英文摘要 |
In many countries, the steel industry is a highly protected industry that operates in a state of monopoly or oligopoly. However, under the WTO and its policy of trade liberalization, many steel firms have faced more severe and competitive environments. This study intends to find out how the changes of competitive environments affects the operational efficiency of 30 major steelmakers worldwide, and most importantly, to identify how the weakest firms could improve their performance. By using the DEA approach and benchmarking practices, this study obtained each steelmakers' efficiency data, then evaluated how they performed and compared with others in the steel industry, what benchmark objective (s) they should improve, and which company could be their benchmark partner. From the results of examining productivity indicators of three firm clusters, it is indicated that steel firms with higher technical and scale efficiency tend to use their input factors more efficiently and achieve higher productivity performance. The study also investigated the patterns of efficiency change in steel firms form 1992 to 2003 to illustrate improvements over time. This study offers a very useful decision support tool for academicians and practitioners to evaluate competitive advantages and benchmarking practices of firms through DEA and Malmquist productivity index. |