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Benchmarking the Performance of Productive Units Using Cross-Efficiency Techniques: An Empirical Approach for Water Companies

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Abstract

Water companies provide essential services to society, such as drinking water and sanitation. Improving the management of these companies is fundamental for evaluating their performance. This study employs cross-efficiency data envelopment analysis techniques to assess a sample of water companies during the years 2010–2018. The assessment focuses on three main topics: i) the impact of service quality on water companies' performance; ii) the influence of environmental variables on efficiency and eco-efficiency in water companies and; iii) the effect of ownership on water company performance. The results reveal that service quality significantly influences water companies' performance. Additionally, it demonstrates that customer density and ownership of water companies impact economic and environmental efficiency, with public water companies showing the best performance. However, the quality of service of public water companies had deteriorated over time.

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament of Mathematics for Economics, University of Valencia, Avd. Tarongers S/N, Valencia, Spain

    Ramon Sala-Garrido & Manuel Mocholi-Arce

  2. Centro de Derecho y Gestión del Agua UC, Avda. Libertador Bernardo OʼHiggins 340, Santiago, Chile

    Maria Molinos-Senante

  3. Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avda. Vicuña Mackenna, 4860, Santiago, Chile

    Maria Molinos-Senante & Alexandros Maziotis

  4. Hartree Centre, Science and Technology Facility Council (STFC), Daresbury Warrington, WA4 4AD, UK

    Michail Smyrnakis

Authors
  1. Ramon Sala-Garrido
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  2. Manuel Mocholi-Arce
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  3. Maria Molinos-Senante
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  4. Michail Smyrnakis
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  5. Alexandros Maziotis
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Ramón Sal-Garrido, Manuel Mocholi-Arce and Alexandros Maziotis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Alexandros Maziotis and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Molinos-Senante.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Correlations and difference comparison between efficiency measurements
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Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5

Fig. 2
figure 2

Cluster analysis – Model DO

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Fig. 3
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Silhouette score – Model DO

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Fig. 4
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Cluster analysis – Model DUO

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Fig. 5
figure 5

Silhouette score – Model DUO

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Sala-Garrido, R., Mocholi-Arce, M., Molinos-Senante, M. et al. Benchmarking the Performance of Productive Units Using Cross-Efficiency Techniques: An Empirical Approach for Water Companies. Water Resour Manage 37, 5459–5476 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03614-w

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