arXiv subjects

Amar Oukil

Publications and source records attributed to Amar Oukil.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Building a consistent system for faculty appraisal using Data Envelopment Analysis

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) appears more than just an instrument of measurement. DEA models can be seen as a mathematical structure for democratic voicing within decisional contexts. Such an important aspect of DEA is enhanced through the performance evaluation of a group of professors in a virtual Business college. We show that the outcomes of the analysis can be very useful to support decision processes at many levels. There are three categories of professors: Assistant professors, Associate professors, and Full professors. The evaluation process of these professors is investigated through two different cases. The first case handles each category of professors as a separate sample representing an independent population. The results show that the mean efficiency scores fall between 0.85 and 0.93 for all professors no matters their category. In spite of enabling more fairness, such an approach suffers from its exclusive character, which is contrary to the democratic spirit of DEA. The second case tries to cope with this deficiency through the assessment of the faculty members as a single sample drawn from the same population, i.e., Assistant professors, Associate professors, and Full professors are treated equally, only on the ground of their respective inputs and outputs, no matters their academic rank. A clear efficiency decline is reported, basically due to the very nature of DEA as a procedure that is more efficiency than output focused.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2021

Investigating farming efficiency through a two stage analytical approach: Application to the agricultural sector in Northern Oman

In this paper, we develop a two-stage analytical framework to investigate farming efficiency. In the first stage, data envelopment analysis is employed to estimate the efficiency of the farms and conduct slack and scale economies analyses. In the second stage, we propose a stochastic model to identify potential sources of inefficiency. The latter model integrates within a unified structure all variables, including inputs, outputs and contextual factors. As an application ground, we use a sample of 60 farms from the Batinah coastal region, an agricultural area representing more than 53 per cent of the total cropped area of Oman. The findings of the study lay emphasis on the inter-dependence of groundwater salinity, irrigation technology and operational efficiency of a farm, with as a key recommendation the necessity for more regulated water consumption and a readjustment of governmental subsidiary policies.

econ.EM↗

arXiv2021

Data envelopment analysis -- a flexible device to assessing SMEs performance

In a context of global economy, addressing SMEs performance within a local framework appears rather a naive approach. The key drawback of such an approach stems from its restriction to socio-economic factors that might lead to biased decisions regarding potential venues for performance improvement. In practice, the key objective of performance analysis consists in identifying benchmarks for best managerial practices with respect to resource allocation as well as production level setting. Conducting the analysis within a specific country, let it be a developing country, may be misleading. Although, the best of the class (benchmark) can be a valid reference for its peers within the same class, its status might not be preserved if the analysis is projected outside the borders of the class. Indeed, the likelihood for outperformance is high. In order to set targets for global competition, decision makers ought to look at the concept of performance from a broader geographical perspective, instead of confining it to a local scope. Here, we analyze, through a case study, SMEs performance within local and global production technology frameworks and we highlight the impact of the economy scope on various decisions. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used as a mathematical tool to support such decisions.

math.OC↗