Impact of liberalization on efficiency and productivity of sugar industry in Kenya

Purpose – The data used in this study is for the period 1980-2000. Almost midway through this period (in 1992), the Kenyan government liberalized the sugar industry and the role of the market increased, while the government's role with respect to control of prices, imports and other aspects in the sector declined. This exposed the local sugar manufacturers to external competition from other sugar producers, especially from the COMESA region. This study aims to find whether there were any changes in efficiency of production between the two periods (pre and post-liberalization). Design/methodology/approach – The study utilized two methodologies to efficiency estimation: data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the stochastic frontier. DEA uses mathematical programming techniques and does not impose any functional form on the data. However, it attributes all deviation from the mean function to inefficiencies. The stochastic frontier utilizes econometric techniques. Findings – The test for structural differences in the two periods does not show any statistically significant differences between the two periods. However, both methodologies show a decline in efficiency levels from 1992, with the lowest period experienced in 1998. From then on, efficiency levels began to increase. Originality/value – To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to use both methodologies in the sugar industry in Kenya. It is shown that in industries where the noise (error) term is minimal (such as manufacturing), the DEA and stochastic frontier give similar results.

Determining the contribution of technical change, efficiency change and scale change to productivity growth in the privatized English and Welsh water and sewerage industry:1985-2000

The water and sewerage industry of England and Wales was privatized in 1989 and subjected to a new regime of environmental, water quality and RPI+K price cap regulation. This paper estimates a quality-adjusted input distance function, with stochastic frontier techniques in order to estimate productivity growth rates for the period 1985-2000. Productivity is decomposed so as to account for the impact of technical change, efficiency change, and scale change. Compared with earlier studies by Saal and Parker [(2000) Managerial Decision Econ 21(6):253-268, (2001) J Regul Econ 20(1): 61-90], these estimates allow a more careful consideration of how and whether privatization and the new regulatory regime affected productivity growth in the industry. Strikingly, they suggest that while technical change improved after privatization, productivity growth did not improve, and this was attributable to efficiency losses as firms appear to have struggled to keep up with technical advances after privatization. Moreover, the results also suggest that the excessive scale of the WaSCs contributed negatively to productivity growth. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Cost economies, efficiency and productivity growth in the Chinese banking industry:evidence from a quarterly panel dataset

This article examines cost economies, productivity growth and cost efficiency of the Chinese banks using a unique panel dataset that identifies banks' four outputs and four input prices over the period of 1995-2001. By assessing the appropriateness of model specification, and making use of alternative methodologies in evaluating the performance of banks, we find that the joint-stock commercial banks outperform state-owned commercial banks in productivity growth and cost efficiency. Under the variable cost assumption, Chinese banks display economies of scale, with state-owned commercial banks enjoying cost advantages over the joint-stock commercial banks. Consequently, our results highlight the ownership advantage of these two types of banks and generally support the ongoing banking reform and transformation that is currently taking place in China.

Power industry restructuring and eco-efficiency changes:a new slacks-based model in Malmquist-Luenberger Index measurement

Measuring variations in efficiency and its extension, eco-efficiency, during a restructuring period in different industries has always been a point of interest for regulators and policy makers. This paper assesses the impacts of restructuring of procurement in the Iranian power industry on the performance of power plants. We introduce a new slacks-based model for Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) Index measurement and apply it to the power plants to calculate the efficiency, eco-efficiency, and technological changes over the 8-year period (2003-2010) of restructuring in the power industry. The results reveal that although the restructuring had different effects on the individual power plants, the overall growth in the eco-efficiency of the sector was mainly due to advances in pure technology. We also assess the correlation between efficiency and eco-efficiency of the power plants, which indicates a close relationship between these two steps, thus lending support to the incorporation of environmental factors in efficiency analysis. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Foreign manufacturing, regional agglomeration and technical efficiency in UK industries: a stochastic production frontier approach

The paper examines howfar foreign manufacturing investment in UK industries, together with the spatial agglomeration of those industries, affect technical efficiency. The paper links research on the estimation of technical efficiency,with those literatures demonstrating the economies associated with foreign direct investment and spatial agglomeration. The methodology involves estimation of a stochastic production frontier with random components associated with industry technical inefficiency, and a standard error. The paper also explores whether the degree of foreign involvement has a greater impact on technical efficiency where the domestic industry sector is characterized by comparatively high productivity and spatial agglomeration. The policy implications of the analysis are discussed.

A note on the modelling the efficiency of top Arab banks

The major aim of this research is benchmarking top Arab banks using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique and to compare the results with that of published recently in Mostafa (2007a,b) [Mostafa, M. M. (2007a). Modeling the efficiency of top Arab banks: A DEA–neural network approach. Expert Systems with Applications, doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2007.09.001; Mostafa M. M. (2007b), Benchmarking top Arab banks’ efficiency through efficient frontier analysis, Industrial Management & Data Systems, 107(6) 802–823]. Data for 85 Arab banks used to conduct the analysis of relative efficiency. Our findings indicate that (1) the efficiency of Arab banks reported in Mostafa (2007a,b) is incorrect, hence, readers should take extra caution of using such results, (2) the corrected efficiency scores suggest that there is potential for significant improvements in Arab banks. In summary, this study overcomes with some data and methodology issues in measuring efficiency of Arab banks and highlights the importance of encouraging increased efficiency throughout the banking industry in the Arab world using the new results.

The impact of ICT on productivity of airline industry

Airline industry is at the forefront of many technological developments and is often a pioneer in adopting such innovations in a large scale. It needs to improve its efficiency as the current trends for input prices and competitive pressures show that any airline will face increasingly challenging market conditions. This paper has focused on the relationship between ICT investments and efficiency in the airline industry and employed a two-stage analytical investigation, DEA, SFA and the Tobit regression model. In this study, we first estimate the productivity of the airline industry using a balanced panel of 17 airlines over the period 1999–2004 by the Data Envelop Analysis (DEA) and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) methods. We then evaluate the impacts of the determinants of productivity in the industry concentrating on ICT. The results suggest that regardless of all the negative shocks to the airline industry during the sample period, ICT had a positive effect on productivity during 1999-2004.

Addressing the project implementation challenges in the Saudi Arabian power supply industry: an investigative approach towards improving project delivery

For many decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been widely known for being a reliable oil exporter. This fact, however, has not exempted it from facing significant domestic energy challenges. One of the most pressing of these challenges involves bridging the widening electricity supply-demand gap where, currently, the demand is growing at a very fast rate. One crucial means to address this challenge is through delivering power supply projects with maximum efficiency. Project delivery delay, however, is not uncommon in this highly capital-intensive industry, indicating electricity supplies are not coping with the demand increases. To provide a deeper insight into the challenges of project implementation and efficient practice, this research adopts a pragmatic approach by triangulating literature, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The research was conducted in the Saudi Arabian power supply industry – Western Operating Area. A total of 105 usable questionnaires were collected, and 28 recorded, semi-structured interviews were conducted, analysed and synthesised to produce a conceptual model of what constitutes the project implementation challenges in the investigated industry. This was achieved by conducting a comprehensive ranking analysis applied to all 58 identified and surveyed factors which, according to project practitioners in the investigated industry, contribute to project delay. 28 of these project delay factors were selected as the "most important" ones. Factor Analysis was employed to structure these 28 most important project delay factors into the following meaningful set of 7 project implementation challenges: Saudi Electricity Company's contractual commitments, Saudi Electricity Company's communication and coordination effectiveness, contractors' project planning and project control effectiveness, consultant-related aspects, manpower challenges and material uncertainties, Saudi Electricity Company's tendering system, and lack of project requirements clarity. The study has implications for industry policy in that it provides a coherent assessment of the key project stakeholders' central problems. From this analysis, pragmatic recommendations are proposed that, if enacted, will minimise the significance of the identified problems on future project outcomes, thus helping to ensure the electricity supply-demand gap is diminished.

A comparative and longitudinal analysis of the evolving relationship between the environment and the strategy, structure and performance of selected organisations in the British carpet industry 1959-1986:a firms in sector perspective of organisational adaptation

Orthodox contingency theory links effective organisational performance to compatible relationships between the environment and organisation strategy and structure and assumes that organisations have the capacity to adapt as the environment changes. Recent contributions to the literature on organisation theory claim that the key to effective performance is effective adaptation which in turn requires the simultaneous reconciliation of efficiency and innovation which is afforded by an unique environment-organisation configuration. The literature on organisation theory recognises the continuing confusion caused by the fragmented and often conflicting results from cross-sectional studies. Although the case is made for longitudinal studies which comprehensively describe the evolving relationship between the environment and the organisation there is little to suggest how such studies should be executed in practice. Typically the choice is between the approaches of the historicised case study and statistical analysis of large populations which examine the relationship between environment and organisation strategy and/or structure and ignore the product-process relationship. This study combines the historicised case study and the multi-variable and ordinal scale approach of statistical analysis to construct an analytical framework which tracks and exposes the environment-organisation-performance relationship over time. The framework examines changes in the environment, strategy and structure and uniquely includes an assessment of the organisation's product-process relationship and its contribution to organisational efficiency and innovation. The analytical framework is applied to examine the evolving environment-organisation relationship of two organisations in the same industry over the same twenty-five year period to provide a sector perspective of organisational adaptation. The findings demonstrate the significance of the environment-organisation configuration to the scope and frequency of adaptation and suggest that the level of sector homogeneity may be linked to the level of product-process standardisation.

Organizational weaknesses of the Greek Manufacturing industry: a case study of footwear

This thesis is concerned with those factors influencing the present performance of Greek manufacturing industry and the ways in which improvements could be realized after Greece joins European Communities..Detailed examination is made of the Greek footwear industry and its problems as the country emerges from a semi developed state to a position approaching parity with Western European countries. Particular attention is paid to the technology employed, capital deployment, industrial structure and managerial performance. In order to illustrate the path of development of the Greek footwear industry a comparison is undertaken with the British footwear industry which has a longer history and has employed larger scale methods since the 19th century. This comparison illustrates the opportunities and pitfalls likely to face the Greek industry in coming years. One section of the thesis is also concerned with trading relationships between the U.K. and Greece and identifies the market opportunities available to Greek industrialists. A detailed analysis is undertaken of the available secondary sources of information particularly official statistical data relating to production, capital expenditure, imports and exports, employment and consumption. Use is also made of various surveys of trade and production in footwear undertaken by trade associations and other bodies. The field research study has been largely directed towards practicing managers in companies of various size and is concerned with exposing standards of management and of relating efficiency to organization structure. The thesis is also concerned with the many wide issues affecting the development of manufacturing industry in Greece including the influence of social structure and social institutions, the values of modern Greek society and the complex organizational problems which Greece needs to overcome in order to take its place amongst the more established states of Europe.

The control of technological change in the motor industry:a case study

This thesis is based upon a case study of the introduction of automated production technologies at the Longbridge plant of British Leyland in the period 1978 to 1980.The investment in automation was part of an overall programme of modernization to manufacture the new 'Mini Metro' model. In the first Section of the thesis, the different theoretical perspectives on technological change are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed upon the social role of management as the primary controllers of technological change. Their actions are seen to be oriented towards the overall strategy of the firm, integrating the firm's competitive strategy with production methods and techniques.This analysis is grounded in an examination of British Leyland's strategies during the 1970s.. The greater part of the thesis deals with the efforts made by management to secure their strategic objectives in the process of technological change against the conflicting claims of their work-force. Examination of these efforts is linked to the development of industrial relations conflict at Longbridge and in British Leyland as a whole.Emphasis is placed upon the struggle between management in pursuit of their version of efficiency and the trade unions in defence of job controls and demarcations. The thesis concludes that the process of technological change in the motor industry is controlled by social forces,with the introduction of new technologies being closely intertwined with management!s political relations with the trade unions.

Automation, rationalisation and concentration : a case study in the British chemical industry

This thesis is based upon a case study of the adoption of digital, electronic, microprocessor-based control systems by Albright & Wilson Limited - a UK chemical producer. It offers an explanation of the company's changing technology policy between 1978 and 1981, by examining its past development, internal features and industrial environment. Part One of the thesis gives an industry-level analysis which relates the development of process control technology to changes in the economic requirements of production . The rapid diffusion of microcomputers and other microelectronic equipment in the chemical industry is found to be a response to general need to raise the efficiency of all processes, imposed by the economic recession following 1973. Part Two examines the impaot of these technical and eoonomic ohanges upon Albright & Wilson Limited. The company's slowness in adopting new control technology is explained by its long history in which trends are identified whlich produced theconservatism of the 1970s. By contrast, a study of Tenneco Incorporated, a much more successful adoptor of automating technology, is offered with an analysis of the new technology policy of adoption of such equipment which it imposed upon Albright & Wilson, following the latter's takeover by Tenneco in 1978. Some indications of the consequences by this new policy of widespread adoptions of microprocessor-based control equipment are derived from a study of the first Albright & Wilson plant to use such equipment. The thesis concludes that companies which fail to adopt rapidly the new control technology may not survive in the recessionary environment, the long- established British companies may lack the flexibility to make such necessary changes and that multi-national companies may have an important role jn the planned transfer and adoption of new production technology through their subsidiaries in the UK.

Drying processess in the United Kingdom:assessment of industrial energy utilisation and efficiency of drying systems and the modelling of drying characters using neural networks (BL)

Drying is an important unit operation in process industry. Results have suggested that the energy used for drying has increased from 12% in 1978 to 18% of the total energy used in 1990. A literature survey of previous studies regarding overall drying energy consumption has demonstrated that there is little continuity of methods and energy trends could not be established. In the ceramics, timber and paper industrial sectors specific energy consumption and energy trends have been investigated by auditing drying equipment. Ceramic products examined have included tableware, tiles, sanitaryware, electrical ceramics, plasterboard, refractories, bricks and abrasives. Data from industry has shown that drying energy has not varied significantly in the ceramics sector over the last decade, representing about 31% of the total energy consumed. Information from the timber industry has established that radical changes have occurred over the last 20 years, both in terms of equipment and energy utilisation. The energy efficiency of hardwood drying has improved by 15% since the 1970s, although no significant savings have been realised for softwood. A survey estimating the energy efficiency and operating characteristics of 192 paper dryer sections has been conducted. Drying energy was found to increase to nearly 60% of the total energy used in the early 1980s, but has fallen over the last decade, representing 23% of the total in 1993. These results have demonstrated that effective energy saving measures, such as improved pressing and heat recovery, have been successfully implemented since the 1970s. Artificial neural networks have successfully been applied to model process characteristics of microwave and convective drying of paper coated gypsum cove. Parameters modelled have included product moisture loss, core gypsum temperature and quality factors relating to paper burning and bubbling defects. Evaluation of thermal and dielectric properties have highlighted gypsum's heat sensitive characteristics in convective and electromagnetic regimes. Modelling experimental data has shown that the networks were capable of simulating drying process characteristics to a high degree of accuracy. Product weight and temperature were predicted to within 0.5% and 5C of the target data respectively. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the underlying properties of the data could be predicted through a high level of input noise.

Investment efficiency among a cross-section of UK firms:implications for the debate on financing constraints

In this paper, we address this policy issue using a stylised methodology that relies on estimates of the cash flow sensitivity of firms’ investment, as well as a relatively new methodology that enables us to generate a (0, 1) bounded measure of investment efficiency of firms, i.e., the efficiency with which firms can convert their sales into investment, after controlling for unobserved year- and industry-specific effects. Higher investment efficiency is associated with lower financing constraint. Our results indicate that there is considerable heterogeneity in investment efficiency across firms, during a given year; the range being 0.57-0.82. However, the average investment efficiency measure is similar across years, regions and NACE 2-digit industries. We also do not find discernible patterns in the relationship between investment efficiency and firm size, both before and during the financial crisis. The results suggest that while some firms are clearly less efficient at translating their performance into investment, broad policies targeting firms of a certain size, or those within a particular industry or region, may not successfully address the problem of financing constraint in the United Kingdom. The targeting of firms with financing constraints may have to be considerably more refined, and look at not easily observable factors such as credit history/events and organisational capacity of the firms.

Does ownership always matter? Evidence from the Indian banking industry

Existing empirical evidence on the ownership-performance issue is weighted towards the property rights hypothesis that private enterprises are superior to public enterprises. However, very few studies examine a developing country in which the strong link between the market for corporate control and the efficiency of private enterprises assumed by the property rights hypothesis may not be satisfied. Our study of the Indian banking industry confirms our expectation that, in the absence of well-functioning capital markets, there may not be significant differences in the performance of private and public enterprises. Our analysis highlights the importance of creating appropriate institutions prior to pursuing privatization in developing countries.