The measurement of public postal operators’ profit efficiency by using data envelopment analysis (DEA): A case study of European Union member states and Serbia

Abstract

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a linear programming methodology aiming to evaluate the relative technical efficiency for each decision making unit (DMU) with multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Each DEA model is formulated as a mathematical programming problem utilizing the values of inputs and outputs of all DMUs. The analytical process is developed on the basis of these inputs and outputs by identifying the best practices in the field. Additionally, DEA can be used as a method to evaluate economic efficiency. In this study, we propose the measurement of public postal operators' profit efficiency by DEA-based profit efficiency approach. In order to demonstrate the applicability of this approach we measured the profit efficiency of public postal operators (PPOs) in the European Union member states and Serbia as a candidate country. The implications are derived from the empirical study by using VRS model, CRS super-efficiency model and Slack-based model. First, we calculated profit efficiency and super-efficiency scores of all observed PPOs. After that, we repeated the analytical process without influential observations. Finally, we determined the target values of inputs and outputs for profit inefficient PPOs.

A Model for Public Postal Network Reorganization Based on Dea and Fuzzy Approach

“…Iturralde and Quirós (2008) analyses the efficiency of the European postal sector for 17 European postal operators through a change in efficiency by means of the Malmquist index. The paper by Ralevic et al (2015) measures profit efficiency in the postal sector by analysing data about Public Postal Operator (PPOs) in European Union and the Serbian postal operator. The proposed analytical process has two levels -in the first one, the DEA method is applied to all postal operators, and in the second one, non-standard DMUs are excluded using the Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) model, super-efficiency Constant Return to Scale (CRS) model, and slack-based model.…”

Sustainability Trends in the Postal Systems of Last-Mile Delivery

“…It is clear that in order to achieve the sustainability of the global postal system and profit efficiency (Ralević et al, 2015), it is necessary to implement appropriate activities within individual postal systems. The subject of the paper is to examine the basic indicators of sustainable development in the postal system.…”

Using a Non-Parametric Technique to Evaluate the Efficiency of a Logistics Company

“…In the modern environment, a company is an executor of processes that transform inputs into the required outputs [4]. The most successful DEA methods have been implemented so far in the evaluation of the performance of bank branches, departments at universities, postal branches [5], schools, ports [6] and postal operators [17]. The DEA is one of the linear programming methods for the determination of the relative efficiency of the organization's business.…”