Strategic auditing of human and financial resource allocation in marketing: An empirical study using data envelopment analysis

Abstract

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to assess the degree to which allocation of marketing resources affects the corporate profits of Canadian firms. The analysis was undertaken in five economic sectors. It shows that corporate profits are related to the allocation of both financial and human resources; however, efficient allocation of human resources varied from sector to sector while efficient allocation of financial resources did not vary from sector to sector. In order to assess the validity of data, a regression analysis between profits and resources was also undertaken, the residuals of which were shown to be highly correlated with some key DEA indices.