The Measuring the Efficiency of Food Chains – Selected Approaches

Abstract

The aim adopted in the paper is to review methods for assessing the efficiency of supply chains and to carry out their critical evaluation. Literature studies, interviews, analysis of processes in the chains are used for analyzing of interdependence between the individual stages of supply chain and identifying the efficiency of entire supply chain. An important aspect is to determine the possibility of assessing the efficiency of supply chains in selected sectors of agribusiness by using approaches presented in the paper. Within the analyzed methods, the stochastic frontier approach can be an useful tool for estimating the efficiency on the firm level. However, the efficiency scores obtained from estimation of the stochastic frontier have a little use for policy implications and management purposes if the empirical studies do not investigate the sources of the inefficiency. Thus, it is recommended to include into the models external factors like, for instance, the degree of competitive pressure, the ownership form, various managerial characteristics, network characteristics and production quality indicators of inputs or outputs.