Higher Mean Technical Efficiency Research Articles

Efficiency in Giving Back to the Masses: Insights from ESG and Non-ESG Firms in Selected East Asian Countries

Increasing awareness for sustainability has led more firms to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting into their establishments. However, firms’ ESG information are beset with issues of information asymmetry. Hence, this study was set to provide a more uniformed statistical method of measuring firm’s social performance (SP); named ESG efficiency. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model was used to measure the ESG efficiency of firms in giving back to the masses by means of ESG contribution. Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia were selected for the study from the year 2010 to 2019. The findings were relatively consistent for all selected countries. The study found that ESG efficiency of both ESG and non-ESG firms had fluctuated, with ESG firms’ ESG efficiency fluctuating on an increasing trend. ESG firms were found to be more efficient in giving back to the masses, with higher mean technical efficiency (TE), compared to non-ESG firms. Furthermore, Pure Technical Inefficiency (PTIE) was identified as a significant factor in influencing a firm’s TE, indicating that the firms were purely managerial inefficient in directing their financial returns toward ESG contribution. Subsequently, this study provides a simpler method in SP measurement, and was able to identify the significant factor that affected firms’ ESG efficiency, and extends the literature on East Asia’s ESG development. Keywords: ESG, data envelopment analysis, efficiency

STOCHASTIC PRODUCTION FRONTIER FOR THE LITHUANIAN FAMILY FARMS

The research follows neo-classical methodology to analyse the trends of the agricultural efficiency. The paper fits the stochastic production frontier to the micro data describing the performance of the Lithuanian family farms during 2004–2009 in order to define the current trends of efficiency and productivity in the sector. Indeed, this is the first application of stochastic frontiers to gauge the performance of Lithuanian family farms. The technical efficiency of the Lithuanian family farms fluctuated around 80%. The analysis confirmed that the livestock farms were peculiar with higher mean technical efficiency if compared to that of mixed or crop farms. The estimated partial output elasticities imply that the intermediate consumption was the most productive factor, whereas assets were four to six times less productive depending on the farming type. The land factor was peculiar with the lowest partial output elasticities. The research contributes to the wider discussion on the patterns of efficiency and productivity in a transition European Union Member States following the accession.

STOCHASTIC PRODUCTION FRONTIER FOR THE LITHUANIAN FAMILY FARMS

The research follows neo-classical methodology to analyse the trends of the agricultural efficiency. The paper fits the stochastic production frontier to the micro data describing the performance of the Lithuanian family farms during 2004–2009 in order to define the current trends of efficiency and productivity in the sector. Indeed, this is the first application of stochastic frontiers to gauge the performance of Lithuanian family farms. The technical efficiency of the Lithuanian family farms fluctuated around 80%. The analysis confirmed that the livestock farms were peculiar with higher mean technical efficiency if compared to that of mixed or crop farms. The estimated partial output elasticities imply that the intermediate consumption was the most productive factor, whereas assets were four to six times less productive depending on the farming type. The land factor was peculiar with the lowest partial output elasticities. The research contributes to the wider discussion on the patterns of efficiency and productivity in a transition European Union Member States following the accession.

Asset Quality Based Ranking of Indian Commercial Banks: A Superefficiency Approach

The present paper tries to make an asset quality based ranking of select (28) Indian commercial banks for four years period 2001-2002 to 2004-2005 using the super efficiency approach - a non-parametric tool. The super efficiency approach due to Andersen and Petersen (1993), allows rank order technically efficient firms. In this approach, a firm which is under evaluation is not included in the reference set of the relative envelopment model. A firm is called super efficient if its observed output exceeds what is necessary for the firm to be considered efficient relative to other firms in the sample. Out of the 28 observed commercial banks, the number found to be super efficient was only in the range between 5 to 8 during observed years. The rest were found to be inefficient. Further, the results obtained from the exercise indicate gradual improvement in mean technical efficiency scores (excepting 2003-2004) over the observed years. The observed private sector banks exhibit higher mean technical efficiency relative to the observed public sector banks for all the observed years.

Performance Evaluation of Indian Commercial Banks Using the Super Efficiency Approach

In view of the changed scenario in the Indian banking sector during the reform period, this paper tries to make a comparison of fund and non-fund based operating performance of select (28) Indian commercial banks (20 public sector, eight private sector) for the period 2002–03 to 2004–05 using the super efficiency approach. The results available from the study indicate a decline in mean technical efficiency (implying greater heterogeneity in performance across banks) during the period under consideration. This divergence in performance during the later years could be due to the influence of idiosyncratic factors. The study also indicates that the observed private sector banks have higher mean technical efficiency than the observed public sector banks.

Asset Quality Based Ranking of Indian Commercial Banks – A Non-Parametric Approach

The present paper tries to make an asset quality based ranking of select (28) Indian commercial banks (20 public sector and eight private sector commercial banks) for the five year period 2000–01 to 2005–06 using Data Envelopment Analysis – a non parametric tool. The paper also compares the observed banks in terms of total factor productivity growth for the aforementioned period. The results obtained from the exercise indicate improvement in mean technical efficiency scores in 2004–05 relative to the previous four years. However, mean technical efficiency showed a declined in the next year. The observed private sector banks exhibited higher mean technical efficiency relative to the observed public sector banks for 2000–01 to 2003–04 (and 2005–06) while the reverse is true for 2004–05. The public sector banks, however, exhibit higher mean scale efficiency relative to the observed private sector banks. In so far as total factor productivity growth is concerned, the observed public sector commercial banks exhibited relatively higher Malmquist TFP growth than the observed private sector banks. However, the commercial banks, across ownership groups, exhibited negative mean total factor productivity growth. The negative growth (in real terms) may be the result of emphasis laid on off balance sheet activities on the part of the commercial banks