Network Data Envelopment Analysis

This second edition systematically presents the underlying theory, model development, and applications of network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). It discusses the models used to measure the efficiency of systems in specific network structures and introduces readers to the latest applications. It demonstrates how the 'network DEA' approach helps identify and manage the specific components that cause inefficiencies in the overall system. The existing models for measuring the efficiency of systems in specific network structures are also discussed, and the relationships between system efficiency and component efficiency are explored. Moreover, the book provides an advanced exposition on performance evaluation of systems with network structures. It explores the networked nature of most production and operation systems, and explains why network analyses are necessary. Accordingly, the book will inspire new research and applications based on the state of the art.

In this new edition, the latest research advances and discoveries are discussed. Two new chapters on Linkage Efficiency and External and Internal Evaluations have been added. 

This book is mainly aimed at researchers and graduate students who are interested in performance evaluation, DEA, and multi-criteria decision analysis. Practitioners who want to measure the performance of production, operation, or any type of decision-making units will also find it useful.

Chiang Kao is a University Chair Professor of Industrial and Information Management at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. After joining Cheng Kung University, he has engaged in stays at Purdue University (USA), Aachen University of Technology (Germany), INSEAD and the University of Paul Sabatier (France), and the University of Bologna (Italy). He has also been hired by the Computer Science Department of Southwest Texas State University.

Professor Kao has also held administrative posts at Cheng Kung University, including Chairman of the Department of Industrial and Information Management, Dean of the College of Management, and University President. He has published more than eighty papers on DEA in international journals, thirty of which concern network DEA. Currently, he serves on the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Operational Research and an Associate Editor for Omega.