Data Envelopment Analysis: Balanced Benchmarking

The current book introduces the methodology of data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA uses mathematical programming techniques and models to evaluate the performance of peer units (e.g., bank branches, hospitals and schools) in terms of multiple performance measures or metrics. These multiple performance measures are classified or coined as DEA inputs and DEA outputs. Although DEA has a strong link to production theory in economics, the tool is also used for benchmarking in operations management, where a set of measures is selected to benchmark the performance of manufacturing and service operations. In the circumstance of benchmarking, the efficient DMUs, as defined by DEA, may not necessarily form a “production frontier”, but rather lead to a “best-practice frontier”. DEA’s empirical orientation and absence of a priori assumptions have resulted in its use in a number of studies involving efficient or best-practice frontier estimation in the nonprofit, regulated, and private sectors. DEA applications involve a wide range of contexts, such as education, health care, banking, armed forces, auditing, market research, retail outlets, organization effectiveness, transportation, public housing, and manufacturing. DEA is a balanced benchmarking tool that will help organizations to examine their assumptions about their productivity and performance. The book provides students, researchers, and practitioners with a solid understanding of the methodology, its uses and potentials in business analytics.