A rather simple but crucial question in economics and management is why one firm makes more profit than another. However the answer remains unclear because of the large range of factors that might explain differential profit. In this paper we propose a decomposition of the profit differential...

We extend the standard frontier efficiency models (data envelopment analysis [DEA] and stochastic frontier analysis [SFA]) by allowing the “decision making units” (DMUs) whose performances are assessed to consist of two different levels within hierarchical organizations. Generally, the lower...

In this paper, we introduce two new indicators of the operational and the financial performance of bank branches networks. We develop an alternative approach to the traditional productivity measures to take into account size, environmental and structural effects in the benchmark process. We use...