Analysis of Operational Efficiency of Wooden Chair Manufacturing Companies in Serbia using DEA

Abstract

This paper deals with the operational efficiency of companies engaged in the production of wooden chairs using selected statistical and DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) methods. Indicators that typically characterise the supply chain in the production of selected companies were taken as input and output variables for the DEA method. They included three input variables: inventories, material costs and production services costs and one output variable: company’s net profit. The obtained coefficients of correlation pointed to a high degree of correlation between the variables, which justified the performance of an efficiency analysis using the DEA method. The study included 12 companies engaged in the production of wooden chairs. The results of the conducted analyses show that only one company had a relatively satisfactory operational efficiency (efficiency coefficient of 0.83) for the nine-year period. All other companies, especially micro and small enterprises, had unsatisfactorily low operational efficiency. Micro enterprises had the lowest operational efficiency, with an efficiency coefficient of only 0.14. Small enterprises reached the value of 0.3, and large companies 0.67. Medium companies had the most favourable efficiency coefficient of up to 0.83.