Improving data envelopment analysis by the use of production trade-offs

Production technologies in data envelopment analysis (DEA) are described in terms of inputs and outputs. Production trade-offs represent simultaneous changes to the inputs and outputs that are possible in the technology under consideration. Recently, a method for their incorporation in DEA models has been developed. It was shown that the use of production trade-offs not only improves the discrimination of DEA models but also preserves the traditional meaning of efficiency as a radial improvement factor for inputs and outputs. This new paper follows the above development and provides an example of its use in the assessment of efficiency of university departments. The paper avoids excessive technical detail which can be found in the previous publication and instead focuses on the implementation of this new technique.