Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is known as a non-parametric method to evaluate the relative efficiencies of a set of homogenous decision-making units (DMUs) (i.e., banking, health, education, etc.) that use multiple inputs to produce multiple outputs. DEA models also have applications for...

This descriptive paper analyses structural characteristics of Finnish university departments (FIDs) and benchmarks them against foreign university departments from Scandinavia, the UK and the US (FODs). In the first place the study aims to reveal information on differences in department size. In...

With the changing business environment, the ability of the traditional costing system to provide accurate and useful information to management about costs of products or services has decreased and hence, modern costing systems, like activity-based costing (ABC) are developed to overcome the...

This paper shows through the combination of output-orientated data envelopment analysis (DEA) with the calculation of Malmquist indexes that the obvious and persistent differences in growth and levels of per capita income and labour productivity between the German states are less caused by...

In this article an application-oriented approach to analyze the cost of conformance of services, i. e. ‘cost of customer satisfaction’, is presented. Contrary to quality costing methods in manufacturing industries, which are concerned about objective quality standards, services have to...

Due to expenditure increases that can be attributed to several reasons, healthcare systems throughout the world strive towards cost containment. In order to conduct it in a satisfactory manner, it is necessary fi rst to determine the sources of inefficiency in the process of providing healthcare...

Aufgrund der starken regionalen Verankerung kann bei den Sparkassen ein besonderes Interesse an den Folgen des demographischen Wandels und speziell von Alterung und Abwanderung vermutet werden. Dabei sind die Sparkassen nicht nur über das Regionalprinzip eng mit einer bestimmten Region...

This paper assesses the convergence in eco-efficiency of a group of 22 OECD countries over the period 1980–2008. In doing so, three air pollutants representing the impact on the environment of economic activities are considered, namely, carbon dioxide (<InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$${\text{ CO}}_{2}$$</EquationSource> </InlineEquation>), nitrogen oxides...</equationsource></inlineequation>

This paper derives a production analysis framework for modeling secondary benefits from environmental regulation, i.e. induced changes in yet unregulated pollutants. We emphasize the various ways in which the producers can respond to environmental regulations, and evaluate them in terms of their...

This paper examines whether the stock markets price changes in operating efficiency as a result of bank mergers and if the premiums paid by the acquiring banks also reflect these changes. The sample covers mergers and acquisitions consummated in the US and Europe during the period of 1997 to...