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Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)

DEA is an approach to the measurement of efficiency of organisations (in the literature also called units or activities) that perform similar tasks. An assessment takes into account multiple inputs (resources) and outputs (products, services) at the same time, which may also include some measures of quality and environment. A simple example of this is the assessment of efficiency of university departments in which every department provides data on two inputs: teaching and research staff, and two outputs: students and research publications.

Applications of DEA have been reported in the literature involving areas as diverse as airlines, banking, education, hospitals, local governments and even national sports teams. Methods of DEA can help understand if there was productivity growth in a specific sector over time and if a recent deregulation of an industry was good for its performance.

Warwick Business School DEA (Warwick DEA) is an internationally recognised academic brand. It was established by early works of (now Emeritus) Professor Robert Dyson and colleagues. Many academics at universities around the world who currently work in DEA have obtained their PhD from Warwick. We currently have doctoral students working on applications of DEA and contributing to the development of its theory and methodology.

The group continues to keep its high international profile. Professor Robert Dyson is Editor of European Journal of Operational Research overseeing several areas of OR including DEA. Professor Victor Podinovski is Editor of Journal of Productivity Analysis and Associate Editor of Omega, an International Journal of Management Science.

We are involved in a large collaborative EU grant looking into the development of DEA methodologies suitable for the assessment of efficiency EU agricultural policies which links with the topics of some of our PhD students.

 

WBS staff

Robert Dyson

Victor Podinovski

Iryna Deineko

 

Recent publications

1. Atici, K.B., Podinovski, V.V. Mixed partial elasticities in constant returns-to-scale production technologies. Forthcoming in European Journal of Operational Research.

2. Podinovski, V.V., Bouzdine-Chameeva, T. (2011) The impossibility of convex constant returns-to-scale production technologies with exogenously fixed factors. European Journal of Operational Research, 213, 119 – 123.

3. Podinovski, V.V., Kuosmanen, T. (2011) Modelling weak disposability in data envelopment analysis under relaxed convexity assumptions. European Journal of Operational Research, 211, 577 – 585.

4. Podinovski, V.V., Førsund, F.R. (2010) Differential characteristics of efficient frontiers in data envelopment analysis. Operations Research, 58, 1743 – 1754.

5. Coughlan, J., Shale, E.A., Dyson, R.G. (2010) Including the customer in efficiency analysis Evidence of a hybrid relational-transactional approach. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 28, 136-149.

6. Dyson, R.G., Shale, E.A. (2010) Data envelopment analysis, operational research and uncertainty. Journal Of The Operational Research Society, 61, 25-34.

7. Podinovski, V.V. (2009) Production technologies based on combined proportionality assumptions. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 32, 21 – 26.

8. Kuosmanen, T., Podinovski, V.V. (2009) Weak disposability in nonparametric production analysis: reply to Färe and Grosskopf. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 91, 539 - 545.

9. Podinovski, V.V., Førsund, F.R., Krivonozhko, V.E. (2009) A simple derivation of scale elasticity in data envelopment analysis. European Journal of Operational Research, 197, 149 - 153.

10. Amado, C.A.F., Dyson, R.G. (2009) Exploring the use of DEA for formative evaluation in primary diabetes care: An application to compare English practices. Journal Of The Operational Research Society, 60, 1469-1482.

11. Amado, C.A.F., Dyson, R.G. (2008) On comparing the performance of primary care providers. European Journal Of Operational Research, 185, 915-932.

Key application areas:

  • Banking
  • Utilities
  • Higher education
  • Primary health care
  • Hospitality
  • Local authorities