Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T19:26:27.793Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2009

Subhash C. Ray
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
Get access

Summary

Researchers from diverse fields ranging from economics to accounting, information management, and operational research use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure technical efficiency of firms (often called Decision-Making Units [DMUs]). Scholars from the different disciplines, in general, approach the question of measuring efficiency from different perspectives. Often, an operations research analyst is primarily interested in the solution algorithm of an inequality-constrained optimization problem but is less careful in defining the inputs and outputs. At times, the input variables may include both the number of workers and wage expenses even though, under the implicit assumption of competitive wages, they are broadly proportional to one another. Similarly, sometimes both sales revenue and profits earned are defined as outputs, even though profit maximization is the implicit objective of the firm. Clearly, the efficiency measure derived from an optimization model becomes more meaningful when the choice variables and the constraints correspond to an explicitly conceptualized theory of firm behavior. At the other end of the spectrum, there are numerous empirical applications in economics where some DEA model is employed to evaluate efficiency without careful attention to the appropriateness of the specific version of DEA for the production technology and the implicit objective of the firm. For the applied researcher, a clear understanding of the differences between the various DEA models is absolutely necessary for a proper interpretation of the results.

Type
Chapter
Information
Data Envelopment Analysis
Theory and Techniques for Economics and Operations Research
, pp. ix - xii
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Preface
  • Subhash C. Ray, University of Connecticut
  • Book: Data Envelopment Analysis
  • Online publication: 24 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606731.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Preface
  • Subhash C. Ray, University of Connecticut
  • Book: Data Envelopment Analysis
  • Online publication: 24 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606731.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Subhash C. Ray, University of Connecticut
  • Book: Data Envelopment Analysis
  • Online publication: 24 November 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606731.001
Available formats
×