Efficiency assessment of Iranian handmade carpet company by network DEA

Abstract

Different categories of Iranian handmade carpet are produced each year. Due to resource limitation, it is so important for managers to allocate more resources to the most efficient categories. Therefore, the main purpose of this illustration is to consider most efficient types of carpet in production and sales stages. To do so, different categories of Iranian handmade carpet are considered as DMUs. This study utilizes network DEA for constructing a model to analyze total and partial efficiencies of Iranian Handmade Carpet Company (IHCC), simultaneously. IHCC consists of three main departments that are working jointly to maximize productivity of the firm; therefore, the case of IHCC is a multi-stage system with shared intermediate variables, extra inputs to the second stage, and undesired outputs. The novelty of this paper is the methodology used for calculating the efficiency, which is based on multi-objective programming. Results of experimental data of IHCC are summarized in order to prepare some brilliant management strategies based on partial and total efficiency scores of different carpet categories. Because of the lack of familiar researches in the area of carpet industry efficiency measurement, this research will provide valuable information for decision makers.