Evaluación de la eficiencia comparativa de empresas y entidades productivas: Indicadores y técnicas de análisis[Evaluating comparative efficiency of companies and productive entities: Measures and analisis' techniques]

This monograph intends to be a handbook or guide regarding efficiency analysis tools, for those interested in either reading –and properly understanding- specialised papers on the topic, or in carrying out efficiency analysis studies. In points 3 to 6 the more usual efficiency measures in the topic’s literature are presented and discussed; and it is highlighted the fact that each of them measure companies’ efficiency from a different perspective, at the time that, nevertheless, they are in fact formally interrelated. Then, points 7 and 8 are devoted to explain the more usual techniques for efficiency/productivity analysis we can find in research works; that is those methodologies more usual in academic journals’ articles: How the referred efficiency measures or indexes are applied (which means mainly the use of econometric tools) in order to get reliable conclusions on companies’ comparative efficiency. The approach covers both longitudinal analysis (comparison over time) and cross-section analysis (comparing the relative efficiency of two or more types of companies; public-owned and private ones, f. e.). The above is preceded (points 1 and 2) by a briefing on the different facets of the efficiency concept (what we talk about when we talk of efficiency), and a discussion on the necessary pre-conditions that should be present for any calculation and comparison of efficiency indexes may actually be interpreted as properly telling us ‘company A is more efficient than company B’.