130
As regards the alternatives to measure management performance, methods from
the perspective of productive efficiency have been widely applied in some fields of
environmental performance. These techniques allow comparing the relative management performance of different decision-making units, providing helpful information for managers and policy-makers in order to design better managerial
strategies and environmental policies.
In this context, some studies have addressed the issue of assessing performance
through the concept of economic-ecological efficiency, commonly known as ecoefficiency. It refers to the ability of public and private organization to produce goods
and services while incurring less impact on the environment and consuming fewer
natural resources (e.g., Färe et al. 1989; Picazo-Tadeo and Prior 2009; Picazo-Tadeo
et al. 2012; Sueyoshi and Goto 2011). In doing so, they consider environmental
externalities as undesirable outputs (or bad outputs) in the production process.
Moreover, other studies have focused on the performance measurement of several
economic agents when managing different types of waste, notably including municipal solid waste (e.g., Marques and Simões 2009; Rogge and De Jaeger 2012) or
wastewater (e.g., Abbott and Cohen 2009; Sala-Garrido et al. 2011). However, such
an efficiency analysis has not been applied in previous literature to measure the
management of WEEE or E-waste, on which we focus.
The aim of this study is to contribute to the literature on the management of
WEEE by comparing the performance of different EU countries according to the
targets set in the regulation of the Union’s environmental policy on WEEE. To this
end, we use the traditional nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in
order to measure technical efficiency for the first time in the literature. We use a
sample of 30 EU countries for the year 2014, with the purpose of comparing their
performance, ranking the countries, and identifying their level of inefficiency.
The results indicate that, as a general picture, European countries are highly
efficient in the implementation of the WEEE. However, considering the performance of different waste categories, we observe significant differences in WEEE
efficiency among countries. This means that, in the framework of the European
Union, more effective control and regulation of the waste is required. In order to do
so, as the multidimensional comparison among countries is not an easy task, nonparametric methods can be an effective tool for the European regulators.
The paper is organized as follows: Sect. 7.2 gives an overview of the methodology used to determine technical efficiency. Section 7.3 describes the data in detail.
Section 7.4 presents and comments on the most relevant results. Finally, Sect. 7.5
summarizes the main conclusions.
7.2 Methodology
Productivity and efficiency are recurrent concepts in the literature of economics and
management. On the one hand, productivity is an indicator that comes from engineering. In its most simple definition, productivity is calculated by dividing the
I. Narbón-Perpiñá and D. Prior
As regards the alternatives to measure management performance, methods from
the perspective of productive efficiency have been widely applied in some fields of
environmental performance. These techniques allow comparing the relative management performance of different decision-making units, providing helpful information for managers and policy-makers in order to design better managerial
strategies and environmental policies.
In this context, some studies have addressed the issue of assessing performance
through the concept of economic-ecological efficiency, commonly known as ecoefficiency. It refers to the ability of public and private organization to produce goods
and services while incurring less impact on the environment and consuming fewer
natural resources (e.g., Färe et al. 1989; Picazo-Tadeo and Prior 2009; Picazo-Tadeo
et al. 2012; Sueyoshi and Goto 2011). In doing so, they consider environmental
externalities as undesirable outputs (or bad outputs) in the production process.
Moreover, other studies have focused on the performance measurement of several
economic agents when managing different types of waste, notably including municipal solid waste (e.g., Marques and Simões 2009; Rogge and De Jaeger 2012) or
wastewater (e.g., Abbott and Cohen 2009; Sala-Garrido et al. 2011). However, such
an efficiency analysis has not been applied in previous literature to measure the
management of WEEE or E-waste, on which we focus.
The aim of this study is to contribute to the literature on the management of
WEEE by comparing the performance of different EU countries according to the
targets set in the regulation of the Union’s environmental policy on WEEE. To this
end, we use the traditional nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in
order to measure technical efficiency for the first time in the literature. We use a
sample of 30 EU countries for the year 2014, with the purpose of comparing their
performance, ranking the countries, and identifying their level of inefficiency.
The results indicate that, as a general picture, European countries are highly
efficient in the implementation of the WEEE. However, considering the performance of different waste categories, we observe significant differences in WEEE
efficiency among countries. This means that, in the framework of the European
Union, more effective control and regulation of the waste is required. In order to do
so, as the multidimensional comparison among countries is not an easy task, nonparametric methods can be an effective tool for the European regulators.
The paper is organized as follows: Sect. 7.2 gives an overview of the methodology used to determine technical efficiency. Section 7.3 describes the data in detail.
Section 7.4 presents and comments on the most relevant results. Finally, Sect. 7.5
summarizes the main conclusions.
7.2 Methodology
Productivity and efficiency are recurrent concepts in the literature of economics and
management. On the one hand, productivity is an indicator that comes from engineering. In its most simple definition, productivity is calculated by dividing the
I. Narbón-Perpiñá and D. Prior