Productivity growth of European retailers: a benchmarking approach

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of the research presented in this paper is to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of the European retailers. Design/methodology/approach -Applying a two-stage approach at individual and global levels, in this study the paper adopts the efficient frontier approach using the Malmquist index, based on DEA to measure productivity of European retailers. Findings -An efficiency and productivity evaluation process is developed incorporating non-parametric techniques in the European retail sector for the period of 1998-2006. The author proposes an integrated benchmarking framework illustrated in two stages. In the first stage, work is carried out in an individualized way at the country level identifying the firms that form the corresponding efficient frontier. In a second stage a benchmarking analysis is carried out starting from the selection of the best firms made in the first stage. In this case the firms belonging to different countries are compared against each other. The aim of this procedure is to seek out those best practices that will lead to improved performance throughout the whole sample. The results confirm that convergence/divergence in efficiency and productivity growth do not have the same behaviour patterns, concluding that some countries experienced improvements while others worsened. Individual scrutiny (benchmarks) in the second stage shows that there are four groups of firms that have allowed us to extract important managerial implications. Originality/value -The paper proposes an integrated benchmarking framework illustrated in two stages. With this methodology answers can be given to important questions such as, how efficient and productive is European retailing? What is the evolution of the productivity over time in Europe? Do different patterns of convergence/divergence of the efficiency exist among the analysed countries? What characteristics do the firms with the best managerial practices belonging to the European global frontier have?

Análisis de la eficiencia de centros comerciales, a través del análisis envolvente de datos

“…Las variables de entrada y salida deben reflejar los objetivos de la empresa (Donthu y Yoo, 1998). Estudios anteriores del dea en centros comerciales y retailing han propuesto diferentes medidas de producción, tanto en unidades monetarias, como ventas (De Jorge Moreno, 2010;De Mateo et al, 2006;Hsiao et al, 2013;Šegota, 2008;Vyt y Cliquet, 2017;Xavier et al, 2015) e ingresos (De Jorge Moreno, 2010;Hsiao et al, 2013;Ronghua y Quanyi, 2011), como en unidades no monetarias, como satisfacción del cliente (Hsiao et al, 2013) y número de clientes (Hsiao et al, 2013;Keh y Chu, 2003). En este estudio se seleccionó como output una variable no monetaria: el tráfico de personas (Hsiao et al, 2013;Keh y Chu, 2003).…”

“…Con respecto a los inputs, con base en la revisión de la literatura relevante, para este estudio se seleccionaron algunas de las variables de entrada más utilizadas en las publicaciones del dea en retailing y centros comerciales: i) gastos en personal (Barros, 2006;De Jorge Moreno, 2010;De Mateo et al, 2006;Hsiao et al, 2013;Ronghua y Quanyi, 2011;Xavier et al, 2015;Yu y Ramanathan, 2009); ii) gasto en mercadeo (De Mateo et al, 2006); iii) ingresos por cuotas de administración (Ronghua y Quanyi, 2011); iv) área comercial (De Mateo et al, 2006;Ronghua y Quanyi, 2011;Šegota, 2008;Yu y Ramanathan, 2009); y v) número de parqueaderos.…”

Internal Benchmarking in Retailing With Dea and Gis: The Case of a Loyalty-Oriented Supermarket Chain

“…In the same way, Tat Keh and Chu (2003) focused on grocery stores and Patel and Pande (2013) focused on the pharmacy sector. Moreno (2010) examined the efficiency of the European distribution sector in general. First, he analysed the countries separately to draw up each one's efficiency frontier, and then compares the countries, concluding that the differences among countries may be due to different government regulations.…”

Evolution of Efficiency and Its Determinants in the Retail Sector in Spain: New Evidence

“…Other studies (Athanassopoulos 1995;Donthu, Yoo 1998;Thomas et al 1998;Ratchford 2003;Barros, Alves 2003, 2004Barros 2005; De Jorge 2010) focus attention on the analysis of the levels of efficiency and the causes thereof. From a national perspective we find papers addressing the relationship between efficiency and regulation (De Jorge 2006;De Jorge, Suárez 2007, 2010, differences in efficiency between entrants and established firms considering the size and geographical location (De Jorge 2008), the relationship between efficiency, size and market concentration (Sellers-Rubio, Mas-Ruiz 2006) or the analysis of productivity (De Jorge 2009). For this they usually apply non-parametric techniques (Donthu, Yoo 1998;Keh, Chu 2003;Sellers-Rubio, Mas-Ruiz 2006;De Jorge 2006, 2009, 2010.…”

“…From a national perspective we find papers addressing the relationship between efficiency and regulation (De Jorge 2006;De Jorge, Suárez 2007, 2010, differences in efficiency between entrants and established firms considering the size and geographical location (De Jorge 2008), the relationship between efficiency, size and market concentration (Sellers-Rubio, Mas-Ruiz 2006) or the analysis of productivity (De Jorge 2009). For this they usually apply non-parametric techniques (Donthu, Yoo 1998;Keh, Chu 2003;Sellers-Rubio, Mas-Ruiz 2006;De Jorge 2006, 2009, 2010. Others studies use parametric techniques (Ratchford 2003;Barros 2005;Sellers-Rubio, Mas-Ruiz 2007;De Jorge, Suárez 2007;De Jorge 2008).…”