identification of the following three areas of the general personnel assignment problem as potential improvement opportunities: determining assignment criteria, properly evaluating personnel capabilities, and effectively assigning resources to tasks. Thus, developing new approaches to improve each of these areas constitute the objectives of this dissertation work. The main contributions of this research are threefold. First, this research presents an effective two-stage methodology to determine assignment criteria based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Tobit regression. Second, this research develops a novel fuzzy expert system for resource capability assessments in skill-based scenarios. The expert system properly evaluates the capabilities of resources in particular skills as a function of imprecise relationships that may exist between different skills. Third, this research develops an assignment model based on the fuzzy goal programming (FGP) technique. The model defines capabilities of resources, tasks requirements, and other important parameters as imprecise/fuzzy variables. The novelty of the research presented in this dissertation stems from the fact that it advances the science of personnel assignments by combining concepts from the fields of statistics, economics, artificial intelligence, and mathematical programming to develop a solution approach with an expected high practical value.

This cumulative doctoral thesis comprises three essays in which "Data Envelopment Analysis"(DEA), an instructive and flexible analytic tool with origins in operations research, is utilized to help clarify three crucial issues that arise when subjecting network industries to price-cap regulation. These issues are: First, the relationship of price-cap regulation with investment, second, the relationship of price-cap regulation with quality and third, the correct cost of capital within price-cap regulation. Without loss of generality, the investigation is focused on the case of electricity. (author's abstract)

The thesis investigates the efficiency of depository institutions in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Turkey between 2003 and 2006. Four of these countries switched from a planned to a market economy in the early 1980ies. These are contrasted with Austria. High coverage ratios are ensured by using data published by the relevant regulatory authorities. Data envelopment analysis yields higher efficiency scores in all but one country when deposits are treated as output. This implies that banks see deposits as products they offer to their customers and which they do not attempt to minimize. While in some countries improvements in efficiency can be detected against an inter-temporal single-country efficiency frontier, no overall efficiency improvement against a common regional frontier can be identified. Results of a Malmquist Index analysis are also inconclusive for the region as a whole, although technological improvement can be shown for Austria between 2004 and 2005. When data is grouped by country, Austria and Croatia emerge as most and Serbia and Bulgaria as least efficient markets. An interesting pattern emerges when DMUs are grouped by category (savings, cooperative and universal banks) and country. It can then be seen that savings and cooperative banks show comparably low efficiency in Austria but comparably high scores in Serbia and Croatia. For universal banks, this pattern is reversed. (author's abstract)

Σημαντικό ρόλο, σε οποιαδήποτε δράση ή διαδικασία, παίζει η αξιολόγηση των αποτελεσμάτων. Η αξιολόγηση, εκτός από την επίτευξη κάποιου στόχου, μπορεί να έχει την έννοια της σύγκρισης με άλλες μονάδες ή την προσπάθεια εκτίμησης της διαχρονικής προόδου. Έχουν αναπτυχθεί διάφορες μέθοδοι αξιολόγησης, ενώ το πεδίο εφαρμογής είναι ιδιαίτερα ευρύ. Στην παρούσα εργασία έγινε εστίαση στον τομέα της εκπαίδευσης, με τη βοήθεια της Περιβάλλουσας Ανάλυσης Δεδομένων (Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA) που αποτελεί μια μέθοδο αποτίμησης της αποδοτικότητας ενός συνόλου συγκρίσιμων και ομοιογενών ομάδων. Χαρακτηριστικό της συγκεκριμένης μεθοδολογίας αποτελεί ο διαχωρισμός των Μονάδων Λήψης Αποφάσεων σε αποδοτικές και μη αποδοτικές. Με βάση αυτή τη παράμετρο, έγινε προσπάθεια διερεύνησης της αποτελεσματικότητας 37 Ελληνικών Εκπαιδευτικών Ιδρυμάτων που συμμετείχαν στο πρόγραμμα κοινοτικής δράσης ERASMUS κατά τα ακαδημαϊκά έτη 2007-08 έως 2010-11 Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα της εργασίας όλες τις ακαδημαϊκές χρονιές υπήρξαν αποδοτικά Εκπαιδευτικά Ιδρύματα με τα περισσότερα να συγκεντρώνονται το ακαδημαϊκό έτος 2008-09. Είναι άξιο παρατήρησης ότι ο αριθμός των αποδοτικών Εκπαιδευτικών Ιδρυμάτων σε σχέση με το σύνολο των εξεταζόμενων είναι μικρός. Παράλληλα, διαπιστώνεται ότι η παρουσία των αποδοτικών Τεχνολογικών Ιδρυμάτων είναι ιδιαίτερα ασθενής έως και μηδαμινή. Τέλος, υπάρχει μια συνολική πτωτική τάση των αποδοτικών Εκπαιδευτικών Ιδρυμάτων κατά τη διάρκεια των υπό εξέταση ακαδημαϊκών ετών. / The evaluation of the results plays a significant role in every action or procedure. Apart from achieving a goal, the evaluation of the results can have some other comprehensions such as the comparison with other decision making units or the attempt to estimate the longitudinal progress. Several methods of evaluation of results have developed throughout the years with the implementation of them being really vast. This master thesis focuses on the field of Education, using the Data Envelopment Analysis, which is a method of evaluating the efficiency in a set of comparable and homogeneous groups. Basic feature of this specific method is to distinguish the efficient decision making units and the inefficient ones. Based on this parameter, it is attempted to investigate the efficiency of 37 Greek Educational Institutes that took part in the ERASMUS Program, from the academic year 2007-08 to 2010-11. According to the results of this thesis, efficient Educational Institutes are found throughout the questioned academic years that above mentioned, with the majority of them being met in the academic year 2008-09. It is worth mentioning that the number of the efficient Educational Institutes in comparison with the total amount that was investigated is small, while the presence of the efficient Technological ones compared to the Universities is limited if not absent. Finally, there is an overall downward trend in the number of the efficient Educational Institutes during the questioned academic years.

Ο στόχος αυτής της μελέτης είναι να μετρηθεί η αποδοτικότητα των επαγγελματικών ομάδων ποδοσφαίρου που παίζουν στην Σούπερ Λίγκα, την πρώτη κατηγορία στην Ελλάδα, κατά τη μετατροπή των επιθετικών τους κινήσεων σε αθλητική επιτυχία στη διάρκεια του αγώνα. Ο χρονικός ορίζοντας της μελέτης είναι οι τρεις περίοδοι από το 2004 έως το 2007. Με αυτό το στόχο η γράφουσα εφάρμοσε τη μεθοδολογία περιβάλλουσας ανάλυσης δεδομένων (DEA). Το κύριο συμπέρασμα της εργασίας είναι ότι οι αποδοτικές ομάδες στη δραστηριότητα που αναλύεται δεν αντιστοιχούν πάντα με εκείνες που τερμάτισαν υψηλότερα στην κατηγορία στο τέλος της αγωνιστικής περιόδου. / The aim of this study is to measure the efficiency of the professional soccer teams that play in the Greek Super Leaugue. The timeline of the study is the three seasons from 2004 to 2007. To that end, the writer used the data envelopment analysis methodology (DEA). The main conclusion is that the efficient teams in the activity analyzed do not always correspond with those that finished highest in the league at the end of the season.

This paper offers to measure efficiency of banks in Sub Saharan Africa and its determining input andout put factors on two fonts. At this purpose, we applied the first font; Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) for assessing efficiency level. The actual and target level of inputs/outputs to foster efficiencyare shown in the results. Secondly, the banks ratio analysis measuring banks performance throughreturns volatility for each bank, asset utilization and provision for bad and doubtful debts over thestudy period are all used as tools for this analysis. Our results suggest that Sub Saharan AfricanBanks are about 98.35% efficient. We are aware that the level of efficiency could be subject to up anddown swing if environmental factors influencing banks efficiency where taken into consideration.Finally, our result (DEA) is more sensitive to loans, other liabilities, other non interest expense,securities and deposit.

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We investigate empirically the usefulness of price-cap and quality regulation in terms of allocative efficiency and welfare. An analytical framework allows us to determine sufficient conditions for an increase in welfare. We propose Malmquist productivity indices and their decomposition to check the conditions and to see whether it was a better-solved trade off between quality and costs that caused the welfare increase. The application of this method to a representative sample of Norwegian distribution system operators yields strong evidence for a positive effect of quality regulation on welfare. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers / Research Institute for Regulatory Economics

Using a sample of 21 OECD-countries we measure productivity in top-edge economic research by using data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA is a tool for evaluating relative efficiency and is widely used when there are multiple inputs and outputs and one lacks a specific functional form of a production function. The publications in 10 economics journals with the highest average impact factor over the time period 1980-1998 are taken as research output. Inputs are measured by R&D expenditures, number of universities with economics departments and (as uncontrolled variable) total population. Under constant returns-to-scale the USA are in dominant position with remarkable distance to other countries. Under variable returns-to-scale the efficiency frontier is created by the USA with most productive scale size (MPSS), and by Ireland and New Zealand, which are technical efficient but scale inefficient. All countries - except the USA - display increasing returns-to-scale, which shows that they have a possibility to improve their efficiency by scaling up their research activities. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

The comprehensive measurement of efficiency and performance in the Health Service in the UK has become one of the most important managerial developments of recent years. The reasons for this development were examined, particularly in relation to the difficulties involved with performance assessment in such a context. The most widely utilised techniques were evaluated from the perspective of the Health Care Manager and a number of serious limitations were identified. In response to these limitations, the technique of Data Envelopment Analysis was evaluated as an alternative. It has been proposed as an appropriate and useful tool for the assessment of efficiency, although the literature on DEA showed limited practical application to public sector services in the UK. The many facets of the technique were investigated and literature on its application to hospital data was reviewed. A two-stage application procedure for the DEA technique was developed in response to this evaluation, to be used in the measurement hospital efficiency. The procedure was based on a deep theoretical understanding of the DEA methodology. The most important elements of the process were related to selection of the initial sample, the identification of the variables to be included in the DEA model and the definition of the weight restrictions to be incorporated. Input from Health Care Managers was used to guide the application and data from a sample of acute hospitals in Scotland was utilised in the analysis. The application procedure showed how the practicalities of the DEA technique could be enhanced, in particular through the inclusion of weight restrictions. This led to the development of efficiency strategies for the inefficient hospitals, which could be related to the policy objectives or managerial structure of the hospitals in the sample. It was concluded that there were many potential benefits of the DEA approach to efficiency assessment and the two-stage application procedure defined here, which could be seen to fulfil many of the requirements of the Health Care Manager. It was determined that combining theoretical and practical issues can enhance the applicability of the DEA methodology.