Dataset Information

Performance evaluation of e-commerce firms in China: Using three-stage data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index.

ABSTRACT: As a new business form of international trade and electronic commerce, e-commerce has been a controversial topic that has attracted the attention of scholars and industry professionals. This study estimated the operating efficiency and total factor productivity (TFP) of listed e-commerce firms in China from 2015 to 2019. Three related methodologies were applied: data envelopment analysis (DEA), the Malmquist TFP index, and stochastic frontier analysis. The DEA analysis results showed that environmental variables exerted a substantial effect on technical efficiency. Most firms demonstrated effective technical efficiency after adjustment for input variables. Business-to-business firms had the highest operating efficiency, followed by business-to-consumer and production-to-consumer firms. Technical progress and scale were identified as two major factors affecting improvement in TFP. Hence, e-commerce firms should make full use of advanced technology and aim to achieve economies of scale.

SUBMITTER: Zheng S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8357152 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Performance evaluation of e-commerce firms in China: Using three-stage data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index.

Zheng Sufang S Khan Rabnawaz R

PloS one 20210811 8

As a new business form of international trade and electronic commerce, e-commerce has been a controversial topic that has attracted the attention of scholars and industry professionals. This study estimated the operating efficiency and total factor productivity (TFP) of listed e-commerce firms in China from 2015 to 2019. Three related methodologies were applied: data envelopment analysis (DEA), the Malmquist TFP index, and stochastic frontier analysis. The DEA analysis results showed that enviro ...[more]

PMID: 34379674

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Project description:BackgroundIn China, most primary health care institutes (PHCIs) support ground-level medical services which are essential to residents' health levels. The Chinese government implemented a health reform in 2009 to strengthen PHCIs through increased fiscal inputs. However, how efficiently these inputs were converted into PHCIs' services remains unclear. We aimed to examine the efficiency of PHCIs' medical services and investigate if any changes occurred following the implementation of the health reform.MethodsWe aggregated data from PHCIs from Hainan's 18 districts (2011-21), treating those from the same district as one decision-making unit (DMU). We used three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the efficiencies of these PHCIs, adjusting the approach for environmental factors, managerial ineffectiveness, and statistical errors potentially arising from the background variability of measured data that deviates from the input and output values, allowing all DMUs to be compared in a homogeneous environment. We used the adjusted efficiency scores to evaluate the efficiency of PHCIs in Hainan each year and the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) to explore the productivity change of PHCIs over time.ResultsAfter adjusting for environmental factors between 2011-21, technical efficiency (TE) decreased from 0.825 to 0.745, pure technical efficiency (PTE) increased from 0.936 to 0.954, and scale efficiency (SE) decreased from 0.883 to 0.783. Seven districts had full PTE (1.0) and two districts had full TE (1.0) after adjustment. The mean MPI from 2011 to 2021 was 0.9430, indicating a 5.7% decrease in PHCIs' efficiency. After excluding the low productivity index possibly influenced by COVID-19 (2019 to 2021), PHCIs' efficiency decreased by 0.49%, with a mean MPI of 0.9951.ConclusionsThe efficiency of PHCIs in Hainan has declined slightly since the health reform. Low level of scale efficiency posed a significant impact on the overall efficiency of the medical services in PHCIs. Among potential inefficient technological performances, future policy formulation might focus more on the imbalanced allocation of resources in less-developed regions and PHCIs' lack of attractiveness to local patients.

Project description:BackgroundThe pursuit of efficiency and productivity is one of the goals of health systems. In the era of Sustainable Development Goals and particularly the move towards universal health coverage, it is imperative to curb wastage of resources to ensure sustainable access of the population to needed and effective health services without enduring financial hardship. This study aims to assess total factor productivity change of national health systems of 20 countries in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region.MethodsData Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-based Malmquist index is used to assess total factor productivity change and its components - efficiency change and technical change. To assess the robustness of the Malmquist index estimates, bootstrapping was performed. Outputs used are life expectancy at birth for both sexes and infant mortality; while total expenditure on health per capita in international dollars (PPP) is used as a measure of input. Panel data for the period 2003-2014 was extracted from databases of the WHO and the World Bank.ResultsIn all but five countries covered in the study, a decline in the mean total factor productivity is observed during the period 2003-2014. The decline is driven by technical regress. In all countries, the technical change component of the Malmquist TFP index is less than unity (range: 0.896 to 0.945). All countries exhibited growth in efficiency (efficiency change exceeding one) except two countries (Djibouti and Iraq). The growth in efficiency was mainly due to change in scale efficiency. Overall, total factor productivity in the region declined by 3.8%. This was due to a 9.1% decline in technical change, which overshadowed the 5.8% increase in efficiency. Three countries - Libya, Qatar and Yemen - showed a marginal growth in total factor productivity. There was no change in total factor productivity in Kuwait and Lebanon.ConclusionThe decline in total factor productivity over the study period is likely to hamper achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. It is recommended that country-level studies on efficiency and productivity of health systems be conducted in order to intensively examine the determinants of inefficiency and productivity decline and implement appropriate interventions that could enhance efficiency and productivity.

Project description:BackgroundPrimary health care (PHC) institutions are key to realizing the main functions of the health care system. Since the new health care reform in 2009, the Chinese government has invested heavily in PHC institutions and launched favorable initiatives to improve the efficiency of such institutions. This study is designed to gauge the efficiency of PHC institutions by using 2012-2020 panel data covering 31 provinces in China.MethodsThis study applied an improved three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the efficiency of PHC institutions in China. Unlike the traditional three-stage DEA model, the input-oriented global super-efficiency slack-based measurement (SBM) DEA model is used to calculate the efficiency in the first and third stages of the improved three-stage DEA model, which not only allows the effects of environmental factors and random noise to be taken into account but also deal with the problem of slack, super-efficiency and the comparability of interperiod efficiency values throughout the efficiency measurement.ResultsThe results show that the efficiency of PHC institutions has been overestimated due to the impact of external environmental factors and random noise. From 2012 to 2020, the efficiency of PHC institutions displayed a downward trend. Moreover, there are significant differences in the efficiency of PHC institutions between regions, with the lowest efficiency being found in the northeast region. The efficiency of PHC institutions is significantly affected by residents' annual average income, per capita GDP, population density, the percentage of the population aged 0-14, the percentage of the population aged 65 and older, the number of people with a college education and above per 100,000 residents, and the proportion of the urban population.ConclusionsSubstantial investment in PHC institutions has not led to the expected efficiency gains. Therefore, more effective measures should be taken to improve the efficiency of PHC institutions in China based on local conditions. This study provides a new analytical approach to calculating the efficiency of PHC institutions, and this approach can be applied to efficiency evaluation either in other fields or in other countries.

Dataset Information

Performance evaluation of e-commerce firms in China: Using three-stage data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index.

Publications

Performance evaluation of e-commerce firms in China: Using three-stage data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index.

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