Micro-Data Efficiency Evaluation of Forest Companies

Abstract

The forestry sector is facing critical challenges due to climate change. Decision-making support based on efficiency evaluation using non-parametric methods could provide important information for both forest managers and policymakers. However, such advanced technical analysis is scarce in forestry science. When applied, its application has been primarily based on aggregated, macro-level data, and efficiency was analysed for the forestry sector as a whole. There is a lack of studies from the company-level perspective, which are needed to provide sound decision support.In this paper, we focus on the micro-data level and offer the data envelopment analysis model settings and interpretations for an efficiency evaluation based on the financial data of individual forestry companies. The aim is to provide an original analysis of the company-level driving forces of forestry sector efficiency. The results for central European countries show that efficiency is driven by company size and country of operation. The study also confirms that, generally, German companies are the »efficiency leaders« in the region, while Czech companies may serve as an efficiency reference for east-central European forestry companies.

Research on the impact of innovation investment on operating efficiency of listed forest product processing companies

“…The sources of data include the Cathay Pacific database, Prospective Economy Network, and the annual reports of each company. To ensure that the sample is representative, this study combines existing research results and selects total assets (Stankov a et al, 2022;Yang et al, 2016;Li et al, 2023), operating costs and number of employees as input indicators of a company's operating efficiency. Meanwhile, operating income, net profit and return on net assets are selected as output indicators of operating efficiency to comprehensively reflect the company's main business operation, profitability and investor profitability.…”

“…The sources of data include the Cathay Pacific database, Prospective Economy Network, and the annual reports of each company. To ensure that the sample is representative, this study combines existing research results and selects total assets (Stanková et al. , 2022; Yang et al.…”

“…Increased innovation capacity of firms leads to qualitative and quantitative enhancements (Stankov a et al, 2022;Ryu et al, 2021;Oscar et al, 2009). As the main driver of forestry innovation, forest products processing listed companies in China's forestry economic development play a pivotal role in improving industry efficiency, aiding forestry companies in achieving sustainable development, and contributing positively to ecological protection and economic growth.…”

“…Increased innovation capacity of firms leads to qualitative and quantitative enhancements (Stanková et al. , 2022; Ryu et al.…”

Assessing the efficiency of the forestry sector in EU countries

“…Based on the analysis of four Central European countries (Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia) in the period between 2009 and 2016, Staňková et al (2022), using DEA and the stochastic frontier analysis method, found that there are differences in efficiency depending on the size of enterprises. State-owned enterprises, which are among larger enterprises, have lower efficiency because they try to promote other (government) objectives, such as employment.…”