Banking efficiency in South East Europe: Evidence for financial crises and the gap between new EU members and candidate countries

In this study we compare the cost efficiency of banks in ten South East European countries and find out how differences in efficiency are related to EU membership. The results reveal a statistically significant cost efficiency gap between EU and non-EU banking systems in the region, where on average EU banking systems tend to be more cost efficient than their non-EU counterparts. In contrast to other similar studies analyzing banking efficiency in South East European countries, we also run β-convergence and σ-convergence tests, as proposed in the literature. Based on these tests we can draw conclusions concerning the existence of a catching-up effect, since the detected cost efficiency gap is closing predominantly because of adjustments on the side of the less efficient banks. Additionally, we found that during the 2008 global financial crisis, the average cost efficiency scores of banks in the region improved, which could be explained by enhanced incentives of bank managers for intensified cost optimization in banks in crisis times. Our results suggest that the institutional adjustments in the non-EU countries should continue towards EU standards, as the EU banking systems tend to dominate in terms of measured cost efficiency.     

Uncovering the supplier selection knowledge structure: A systematic citation network analysis from 1991 to 2017

Because of the critical role supplier selection plays in organizational success, both practitioners and academics have expressed a strong interest in the subject area generating an extensive body of research. The volume and breadth of publications in this area makes it difficult to understand the knowledge structure of the field and the academic work that has influenced the evolution of the domain.This mixed-method study systematically reviews 246 papers that investigated supplier selection issues and were published between 1991 and 2017. We initially examined the statistics of papers by unveiling influential journals, affiliations and articles. Second, we utilized co-citation network analysis, an objective procedure to extract clusters of what has been researched in supplier selection literature. The study analytically retrieves six major knowledge clusters: 1) conceptual foundation of the field; 2) modeling of the procurement environment; 3) handling group-decision making and unprecise input data; 4) computational research; 5) green/sustainable research and 6) risk-based supplier selection. Finally, we conducted main path analysis to get an overview of the evolution of knowledge in the supplier selection field by uncovering its major paths and key articles.     

Relating Macro-economic Efficiency to Financial Efficiency: A Comparison of Fifteen OECD Countries Over an Eighteen Year Period

This paper examines the role of the banking sector in the overall economic activity and its contribution to the convergence/divergence in fifteen OECD countries over the time period of 1980–1997. We resort to a non-parametric technique (DEA) and estimate a world wide macro-economic as well as a worldwide banking frontier. We find a very similar pattern in the evolution of banking and macro-economic efficiency. We further study the evolution of the macro-economic and banking productivity and discover, in both cases, convergence over time. Our first finding is that the performance of the banking sector helps to explain the overall economic performance. Our second finding is that the financial orientation of each country constitutes a relevant feature for the last mentioned explanation.     

COVID-19 crisis and the efficiency of Indian banks: Have they weathered the storm?

The purpose of this study is to determine whether Indian banks were able to weather the COVID-19 storm. We estimate banks’ deposits-generating and operating efficiencies using a two-stage directional distance function-based network data envelopment analysis (DDF-NDEA) approach and seek to capture the immediate impact of COVID-19 on these efficiency measures by comparing their magnitudes in the pre-pandemic (2014/15–2019/20), just 1-year prior to the pandemic (2019/20), and during the pandemic year (2020/21) periods. The study looks at whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was uniform across ownership types and size classes. The empirical findings suggest that the Indian banking system was resilient and withstood the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the study period, however, the large and medium-sized banks experienced some efficiency losses. By and large, regardless of bank group, banks have shown resilience to the shock of the global health pandemic and improvements in efficiency.     

Bank ownership and cost efficiency: New empirical evidence from Russia

This paper investigates the cost efficiency of Russian banks with regard to their heterogeneity in terms of ownership form, capitalization and asset structure. Using bank-level quarterly data over the period 2005–2013, we perform stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and compute cost efficiency scores at the bank and bank group levels. We deduct from gross costs the negative revaluations of foreign currency items generated by official exchange rate dynamics rather than by managerial decisions. The results indicate that the core state banks, as distinct from other state-controlled banks, were nearly as efficient as private domestic banks during and after the crisis of 2008–2009. Foreign banks appear to be the least efficient market participants in terms of costs, which might reflect their lower (and decreasing over time) penetration of the Russian banking system. We further document that the group ranking by cost efficiency is not permanent over time and depends on the observed differences in bank capitalization and asset structure. We find that foreign banks gain cost efficiency when they lend more to the economy. Core state banks, conversely, lead in terms of cost efficiency when they lend less to the economy, which can result from political interference in their lending decisions in favor of unprofitable projects Private domestic banks that maintain a lower capitalization significantly outperform foreign banks and do not differ from the core state banks in this respect.