Measuring European cultural and creative cities efficiency: a metafrontier DEA approach

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to conduct a benchmark analysis of European cities based on the estimation of a composite index of efficiency from the dimensions of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor 2017 (CCCM). The study helps to initiate a new exploration path based on this information, using a segmentation criterion of countries according to their economic and demographic characteristics, in search of greater comparative homogeneity.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the metafrontier methodological proposal with data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been used to compare the groups of cities individually with their joint reference.FindingsThe results obtained indicate, from a greater control of heterogeneity, through the segmentation of the sample of cities and the metafrontier methodology, that the composite index (IEC3) through the enveloping data analysis methodology (DEA) is more robust than that obtained with the arbitrary assignment of CCCM weights. The analyses carried out make it possible to study and conduct more real and rigorous comparisons of the cities that experience the best practices, unlike other more distant ones. Reference to cities such as Paris, Louvain and Cork could serve as a basis for possible improvements.Originality/valueIt is important to bear in mind that the possible urban policies of a city and the creative strategies and their derived impact are different, because of the diversity in each city. These new comparability possibilities could serve as a tool for economic policy makers, companies and local managers to carry out learning and simulation processes in the improvement of creative cities.

Reliability of Creative Composite Indicators with Territorial Specification in the EU

“…In our work, also appearing in the top positions of the indicator, even though they are areas of greater decentralisation, are the regions in the south and west of Germany, southern Sweden, the area of Brussels and to a more isolated degree the regions of Cataluña and the País Vasco in Spain as well as Rhône-Alpes in France. These results are in line with other recent works such as Montalto et al [25] and Jorge-Moreno and De Jorge-Huertas [68] who obtain a ranking of European cities in terms of creative capacity, as well as others which apply a similar approach, albeit at different levels of disaggregation, such as the creativity indices built by Correia and Costa [23] and Alexi et al [24], who also report a high concentration in countries in central and northern Europe. If we compare the result of the rankings, we see that the positions obtained according to the EIRC_PCA and EIRC_DP2 indicators are more similar than the positions obtained in the EIRC_DEA indicator, which evidences greater variability compared to the rest, even though the values of the mean deviation are not very high in general.…”

“…It is becoming increasingly common to find applications of the DEA method for obtaining composite indicators in the literature, for example in the tourist sector [66] and for wellbeing indices [58,67]. Some creativity indicators also use this technique, as is the case in Bowen et al [35] for a specific sample of nine creative regions, Correia and Costa [23] for all EU member countries and more recently De Jorge-Moreno and De Jorge-Huertas [68], who estimate a creative composite index for European cities with DEA. The indicator is expressed as follows:…”

Efficiency of Cultural and Creative Industries: A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Guided Systematic Review of Data Envelopment Analysis Applications

“…Moreover, "this approach allows for a 'fairer' comparison between cities by respecting their different local contexts and policy choices" [35; p.595 The findings from the 13 qualitatively analysed studies in the inclusion phase of the research process reveal that there is a need for greater promotion and development of the cultural and creative industries in Taiwan, as there is an economic gap between urban and rural areas [36]; there is a need for use of "approach that allows for a 'fairer' comparison between cities by respecting their different local contexts and policy choices" [35; p.595]. Other studies suggest benchmark analysis of cities with the best practices [33] and claim corporate social responsibility has a significant positive influence on the financial performance of the creative industry [8]. Many studies provide guidance and suggestions regarding the future government strategy [19; p.159, 34] suggest that "the government should extend the humanistic context of the city, improve the cultural quality of the city, and develop Donggang District into several industrial clusters"; promotion of the development of creative industries agglomeration is initiated as it "can significantly increase the efficiency of creative industries" [32; p.17].…”

Exploring Creative Tourism Based on the Cultural and Creative Cities (C3) Index and Using Bootstrap Confidence Intervals

“…Montalto et al [14] employ the 3C Monitor to foresee how Brexit is going to affect the UK's creative economy at an urban level. De Jorge-Moreno and De Jorge-Huertas [15] perform a benchmark analysis of European cities based on the estimate on of a composite index of efficiency using the 3C Monitor. Van Puyenbroeck et al [16] carry out a similar analysis to identify city-specific strengths.…”