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The current study proposes a new DEA model to evaluate the efficiency of 39 Chinese commercial banks over the period 2010–2018. The paper also, in the second stage, investigates the inter-relationships between efficiency and some bank-specific variables (i.e. bank profitability, bank size, expenses management, traditional business and non-traditional business) under the Robust Endogenous Neural Network Analysis. The findings suggest that the sample of Chinese banks experiences a consistent increase in the level of bank efficiency up to 2015; the efficiency score is 0.915, after which the efficiency level declines and then experiences a slight volatility, while finally ending up with an efficiency score of 0.746 by the end of 2018. We also find that among different bank ownership types, the state-owned banks have the highest efficiency, the rural commercial banks are found to be least efficient and the foreign banks experience the strongest volatility over the examined period. The second-stage analysis shows that bank size exerts a positive influence on the development of non-traditional banking business and a proactive expense management, bank size and non-traditional businesses have a positive impact on efficiency levels, while bank profitability, traditional businesses and expenses management have negative influences on bank efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has launched energy quota right trading system, as one of the sustainable operations, since 2016 to cap the total energy consumption, however the economic and energy saving effect of this new policy is unclear. Based on the input and output panel data of China's 29 manufacturing sub-industries, this paper constructs the non-parametric optimization model under the command-and-control and the energy quota right trading scenario, to compare their potential economic gains and energy savings of these two polices for Chinese manufacturing industries. Results show that, whether at overall level or at the sub-industries level, the economic potential and energy-saving potential from energy quota right trading are higher than those from command-and-control. However, a part of energy-saving potential will be squeezed out due to the negative externality of the energy market trading. We suggest the well integration of both command-and-control and the market mechanism to achieve a Win–Win development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological progress is considered an important means of decreasing energy consumption. However, rebound effects caused by energy efficiency improvements directly affect the realization of energy savings and emission reduction. This paper focuses on the main theory and methodology of direct and indirect rebound effects. Using 30 sets of provincial panel data and national input-output data for China from 2007, this paper builds a co-integrating equation, a panel error correction model, and an 8-sector energy-input-output model. We subsequently estimate the direct and indirect rebound effects of urban residential electricity use. The results indicate that in the long term the direct plus indirect partial rebound effect is 0.79; in the short term it is 0.78. Thus, the majority of the expected electricity reduction in Chinese urban residential energy consumption arising from efficiency improvement may be offset. These rebound effects impair the functioning of energy efficiency policies. Therefore, the Chinese government should not improve energy efficiency alone-they must also take into consideration the relevant energy-pricing reforms when formulating energy policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivery drones are yet to be adopted as a systematic delivery system for humanitarian operations but have the potential to substantially increase the efficiency and effectiveness of future delivery options. Thus, we analyse the impact of factors affecting the adoption of delivery drones by logistics service providers for humanitarian operations. A conceptual model of potential barriers to adoption and development is created using the Technology Acceptance Model theory involving security, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude as factors that affect the intention to use. We validate the model using empirical data collected from 103 respondents by the 10 leading logistics firms located in China between May and August 2016. through a survey to examine factors currently affecting the intention/non-intention to adopt delivery drones. The results show that ease of use and addressing key security considerations about the drone, the delivery package and the recipient are crucial for adopting the technology as a specialized delivery option for logistics service providers. This is the first study of its kind and contributes to understanding the operational, supply chain and behavioural factors in the adoption of drones by logistics services providers for humanitarian operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to recent official policy changes, China's sustainable urbanization has entered a new type of multi-target heterogeneous situation which has never been scientifically researched before. To deal with this new heterogeneous scenario, we introduce a hybrid heterogeneous data envelopment analysis method that contains input segment estimation and efficient frontier construction. We also introduce a bi-level benchmarking method that benchmarks each city's eco-efficiency and uses those benchmarks to guide sustainable urbanization completion in an empirical study of 206 Chinese prefecture-level cities' sustainable urbanization. Our main empirical results show that: (1) China's urbanization is now suffering from serious unsustainability; (2) China's sustainable urbanization is independent of urban scale; (3) resource over-consumption and pollutant over-emission are the two complementary forces that slow down China's sustainable urbanization; (4) almost all prefecture-level cities involved in this empirical study should set "Urban–rural integration" as the urbanization development target; and (5) China's current urbanization has a serious development target mismatch, and this target mismatch is thought to be an important indirect factor that drives China's urbanization to a low sustainability level. Based on this empirical analysis, we recommend two urbanization policies, "Constructing a distinctive city" and "Constructing hub-and-spoke urban agglomeration", for Chinese government consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend toward a more competitive electricity market has led to efforts by the electric power industry to develop advanced efficiency evaluation models that adapt to market behavior operations management. The promotion of the operational performance management of the electric power industry plays an important role in China’s efforts toward energy conservation, emission control and sustainable development. Traditional efficiency measures are not able to distinguish sales effects from productive efficiency and thus are not sufficient for measuring the operational performance of an electricity generation system for achieving its specific market behavior operations management goals, such as promoting electricity sales. Effectiveness measures are associated with the capacity of an electricity generation system to adjust its input resources that influence its electricity generation and, thus, the capacity to match the electricity demand. Therefore, the effectiveness measures complement the efficiency measures by capturing the sales effect in the operational performance evaluation. This study applies a newly developed data envelopment analysis-based effectiveness measurement to evaluate the operational performance of the electric power industry in China’s 30 provincial regions during the 2006-2010 periods. Both the efficiency and effectiveness of the electricity generation system in each region are measured, and the associated electricity sales effects and electricity reallocation effects are captured. Based on the results of the effectiveness measures, the alternative operational performance improvement strategies and potentials in terms of input resources savings and electricity generation adjustments are proposed. The empirical results indicate that the current interregional electricity transmission and reallocation efforts are effective in China overall, and a moderate increase in electricity generation with a view to improving the effect on sales is more crucial for improving effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]