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The tourism sector is one of the economic sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, this study aims to explore the impact of this pandemic on the operational and financial performance of tourism-listed companies on the Egyptian Exchange. For that purpose, the efficiency of these companies is evaluated using DEAW and SBM-DEA models, besides investigating their determinants from internal and external resources using dynamic panel data regression. The empirical results exhibited that company resources, such as operating expenses and employee costs, negatively impact their financial and operational efficiency. While total assets did not affect the financial efficiency of companies. Also, operational and financial efficiency are positively affected by the total operating income and sales revenues during this pandemic. Interestingly, the results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic does not impact both types of efficiency for companies operating in this sector. The study provided some managerial insights and empirical evidence that may help companies, policymakers, and investors to confront the repercussions of this pandemic and aftermaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of fintech is transforming the global financial system. However, how does fintech impact financial efficiency? Based on the technology spillover theory, this study analysed the theoretical mechanism of fintech's impact on financial efficiency and used the text mining method to construct a fintech level index for each province in China. Using interprovincial panel data from 2008 to 2018, the study empirically tested the relationship between fintech development and financial efficiency. The results show that technology spillover theory can adequately explain the impact of financial technology on financial efficiency and that there is a U-shaped nonlinear relationship between fintech development and financial efficiency. Further analysis shows that financial decentralisation moderates the marginal effect of fintech on financial efficiency. The effect of fintech on financial efficiency is more significant in regions with greater financial decentralisation. Therefore, at this stage, the study recommends that we actively embrace fintech, continuously deepen the integration of technology and finance, promote improvement in financial efficiency, and expand the positive role of local governments in technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyses the improvement and differences of digital financial coverage and depth of usage on financial efficiency using the SBM dynamic DEA method. The results show that digital finance's depth of usage having bigger influence on improving the financial system efficiency. The breadth of digital financial coverage is more conducive to improving input efficiency, while its depth of usage is more conducive to improving output efficiency. Considering both the depth of usage and breadth of coverage, in the east region the financial industry efficiency is higher than that in the non-east region.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the type of organization for achieving social efficiency for agricultural development remains a challenge. In this study, the relationship between the financial and social efficiency of South African agricultural cooperatives was examined. Data, comprising 1788 agricultural cooperatives, were obtained from the Cooperative Data Analysis System database. Only 387 observations without missing values were predicted in the empirical model. Data envelopment analysis scores for the financial and social efficiency indicators were computed. A two-stage residual inclusion method estimated the social efficiency model. The results show that social efficiency is positively influenced by financial efficiency and other factors. These include the number of employees, the enterprise type, and compliance with internal control practices. The social efficiency of agricultural cooperatives decreases for institutions that have recently been trained and that comply with the annual financial audits and profit tax. Social efficiency also decreases with age, but it increases with the square of the agricultural cooperative's age. This suggests that financially-efficient agricultural cooperatives may achieve social efficiency, that young agricultural cooperatives are not the ideal candidates for addressing the social efficiency challenges of agricultural cooperatives, and that the current training received by agricultural cooperatives does not empower them with social efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of rule of law and government size under the dimensions of economic freedom to the social and financial efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs) from Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia 2011 to 2018. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach has been applied to identify the efficiency level of MFIs. At the same time, the Pooled Ordinary Least Square (PoOLS) and Generalized Least Square (GeLS) methods comprising the Fixed Effect (FEMod) and Random Effect (REMod) models are used to examine the impact of dimensions of economic freedom and potential determinants on the efficiency level of MFIs. Overall, the results revealed that the technical efficiencies for both social and financial efficiency are contaminated by managerial inefficiency, which is measured by pure technical efficiency. This indicates, although the MFIs had been operating on a relatively optimal scale, they were facing the inefficiency from the managerial side. Besides, the results from the panel regression analysis have implied that both property rights and government integrity under the measurement of rule of law positively influence the MFIs' financial efficiency. Meanwhile, the impact of government size shows both tax burden and government spending are significantly positive to the social efficiency of MFIs. As the policy implication, the information provides suggestion to the government on how its role can help in improving the efficiency level of MFIs and implements some useful initiatives to help MFIs to sustain in the long term. In addition to that policymakers can identify the relevant inputs of MFIs and thus revise the policy accordingly and design new policies and regulations based on different economic freedom dimensions. The results of the present study provide a reference to guide them in decision making on their investments. For academicians or researchers, they can obtain more information regarding the efficiency of MFIs that is valuable for further research or study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale/purpose: This study aimed to predict the financial performance of United States national non-profit sports organisations (NNPSOs) using financial effectiveness indicators and financial efficiency ratios – framed under the stakeholder and resource-dependency theories. Design/methodology/approach: Panel data were analysed using binary logistic regression and Kendall Tau correlations. The dependent variable was a financial performance (determined by net income), and the independent variables were financial effectiveness indicators (measured by total assets and total revenues) and financial efficiency ratios (indicated by return on assets and program services ratios). Findings: The overall predictive correctness was 81%. Program services ratio and return on assets were the two best predictors of net income, indicating that efficiency is more superior than effectiveness. Correlations indicated a positive and statistical association between net income and assets, revenues, and return on assets, but not program services ratio. Practical implications: For top management, donors, and policy advocates, the study highlighted the superiority of financial efficiency over financial effectiveness. Research contribution: The study adds to research, theory and practitioners' perspectives by offering a new way of evaluating financial performance with the combination of financial effectiveness and efficiency, but not opinions – a factor uncommon in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-1994, the South African government has favoured cooperatives over other types of corporate entities in its rural development programmes. An improved understanding of the key drivers underpinning the performance of cooperatives is important for informing government programmes and policies that target cooperatives. This study examined the financial efficiency, and its determinants, of 387 agricultural cooperatives in South Africa, using the Simar–Wilson methodology. Bias-corrected Data Envelopment Analysis estimates for financial efficiency were obtained in the first stage. The results indicated that many agricultural cooperatives are relatively inefficient, compared to the three best-performing cooperatives on the efficient boundary. In the second stage, a double bootstrap truncated regression model was used to obtain bias-corrected scores that excluded the best-performing cooperatives. The statistically significant efficiency determinants identified from the analysis were the age and size of the cooperative, the gender of the principal manager of the cooperative, its governance and the training indicators. The observed relationship between governance and efficiency may be attributed to institutions that prioritise non-financial goals by being relatively more willing to compromise on governance quality. Furthermore, deviations from sound institutional control mechanisms are more likely to emerge in cooperatives that have weak institutional and organisational arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various forms of shared services are adopted by local governments throughout Japan, just as they are in many other countries. There are high hopes of their being efficient and effective means of service provision and resource management of considerable value to the localities in which they are established and operate. But are the hopes fulfilled, and what are the key factors in how the arrangements are structured, work and achieve results? These are important questions, which are addressed in this article with particular reference to the experience of partial service associations as one form of shared services in two prefectures in Japan. The findings reveal that such associations do not necessarily improve financial efficiency because of various transaction costs. These costs, along with other significant aspects of the arrangements, are certainly worthy of further comprehensive research and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of spatial heterogeneity and using data from 281 prefecture-level cities in China over the 2003–2012 period, we empirically test the interactions and differences in the spatial effects through which fiscal decentralization and financial efficiency influence the upgrading of regional industrial structure. The results indicate that regional differences in fiscal decentralization and financial efficiency lead to significant spatial heterogeneity in upgrading the industrial structure. The interaction mechanism between fiscal decentralization and financial efficiency plays a positive role in promoting the upgrading of the regional industrial structure, which is subject to organic integration between fiscal systems and financial development. Moreover, there is significant spatial dependence in the effects of fiscal decentralization and financial efficiency on upgrading the regional industrial structure, the ‘high-lying-land’ effects and the ‘low-lying-land’ effects coexist in the spatial pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this article is to compare the financial performance of private and publicly traded companies in accordance with ownership structure and size. The analysis carried out in the article leads to the conclusion that in Poland private companies perform better than companies that are publicly traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). Statistically significant results are obtained for medium-sized companies. Moreover, it turns out that medium-sized enterprises operate better than large companies as far as profitability is concerned, at least in the group of private companies where results are statistically significant. The analyses conducted in the article are aimed at filling in the gap in studies comparing profitability between publicly traded and private companies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Japan, the Great Heisei Consolidation has facilitated municipal mergers for economies of scale and drastically reduced the number of municipalities since 2000.This phase of merger promotion ended in 2010. The central government’s strongest focus was on encouraging mergers in areas where many municipalities each had a population of less than 10,000. An analysis of the “metropolitan power diffusion index” (MPDI) and “move resources” shows that, although half of the areas achieved good modifications, mergers do not always improve financial efficiency. However, the more striking result is that municipalities in prefectures that resisted the central government’s consolidation incentives, especially Hokkaido where there are many small municipalities, continued to receive the benefit of local allocation tax revenue redistribution from the central government due to their relatively disadvantaged fiscal status. By contrast, the benefits of well-modified municipalities that followed the recommendations of central government policy and achieved good outcomes were reduced and financial exemption was cut. Thus, the central government’s use of accelerated and restrictive approaches to incentivise consolidation was limited by its ongoing willingness to bail out needy municipalities that did not accept with national policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the efficacy of a microcredit-linked self-help group (SHG) program in identifying the problems faced by group members such as income generation and financial performance. To examine this, 120 members in each of three selected blocks in Birbhum District in West Bengal, India, were invited to participate. A multiple regression equation focused on identifying the contributing factors toward explaining SHG income. Results indicated that income generation for all the blocks together was significantly influenced by factors like loan amount, amount of saving, years of existence of SHG, education level of the group leader, and availability of the training facility. However, SHG-wise efficiency scores varied across the blocks that might be related to different sociocultural dimensions. Implications of the analytical findings for future research are discussed at the end of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ever-rising cost of doing business and increased competition, many hotels have experienced financial difficulties resultant from a gradual decline in profit and market share. Since the financial health of the hotel affects its investment capability in constantly improving customer services, the service performance and the subsequent competitiveness of the hotel often reflect its financial efficiency. As such, there is a growing need to assess the financial efficiency of the hotel in comparison with its competitors. To meet such a need, this paper proposes a data envelopment analysis (DEA) that develops a meaningful set of benchmarks that will dictate best practices and form a successful hotel business model. Using the examples of 31 luxury and budget hotels in Korea, this paper illustrates the usefulness of DEA for the continuous improvement of hotel business practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimated a logistic model for predicting takeover targets in the gaming industry. The stepwise procedure selected six variables representing size, managerial efficiency, leverage, and liquidity for the model. The model predicts that large, under-leveraged and highly liquid gaming firms with good operating efficiency but low bottom-line profitability are likely to be takeover targets. The model reveals that gaming companies are engaged in mergers and acquisitions in pursuit of not only operating synergy through economies of scale and increased market shares but also financial synergy via tapping unused debt capacity and lowering debt costs. Improved financing efficiency may help raise the overall efficiency after the acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recent problems of non‐performing loans in the Japanese financial services industry have raised the issue of the alleged ‘inefficiency’ of the Japanese financial sector. Of central concern in analyzing these problems are the role of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in the regulation of the Japanese financial sector and the strengths and weaknesses of the Japanese paradigm of government‐business relationship, of which the MOF's supervision of the financial sector forms an integral part. This paper offers ‘standard’, ‘neoclassical’ and ‘revisionist’ analysis of these problems drawn from both journalistic sources and the political economy literature. It takes the position that the recent troubles in the Japanese financial sector should not be examined in isolation from the rest of the Japanese economy and that they need to be analyzed in the broader context of the current debate on ‘Capitalism vs. Capitalism’. In this broader perspective, the current troubles do not seem to indicate a fundamental weakness in the Japanese financial sector that will necessitate fundamental changes in the MOF's power over the economy. The paper ends with thoughts on the role of the financial sector in ‘Japan Inc.’ and on the dynamics of the relations between financial structure and industrial performance in a world of rising protectionism, managed trade and divergent national economic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]