Special Issue "Sustainable Management and Efficiency Analysis"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Clara Simon de Blas
E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3
Guest Editor
Computer Sciences and statistics, URJC, Mostoles 28933, Spain
Interests: statistics; time series; data envelopment analysis; humanitarian logistics; social networks
Dr. Ana Garcia Sipols
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Statistics, URJC, Mostoles 28933, Spain
Interests: time series analysis; transportation problems; statistics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue aims to explore how efficiency analysis strategies and tools can provide efficient management solutions for new or existing challenges in sustainability. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a well-known methodology used to measure relative efficiency among a group of decision-making units. This allows identifying a production possibility frontier composed by the units in possession of better practices (in reference to the production process), that may be used in the definition of operational goals for their non-efficient counterpart.

The collection of papers in the Special Issue will provide theoretical insights and empirical evidence from around the world on how companies, organizations, and services can manage their production models that can be sustained over time without depleting its resources or harming the environment. Examples can be derived from identifying the best practices in conscious production models providing a rational use of economic resources that allows, from the use of the minimum resources (means, matter, energy, etc.), the maximization of benefits while giving the entire population the possibility of accessing a good standard of living and having the same opportunities.

Considering the above, this Special Issue looks for outstanding research and development results, case studies, and review papers in topics that include but are not limited to the following:

  • Time series analysis
  • Transportation problems and statistics
  • Time series and data envelopment analysis

Dr. Clara Simon de Blas

Dr. Ana Garcia Sipols

Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • data envelopment analysis
  • economic sustainability
  • environmental sustainability
  • new technologies
  • transportation sustainability

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
A Model to Evaluate the Effect of Urban Road Pricing on Traffic Speed and Congestion in Madrid City Center and Its Surrounding
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8415; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158415 - 28 Jul 2021
Viewed by 289
Abstract
Currently, traffic intensity in large cities and their surroundings constitute the main unsustainability factor associated with urban transport, leading to significant traffic speed reduction due to high levels of congestion. Road pricing seems to be a measure of transport policy capable of improving [...] Read more.
Currently, traffic intensity in large cities and their surroundings constitute the main unsustainability factor associated with urban transport, leading to significant traffic speed reduction due to high levels of congestion. Road pricing seems to be a measure of transport policy capable of improving efficiency and sustainability in urban transport, reducing traffic intensity and increasing traffic speed, as reflected in the main road pricing indicators currently in operation (Singapore, London, Stockholm, Milan…). Based on the data obtained through a mobility survey applied to a theoretical design of road pricing for the city of Madrid, we developed a traffic speed forecast model using time series analysis, to which we applied the mobility survey results. The research results show that theoretical urban road pricing could imply very significant positive effects in traffic speed increase and congestion reduction, fundamentally in the city center and metropolitan crown, as well as demonstrating positive effects in the improvement of traffic speed in those municipalities furthest from the urban center. Moreover, our findings reveal that road pricing would allow an average traffic speed increase in the protected area of the city center during the operating hours of between 10% and 32.5%: 15.9% in the metropolitan crown, 10% in M-30, and 32.5% in the case of Madrid’s city center. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Efficiency Analysis)
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Article
deaR-Shiny: An Interactive Web App for Data Envelopment Analysis
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6774; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126774 - 15 Jun 2021
Viewed by 511
Abstract
In this paper, we describe an interactive web application (deaR-shiny) to measure efficiency and productivity using data envelopment analysis (DEA). deaR-shiny aims to fill the gap that currently exists in the availability of online DEA software offering practitioners and researchers free access to [...] Read more.
In this paper, we describe an interactive web application (deaR-shiny) to measure efficiency and productivity using data envelopment analysis (DEA). deaR-shiny aims to fill the gap that currently exists in the availability of online DEA software offering practitioners and researchers free access to a very wide variety of DEA models (both conventional and fuzzy models). We illustrate how to use the web app by replicating the main results obtained by Carlucci, Cirà and Coccorese in 2018, who investigate the efficiency and economic sustainability of Italian regional airport by using two conventional DEA models, and the results given by Kao and Liu in their papers published in 2000 and 2003, who calculate the efficiency scores of university libraries in Taiwan by using a fuzzy DEA model because they treat missing data as fuzzy numbers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Efficiency Analysis)
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Article
Supporting Better Decision-Making: A Combined Grey Model and Data Envelopment Analysis for Efficiency Evaluation in E-Commerce Marketplaces
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10385; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410385 - 11 Dec 2020
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 863
Abstract
E-commerce has become an integral part of businesses for decades in the modern world, and this has been exceptionally speeded up during the coronavirus era. To help businesses understand their current and future performance, which can help them survive and thrive in the [...] Read more.
E-commerce has become an integral part of businesses for decades in the modern world, and this has been exceptionally speeded up during the coronavirus era. To help businesses understand their current and future performance, which can help them survive and thrive in the world of e-commerce, this paper proposes a hybrid approach that conducts performance prediction and evaluation of the e-commerce industry by combining the Grey model, i.e., GM (1, 1) and data envelopment analysis, i.e., the Malmquist-I-C model. For each e-commerce company, GM (1, 1) is applied to predict future values for the period 2020–2022 and Malmquist-I-C is applied to calculate the efficiency score based on output variables such as revenue and gross profit and input variables such as assets, liabilities, and equity. The top 10 e-commerce companies in the US market are used to demonstrate model effectiveness. For the entire research period of 2016–2022, the most productive e-commerce marketplace on average was eBay, followed by Best Buy and Lowe’s; meanwhile, Groupon was the worst-performing e-commerce business during the studied period. Moreover, as most e-commerce companies have progressed in technological development, the results show that the determinants for productivity growth are the technical efficiency change indexes. That means, although focusing on technology development is the key to e-commerce success, companies should make better efforts to maximize their resources such as labor, material and equipment supplies, and capital. This paper offers decision-makers significant material for evaluating and improving their business performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management and Efficiency Analysis)
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