This paper aims to evaluate the performance of banks in Tunisia from 2011 to 2013. An approach based on relations between fuzzy numbers (BRONF) is used to solve the fuzzy data envelopment analysis (FDEA) model in presence of financial and non financial data. In addition, a methodology is proposed to treat imprecise inputs and outputs. The results show that, in a competitive environment, no-financial inputs and outputs should be taken into account in order to obtain credible and realistic efficiency scores.

Cash flow ratios help financial users get relevant information about financial resources for a given time. Cash flow ratios are now used more than the traditional ones because it is more effective and justified. Cash flow based ratios are especially surprising because they do not only play a significant role in the credit rating of evaluation, but also forecast the failure of a corporation. In this study, we perform an empirical investigation on a company named CMC. From the study, it is clear that the liquidity and solvency positions of the company were moderate whereas the company maintained low profitability. On the other hand, the efficiency and sufficiency ratios of the study give us a new look on financial judgement.

Customer relationship management (CRM) plays an important role on marketing planning. In this paper, we re-examine the effect of having efficient CRM on efficiency of a telecommunication company. The proposed study considers three hypotheses. The first hypothesis examines whether implementation of CRM could improve customer’s perception in terms of customer retention, satisfaction, loyalty and awareness. The second hypothesis examines whether implementation of CRM influences on market performance in terms of reduction on customer complaints, quality improvement, improving customer perception, access to services and increase in market share. Finally, the third hypothesis considers the effect of CRM on financial figures in terms of sales growth, profit growth, earnings per share and productivity. The results of our survey have confirmed the first hypothesis and rejected the third hypothesis. In other words, while CRM improves customer perception it does not influence financial figures in most cases (P & LT; 0.01).

Office automation systems play important role on increasing productivity and efficiency of organizations. An automated system is capable of improving required communications, speed up the process of tasks and removes unnecessary activities. This paper presents an empirical investigation to detect important factors influencing on inefficiency of office automation systems in ministry of science, research and technology of Iran. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among management team who work for this organization. The results of our investigation indicate that two factors, lack of necessary infrastructure for participating in office automation activities as well as lack of management support, play important role on reaching desirable results. In addition, educational background and work experience also influence office automation systems’ applicability.

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of the most popular methods used for measuring the relative efficiency of similar units by considering various input/output parameters. This paper implements DEA models to estimate the relative efficiency of selected banks in the United States. The proposed study uses two inputs, total assets and number of employees, and one output, net revenue for measuring the relative efficiency of selected banks. The relative efficiencies of different banks are analyzed. The preliminary results indicate that Santander Bank is the most efficient banks operating in the United States followed by SunTrust Bank and HSBC. Other banks preserve lower efficiency compared with these three banks.

This survey research paper explores the methods most commonly used in over 190 studies determining life insurance efficiency. The purpose is to provide an overview of life insurance efficiency studies and guidance as to the (dis)advantages of the different techniques used plus their applicability to life insurance. An evaluation of the different approaches is undertaken plus an examination of the numbers and trends of methods and aspects of life insurance efficiency measurement. This paper also discusses the fundamental elements of life insurance efficiency estimation, such as the set-up and form of outputs and inputs. Findings include that the focus of life insurance efficiency studies considering individual nations has changed. Additionally data envelope analysis is the technique used most commonly with stochastic frontier analysis next. Another main result is that output proxies (akin to) premiums and investment income is utilized most. This study allows practitioners to determine the best techniques to employ in life insurance efficiency studies. Moreover an evaluation by regulators of the value and applicability of such studies is facilitated. This article builds upon those previous to enumerate and investigate the approaches most commonly used in over 190 papers determining life insurance efficiency and has described the advantages and disadvantages of these methods. Therefore an assessment of the overall results of efficiency studies is possible. In addition ideas for potential further research are discussed. Consequently this review will be useful to both practitioners and regulators concerned with this area.

Private schools play important role on developing economy especially in rural areas of Iran and when they operate efficiently it can also be considered as a rich source of income. During the past three decades, data envelopment analysis (DEA) has become a popular technique for measuring the relative performance of non-financial units. In this paper, we present an empirical study to measure the relative efficiency of 11 private universities located in region ten of Islamic Azad university. The proposed study of this paper assigns some points for human resources including university professor and regular employees and considers it along with assets as inputs of DEA model. We also consider the number of graduated students and operating profit as output of our proposed DEA model. The implementation of standard BCC method yields 6 efficient units and to have better results we use another DEA technique. The results of this study present some investment opportunities for management of this private university.

One of the primary concerns in banking industry is to measure the relative importance of banking industry using popular multi criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques such as data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). In this paper, we use these two MCDM techniques to measure the relative efficiencies of 16 private and governmental banks in terms of electronic payment. There are three inputs with DEA methods including the number of issued cards, the number of ATM machines and the number of POSs and there are two outputs including the number of successful ATMs and the number of successful POSs transactions. The proposed study of this paper uses the necessary data of one of Iranian provinces and the results of the implementation of DEA and TOPSIS have indicated that 9 out of 16 banks were efficient. Our study also indicates that mean of relative efficiency for private banks was 82% while this number was 75% for governmental banks.

One of the most important tools for improving the relative efficiencies of any organization is to establish suggestion system. Having a reliable system, which could reflect all employees’ comments and concerns, helps managers take necessary actions to remove any possible obstacle in the system. In this paper, we measure efficiency and effectiveness of suggestion system in the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution. We also provide practical suggestions for improvement and necessary actions required to review the system. The proposed study of this paper uses a sample of 297 people from 1294 employees who work in different position for some of the regional offices of this firm in north part of Iran. The study has used two separate questionnaires, where the first one consists of 40 questions in Likert scale trying to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the suggestion system. In addition, we use another questionnaire to rank important factors detected in the first stage. The results of questionnaires have been analyzed using different statistical tests.

Managerial accounting plays an important role for making prompt and efficient decisions to reduce troubles in the market. However, there are many circumstances where management team cannot make appropriate, fast and reliable managerial decisions. In this paper, we present a survey in cement industry and look to find out important factors as major barriers of managerial accounting implementation. The proposed model of this paper designs and distributes questionnaire among management teams who work for cement industry in Iran. The results of the survey indicate that lack of familiarity of managers with managerial accounting techniques, existence of unprofessional people in financial and accounting affairs and lack of having globally acceptable standards are major barriers in this industry for implementation of managerial accounting skills. However, our survey does not find any relationship between market turbulence and efficiency and implementation of managerial accounting skills.