Additive super-efficiency in integer-valued data envelopment analysis

• Main Authors: Cook, Wade D., Du, Juan, Chen, Yao, Zhu, Joe, Chen, Chien-Ming
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/102612; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/11284
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods assume that input and output variables are continuous. However, in many real managerial cases, some inputs and/or outputs can only take integer values. Simply rounding the performance targets to the nearest integers can lead to misleading solutions and efficiency evaluation. Addressing this kind of integer-valued data, the current paper proposes models that deal directly with slacks to calculate efficiency and super-efficiency scores when integer values are present. Compared with standard radial models, additive (super-efficiency) models demonstrate higher discrimination power among decision making units, especially for integer-valued data. We use an empirical application in early-stage ventures to illustrate our approach.