Competition and operating efficiency of manufacturing companies in E-commerce environment: empirical evidence from Chinese garment companies

E-commerce technology has been paid more and more attention by manufacturing companies. The wide application of e-commerce has enhanced the competitive advantage of companies, but it also intensified the competition among them. Competition has many impacts on companies, among which the impact on operating efficiency is particularly concerned. This paper provided in-depth analysis using a two-stage methodology to analyse the specific impact of competition on the operating efficiency of garment companies (with B2C mode) in e-commerce environment. Firstly, the game cross-efficiency (GCE) model and related indicators were used to evaluate the operating efficiency of selected companies from 2011 to 2018. The results showed that compared to the traditional cross-efficiency (TCE), the scores of GCE considering competition were improved. This indicated that although e-commerce technology intensified the competition among Chinese garment companies, competition improved their operating efficiency. Moreover, the GCE model theoretically remedied some shortcomings of traditional DEA models. Secondly, the panel data model was used to analyse the specific impact of competition on operating efficiency. The results indicated that competition significantly increased pure technical efficiency, but it was not beneficial to scale efficiency. Based on these findings, some policy implications were proposed.