Measuring Hospital Performance in the Presence of Quasi-Fixed Inputs: An Analysis of Québec Hospitals

This research proposes an approach to measure hospital performance based on a generalization of Banker and Morey (1986) and Førsund (1996). This approach considers quasi-fixed inputs explicitly, calculates their implicit cost, and quantifies returns to scale. The performance measure is decomposed into allocative and technical inefficiencies. Based on a very complete data set of Québec hospitals, we find that significant inefficiencies of up to 17% ($700 CAN million) could have been saved through improved performance. Postestimation analyses that include qualitative measures of care suggest that differences in performance are attributable to differences in management or unobservable quality of care rather than patient case mix.     

Party alternation,divided government,and fiscal performance within US States

The literature on US state government fiscal performance has examined the role of institutional factors such as budget rules and divided government, but has largely ignored the impact of party alternation. This paper primarily focuses on whether party alternation in the governor’s office affects fiscal performance. Our hypothesis is that frequent party changes create a political environment that impacts fiscal performance. To further assess the impact of party alternation on fiscal performance, we consider our primary hypothesis in conjunction with the degree of division that exists between the governor’s office and the legislature. Using panel data from 37 states between 1971 and 2000 we test the hypothesis that frequent party alternation can be expected to affect fiscal performance and find strong support for the hypothesis. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 Public Choice Society Meetings. The authors would like to thank the conference participants, William Shughart, Charles Register, Jocelyn Evans, John D. Jackson, Amihai Glazer, and two anonymous referees for their comments. We would also like to thank Craig R. Stiller for his help in the collection of data. Any remaining errors remain the responsibility of the authors.     

企业评价创新——从绩效评估到基于战略聚焦的价值管理

新经济时代的企业环境促使企业管理战略发生了巨大变化,同时又为企业组织与运营模式的创新提供了先进手段。在这种环境下,传统绩效评价模式呈现出诸多方面的缺陷和不适,因此必然要求相应的改变。本文分析了企业绩效评价的研究现状,探讨绩效管理的发展趋势,最后就两种面向战略聚焦的价值管理模式进行评述。     

Research on Firm Size, Firm Performance and Internal Auditing Modes——Based on Listed Manufacturing Companies of China

This paper is based on the samples of listed manufacturing companies of China, taking the financial performance as criterion, and then does research on the firm performance with different internal auditing modes, using Cross-sectional data to analyze the distribution of internal auditing modes and the characteristics of the firm performance. The conclusion is that setting up internal auditing is good for the development of companies, but the function of internal auditing has not been widelv fulfilled.     

Linear Programming Models for the Measurement of Environmental Performance of Firms—Concepts and Empirical Results

I use linear programming models to define standardised, aggregate environmental performance indicators for firms. The best practice frontier obtained corresponds to decision making units showing the best environmental behaviour. Results are obtained with data from U.S. fossil fuel-fired electric utilities, starting from four alternative models, among which are three linear programming models that differ in the way they account for undesirable outputs (pollutants) and resources used as inputs. The results indicate important discrepancies in the rankings obtained by the four models. Rather than contradictory, these results are interpreted as giving different, complementary kinds of information, that should all be taken into account by public decision-makers.     

Unlocking the potential of advanced manufacturing technologies

This research examines whether investments in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), computer aided design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), robotics, etc., are more likely to lead to improved performance if they are supported by improvements in the manufacturing infrastructure of the company. This question is evaluated using data gathered from 202 manufacturing plants chosen from industries generally considered to have relatively high investments in technology.Multiple item scales are developed and adapted from sources in the literature to measure investments in technology, infrastructure, and the performance of the plant. Evidence supporting the reliability and validity of these scales is provided. Hierarchical regression is used to analyze the relationship between technology, infrastructure, and performance. The results suggest that there is an important interaction between the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies and investments in infrastructure. Firms that invest in both AMTs and infrastructure perform better than firms which only invest in one or the other. Separate analyses on sub-samples of firms with the highest and lowest investments in AMTs show that infrastructural investments have a stronger relationship with performance in the high investment group. Thus, the data indicate that infrastructural investments provide a key to unlocking the potential of advanced manufacturing technologies.     

我国商业上市公司的股权结构与公司业绩——基于市净值指标的实证分析

文章以沪深两市55家商业上市公司为样本,对股权结构与公司业绩的关系进行回归分析。结论表明:商业上市公司国有股比例对公司业绩并没有显著的影响,但法人股比例与公司业绩显著正相关,流通股比例与公司业绩显著负相关。同时,第一大股东持股比例与公司业绩没有显著关系,但前五大股东持股比例与公司业绩显著正相关;另外,第一大股东的控制能力对公司业绩有显著的负面影响。     

图书业逆向物流及其绩效模糊综合评价

随着人们环保意识的增强，逆向物流也逐步受到各行业的重视。图书逆向物流作为逆向物流中的一种，有着自己不同于其他物流企业的独特地方。绩效评价是企业计划和控制的有机组成部分，因此建立起能对图书业逆向物流进行精确衡量的标准，可以正确判断企业的经营管理状况，完善和提高逆向物流管理水平，从而提高企业的整体效益。论文阐述了图书逆向物流的特点及其流程，并且通过对图书逆向物流绩效评价指标的分析与选择。结合模糊数学中的综合评价方法建立图书逆向物流绩效综合评价模型。     

Implications of variant efficiency measures for policy evaluations in UK higher education

Policy goals in UK higher education encourage the publicly funded universities to become more-specialised and larger in size without compromising output quality. Efficiency gains are expected to flow from this increased specialisation in accordance with universities’ comparative research and teaching strengths. Mergers to reap further gains from economies of scale are also being actively encouraged. Given this scenario, the paper investigates whether best-practice efficiency measurement based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) provides empirical support for the current policy goals. It also assesses whether such support is dependent on the specific type of efficiency measure used in the DEA modelling. This assessment finds that a selection of (nine) commonly used, variant efficiency measures generally support the current policy goals. The paper also uses the principal-agent framework to explore the issues involved in using computed DEA-based efficiency scores for policy evaluations and possible funding guidance in UK higher education. This highlights empirically how policy-makers and universities can have very different preferences about which efficiency measure is to be used for policy evaluations and possible funding guidance.     

独立董事、战略审计与公司绩效

关于独立董事与公司绩效呈现弱相关关系的一个假说性解释是:独立董事对于作为关键绩效驱动因素的公司战略管理过程参与不足。独立董事积极参与公司战略管理的功能定位是战略监督与评价,而战略审计作为正式的战略监督与评价程序,是独立董事深入公司战略管理过程以提高其绩效贡献的有效途径。本文认为,在我国推行独立董事战略审计制度,必须解决独立董事人数与比例、审计委员会设置、独立董事来源与结构以及激励与权益保护等相关问题。