Efficiency Evaluation Model Research Articles

Supporting Better Decision-Making: A Combined Grey Model and Data Envelopment Analysis for Efficiency Evaluation in E-Commerce Marketplaces

E-commerce has become an integral part of businesses for decades in the modern world, and this has been exceptionally speeded up during the coronavirus era. To help businesses understand their current and future performance, which can help them survive and thrive in the world of e-commerce, this paper proposes a hybrid approach that conducts performance prediction and evaluation of the e-commerce industry by combining the Grey model, i.e., GM (1, 1) and data envelopment analysis, i.e., the Malmquist-I-C model. For each e-commerce company, GM (1, 1) is applied to predict future values for the period 2020–2022 and Malmquist-I-C is applied to calculate the efficiency score based on output variables such as revenue and gross profit and input variables such as assets, liabilities, and equity. The top 10 e-commerce companies in the US market are used to demonstrate model effectiveness. For the entire research period of 2016–2022, the most productive e-commerce marketplace on average was eBay, followed by Best Buy and Lowe’s; meanwhile, Groupon was the worst-performing e-commerce business during the studied period. Moreover, as most e-commerce companies have progressed in technological development, the results show that the determinants for productivity growth are the technical efficiency change indexes. That means, although focusing on technology development is the key to e-commerce success, companies should make better efforts to maximize their resources such as labor, material and equipment supplies, and capital. This paper offers decision-makers significant material for evaluating and improving their business performance.

Probabilistic Linguistic Term Envelopment Analysis Model

Data envelopment analysis is a useful model for efficiency evaluation. In order to improve the haze pollution in China, it is particularly essential to allocate the PM2.5 emission rights of various provinces according to the actual situation reasonably. However, the expressions of input and output information are often limited or incomplete. Probabilistic linguistic term sets are employed to increase the expression range of information. Therefore, the proposed probabilistic linguistic term envelopment analysis (PLTEA) model is divided into deviation-oriented probabilistic linguistic term envelopment analysis model and score-oriented probabilistic linguistic term envelopment analysis model. The dual form of the PLTEA model has obtained to solve the actual emission rights distribution problem. Finally, the optimization methods of the distribution efficiency of the PM2.5 emission rights in China in 2019, and some policy suggestions are given to reduce haze pollution.

Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Postearthquake Reconstruction Efficiency of the Extremely Earthquake-Stricken Areas by the Wenchuan Earthquake Based on the DEA-Malmquist Index

The Wenchuan earthquake, which occurred on May 12, 2008, caused a large number of casualties and substantial property losses. Postearthquake reconstruction is a complex and systematic project, the core of which is to enable the residents of the earthquake-stricken areas to resume normal productivity and life as soon as possible. This paper aims to evaluate the efficiency of postearthquake reconstruction in extremely earthquake-stricken areas. From the perspective of the inputs and outputs, the DEA-Malmquist index was used to construct a reconstruction efficiency evaluation model for the extremely stricken areas. Reconstruction efficiencies are analyzed for 10 areas that were severely impacted by the Wenchuan earthquake. Finally, three major disaster-pregnancy environmental factors, namely, including topography, fault zones, and river systems, are selected. Based on the temporal trend of reconstruction efficiency, the degree of correlation between the postearthquake reconstruction efficiency fluctuation and the three major disaster-pregnancy environmental factors is analyzed. The study results show that the overall reconstruction efficiency of the 10 extremely earthquake-stricken areas was relatively high. In 2011, the reconstruction efficiency basically returned the areas to preearthquake levels, and there was a small fluctuation in efficiency due to the effects of earthquake-induced hazards and the reduction of external forces. Spatially, the reconstruction efficiencies of the 10 extremely stricken areas do not show a “convergence effect,” and the reconstruction efficiencies were closely related to the characteristics of the resources in the extremely stricken areas. In terms of the main disaster-pregnancy environment, the terrain complexity is most closely related to fluctuation of reconstruction efficiency, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9975, followed by river network density and the lowest fault density. Therefore, to improve the reconstruction efficiency of the extremely earthquake-stricken areas, the adjustment measures that promote local advantages should be fully utilized to mitigate the lasting effects of earthquake-induced hazards.

The Evaluation Model of Ship Operating Efficiency and Verification in Massive Operation Data

Aiming at increasing the ship operating income, the ship operating efficiency is proposed and explained in detail. Based on the analysis of relevant factors affecting ship operation, the mathematical model of ship operating efficiency is constructed, in which the cargo transportation, cargo turnover, fuel oil consumption of the main engine and the general berthing time are employed to measure the annual operating efficiency of the ship which has a good rationality, and the calculation and verification are carried out using the mass operation data collected by a typical ship as an example. The results show that the ship’s operating efficiency model is effective, which can help shipping companies form a series of intelligent decision support in order to promote the level of ship operation management.

Research on Government Support Policies for Coastal Transportation Projects Based on DEA-SBM Model

Shan, S., 2020. Research on government support policies for coastal transportation projects based on DEA-SBM model. In: Yang, D.F. and Wang, H. (eds.), Recent Advances in Marine Geology and Environmental Oceanography. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 108, pp. 262–265. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The transportation system of coastal cities is an important part of the social and economic system of coastal cities. The sustainability of its development is the premise to support the sustainable development of coastal cities. Sustainable development includes the planning, construction, operation, and management of transportation systems in coastal cities. In this paper, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) evaluation model and method of synergy and development efficiency of a coastal city traffic system was put forward from the angle of input and output in the traffic system and each subsystem, the index system of sustainable development of coastal urban traffic system, and then the DEA evaluation model of the coordinated development of the coastal city traffic system.

Evaluation of Corporate Technology Innovation Efficiency: Evidence from Coastal Regions of China

Liu, Y.; Wang, W., and Duan, Y., 2020. Evaluation of corporate technology innovation efficiency: Evidence from coastal regions of China. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 186–190. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Coastal countries and regions worldwide tend to have better economic development and business performance because of their unique geographic advantages and favorable transportation conditions. Regarding corporate technology innovation efficiency in coastal regions, there is not sufficient in-depth research to offer theoretical and practical improvement measures. This study constructs an evaluation model of corporate technology innovation efficiency in coastal regions based on the DEA-Malmquist productivity index and take analyze China's coastal regions. This study shows a high level of corporate technology innovation efficiency in China's coastal regions, where enterprises tend to emphasize the balance between inputs and outputs to achieve economies of scale. The study suggests that enterprises should increase in-house research and development (R&D) and technology purchasing and asserts that an excessive amount of R&D cooperation will reduce corporate technology innovation efficiency.

AHP-Based Evaluation of Port Logistics Transportation Efficiency

Feng, H.; Ye, C., and Gao, R., 2020. AHP-based evaluation of port logistics transportation efficiency. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 477–480. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The logistics transportation efficiency of ports is an important basis for their development planning, which is of great significance to regional economic development. This paper attempts to study the evaluation of port logistics efficiency on the basis of the analytic hierarchy process. To this end, taking Shandong coastal ports (Qingdao, Rizhao, Yantai, Weihai, Weifang, and Jining ports) as research objects, it establishes an evaluation index system and evaluation model for logistics transportation efficiency of, and then evaluates their logistics transportation efficiency. The results showed that Qingdao Port ranked first, followed by Rizhao Port and Yantai Port, in terms of efficiency. Suggestions for improvement were put forward. The research findings enrich the related results of the logistics transportation efficiency evaluation system and model on maritime ports and have certain theoretical significance and practical reference value.

Системно-интегративен подход в научните изследвания социална икономика и социална ефективност (System-Integrative Approach in Research Social Economy and Social Efficiency)

Russian Abstract: Определение социальной эффективности и социальных технологий лежит в основе методов и моделей оценки с учетом широкого спектра объективных и субъективных факторов. Методологии оценки эффективности социальной програмы (проекта) связаны с ориентацией социальной системы на социальную защиту и социальное обслуживание населения и использованием процессного подхода и перехода к программно-целевым методам, с изложением основных проблем, механизмов социальных услуг и задач для измерения, определения основных требований для оценки эффективности социального программирования и различных этапов. Рассматривая все эти вопросы, в исследовании предлагается модель для оценки эффективности социального программирования, основанная на подходе «организационная эффективность» и охватывающая набор элементов - систему получения ресурсов, выбора целей, оценки воздействия внешней среды, выбора стратегии, следуя принципу «что если» и приоритетам в социальной деятельности, возникающим в результате динамических изменений в социальной среде. English Abstract: Defining social efficiency and social technology is the core element of evaluation methods and models, taking into account a wide range of objective and subjective factors. The evaluation methods of social programmes (projects) efficiency are related to the social system’s orientation towards social protection and social services of the population and the use of the process approach and the transition to programme-target methods, outlining the main issues and mechanisms for social services and tasks for assessment, determining the basic requirements for efficiency evaluation of social programming and the various stages. Considering all these matters, the research offers social programming efficiency evaluation model based on “organizational efficiency” approach that covers a number of certain elements: system for resources acquisition, choice of goals, assessment of the impact on the external environment, choice of strategy, following the “what if” principle and the priorities of social activity, arising from the dynamic changes in social environment.

Study of the Comprehensive Evaluation of Energy Efficiency of an Oilfield Heating Furnace Based on Combination Weighting Method

Abstract The heating furnace is an essential oilfield facility for surface gathering, treatment, and transportation, so the energy consumption level of an oilfield is directly affected by its operational efficiency. In this paper, the thermal efficiency, exhaust gas temperature, external surface temperature, excess air coefficient, and load rate of a heating furnace are taken as energy efficiency evaluation indexes. By improving game theory, the objective and subjective weights are combined to determine the final weights of each index. On this basis, the grey TOPSIS method is used to establish the energy efficiency evaluation model of an oilfield heating furnace, which is to comprehensively evaluate the energy consumption of the heating furnace by calculating the closeness degree between its actual and ideal operational states. Finally, the effectiveness of the energy efficiency evaluation model is verified by taking an actual oilfield as an example, the results show that the weight sequence of the indexes is thermal efficiency, exhaust gas temperature, external surface temperature, load rate, and excess air coefficient. In addition, the relative closeness of the heating furnace is mostly concentrated between 0.5 and 0.7, which shows that the efficiency is low. The weak link of energy consumption is analyzed, and the corresponding improvement measures are put forward.

Evaluation Model of Financial Resource Allocation Efficiency in Coastal Areas Based on Supply Chain

Qiao, Y. and Guo, C., 2020. Evaluation model of financial resource allocation efficiency in coastal areas based on supply chain. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 186–189. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Finance as the core of economy, the efficiency of financial resources allocation directly affects the development of regional economy. Improving the efficiency of regional financial resources allocation is helpful to promote the transformation of China's economic development mode. Therefore, an evaluation model of financial resource allocation efficiency in coastal areas based on supply chain is proposed. Combined with the theory of online supply chain, this paper constructs the evaluation model of financial resource allocation efficiency in coastal areas. Firstly, the evaluation target is determined, then the decision-making unit is selected, then the evaluation index system is constructed, and finally the DEA model of financial resource allocation efficiency is selected. In order to test the effectiveness of the evaluation model, empirical analysis is carried out. The results show that the scale efficiency of the western and northern parts of a coastal province is relatively low due to the limitation of natural conditions.

ANALYSIS OF APPROACHES TO ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TIME PARAMETERS OF URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEMS FUNCTIONING

The directions of economic assessment of the costs associated with the time of transport movements of the urban population have been described. It has been shown, that solving the problem of improving the reliability of urban transport leads to saving passengers` time and the possibility of using the resulting savings in a more productive way, therefore, the calculation of the cost estimate of the change in travel time can be taken into account when choosing to implement a particular transport project, to assess the costs and results of public investment or regulatory impacts. A model of economic efficiency evaluation of transport projects, based on accounting of reduction in average travel time of urban population and improving the reliability of transport correspondences of urban transport has been proposed.

Applying a data envelopment analysis game cross-efficiency model to examining regional ecological efficiency: Evidence from China

This study used an ecological footprint model to measure the ecological footprints of 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2007 to 2016 as the ecological input of ecological efficiency evaluation model. The data envelopment analysis game cross-efficiency method was applied to calculate the ecological performance of 30 provinces and municipalities in China and to analyze the changes and time-and-space evolution characteristics of that performance. Then, the key factors affecting the ecological performance of the whole country and the four regions were determined through Tobit regression. The empirical results show that China’s ecological performance is characterized by low-level, unobvious improvements and obvious east-west differentiation showing a spatial pattern of high performance in the east and low performance in the west. Overall, economic development, technological advancement and environmental governance have positive effects on ecological performance, but energy mix exerts negative effects. Industrial structure has negative effects in the east, but positive effects in other regions. Urbanization exerts negative effects in the east and northeast, but positive effects in the west and center of China.

Study on the decoupling effect of energy consumption and economic growth in the construction industry of Guangxi (People's Republic of China) from the perspective of the circular economy

Based on relevant data of the Guangxi construction industry from 2008 to 2016, including the regional GDP, the construction industry GDP, the energy consumption in the construction industry, and other indicators, this study analysed the relationship between the energy consumption in the construction industry and economic growth. The Tapio decoupling model and ecological efficiency evaluation model were applied to analyse the above data. Empirical tests revealed that there exists a weak decoupling relationship between the energy consumption and economic growth in the construction industry of Guangxi. Despite the weak decoupling relationship, the ecological efficiency value is only 0.1012. This result proves that the development level of the circular economy in the construction industry of Guanxi is below the average level, and the sustainable utilization of energy is insufficient. At the end of this article, based on the decoupling effect and production efficiency from 2009 to 2016, suggestions are formulated, including prioritizing the development of the construction industry and increasing the economic input to promote industrial upgrading.

The Construction and Implication of Group Scale Efficiency Evaluation Model for Bulk Shipping Corporations

The shipping industry pursues high efficiency and low cost of chartering operations for bulk shipping market depression. Each type of ship’s operational efficiency in bulk shipping corporations is more important than the corporation’s overall efficiency. In order to evaluate the efficiency gap between various ship types’ efficiency and overall efficiency, the research first assessed the performance by a decision making unit (DMU), and evaluated voyage charter (V/C) performance by the time charter equivalent (TCE). It also measured the distance between group scale efficiency (GSE) and average group scale efficiency (AGSE) by the data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA is able to compare the difference between the group efficiency and overall efficiency, the AGSE value, to explore the direction and extent of the overall efficiency improvement. In the research, the V/C service of Panamax, Supramax, and Handymax is considered as the DMU, to calculate the efficiency of different ship types separately. Then, it employs TCE to measure and the DEA method to compare AGSE. The larger the AGSE value, the better the efficiency. Based on the results, in order to improve the overall operating efficiency of bulk shipping corporations, AGSE should be more emphasized than TCE and GSE. The results can provide professional managers of bulk shipping corporations with the basis for a strategic decision of chartering operations.

Research on multi-source coordination evaluation model of regional energy Internet

Energy Internet is the direction of energy development and an important means to change energy structure and improve energy efficiency. In order to promote the application and development of energy Internet, starting with the study of the key factors affecting the level of energy efficiency in the regional energy system, a multi-source optimization energy efficiency evaluation index system of regional energy Internet is established. Through the subjective evaluation of the first level indicators, the objective evaluation of the second level indicators and the final comprehensive empowerment, the comprehensive evaluation model of regional energy Internet multi-source optimization energy efficiency is built. Finally, taking a multi-source coordinated optimization operation of a park in Zhejiang Province as an example, the scientific rationality of the evaluation indexes and methods is verified.

Research on Investment Efficiency Evaluation of Wind Power Projects under Supply-side Reform

In recent years, China’s wind power has developed rapidly, with increasing installed capacity, and it is gradually entering a stage of large-scale development, which has broad potential for future development. However, China’s wind power investment projects have low investment efficiency, which is not conducive to the healthy development of the wind power industry. Therefore, improving the overall investment efficiency of wind power projects is an inevitable direction for the development of wind power companies in the future. This paper first takes wind power projects as research objects, combines the characteristics of wind power projects, and constructs a suitable comprehensive investment efficiency evaluation model based on DEA theory. Then it conducts an empirical analysis based on the development status of power enterprises in Xinjiang of China, and combines the evaluation conclusions to promote wind suggestions on the development of investment efficiency in power generation projects.

Better resource utilization: A new DEA bi-objective resource reallocation approach considering environmental efficiency improvement

This study addresses the resource reallocation problem by proposing a data envelopment analysis (DEA) bi-objective approach that considers the environmental efficiency improvement of organizations (i.e., decision making units, DMUs). First, we introduce environmental efficiency evaluation models with and without the consideration of resource reallocation. Second, we prove that all the DMUs can be environmentally efficient after resource reallocation using a common-weight evaluation mechanism and build the resource reallocation possibility set. Third, a bi-objective resource reallocation model is proposed which considers both output target realizability and the match between the new reallocated resource of a DMU and the DMU’s pre-performance and operation size. Further, a trade-off model is adopted to solve the bi-objective model to obtain the final resource reallocation result. The proposed approach guarantees that all the DMUs are environmentally efficient after resource reallocation while maintaining the non-resource inputs at their current levels. It also contributes by considering both the DMUs’ ability of achieving the output targets and each DMU’s pre-performance which is an important indicator that reflects each DMU’s ability to transform input resources into output products. Finally, the proposed approach is applied for a case study of Chinese regional land transportation systems based on data of the year 2016.

Energy Efficiency Evaluation of Industrial Heat Exchangers Based on Fuzzy Matter Element Method

According to the energy consumption status of industrial heat exchanger in the whole life cycle, the energy efficiency evaluation index system of industrial heat exchanger is put forward firstly. Secondly, aiming at the complexity and fuzziness of energy consumption of industrial heat exchanger, the energy efficiency evaluation model of industrial heat exchanger based on fuzzy matter-element method is established by using fuzzy matter-element theory and combining the concept of Hemingway schedule. Finally, taking the shell-and-tube heat exchanger as an example, five shell-and-tube heat exchangers with different designs and materials were selected to analyze their energy consumption advantages and disadvantages. Via calculation and analysis, the optimal energy efficiency design of the shell-and-tube heat exchanger was obtained. At the same time, reference opinions were provided for the design and manufacture of the shell-and-tube heat exchanger.

Efficiency of China’s Listed Securities Companies: Estimation through a DEA-Based Method

Accurate assessment of the efficiency of securities companies is of great significance to improve the competitiveness of companies, due to their increasingly important role in supporting economic development. As the main contribution, this paper proposes a novel efficiency estimation framework for securities companies based on data envelopment analysis (DEA), which takes into account operational risks and technical heterogeneity. First, the risk variable is incorporated in the evaluation system as an undesirable output through the setting of weak disposability. Subsequently, the meta-frontier model is introduced to consider the impact of the technical heterogeneity of different companies to improve the accuracy of the assessment. Furthermore, this article also provides the meta-frontier Malmquist model, which can be utilized to analyze in detail technological progress. Finally, the securities companies listed in the Chinese stock market were selected as samples for empirical analysis. The efficiency evaluation model for securities companies proposed in this paper will provide a reference for related evaluation issues.

Tesia: A trusted efficient service evaluation model in Internet of things based on improved aggregation signature

SummaryService evaluation model is an essential ingredient in service‐oriented Internet of things (IoT) architecture. Generally, traditional models allow each user to submit their comments with respect to IoT services individually. However, these kind of models are fragile to resist various attacks, like comment denial attacks, and Sybil attacks, which may decrease the comments submission rate. In this article, we propose a new aggregation digital signature scheme to resolve the problem of comments aggregation, which may aggregate different comments into one with high efficiency and security level. Based on the new aggregation digital signature scheme, we further put forward a new service evaluation model named Tesia allowing specific users to submit the comments as a group in IoT networks. More specifically, they aggregate comments and assign one user as a submitter to submit these comments. In addition, we introduce the synchronization token mechanism into the new service evaluation model, to assure that all users in the group may sign their comments one by one, and the last one who receives the token is assigned as the final submitter. Tesia has more acceptable robustness and can greatly improve the comments submission rate with rather lower submission delay time.