Efficiency measurement and strategic classification of Japanese banking institutions

This article proposes a new two-staged discriminant approach, consisting of DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and GPNDA (Goal Programming for Nonlinear Discriminant Analysis). The proposed approach measures the DEA efficiencies of Japanese banks and then separates the banks into several groups according to these efficiency scores. Separated groups of banks are characterized by GPNDA. The methodological strength of GPNDA is confirmed by comparing it with other discriminant analysis techniques. Our empirical results may serve as a basis for developing financial strategies for Japanese banks whose business environment is now shifting from governmental regulation to international competition.