Assess the Performance of the Four Harbors in Taiwan by Using Data Envelopment Analysis

• Main Authors: Shao-Liang Chan, 陳劭良
• Other Authors: Chih-Peng Chu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/19438736613944941389

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 高階經營管理碩士在職專班 === 98 === In recent years, the harbors of Taiwan have been facing fierce competition from the harbors in nearby countries. In view of which, the government began to push forward the policy of reorganizing the harbor bureaus into harbor management companies, with an aim to improve efficiency by bringing corporate management into the operation of the harbors, as the corporate system offers higher flexibility and more options for employable strategies. This research aims to explore the management efficiency of harbors managed under different systems. Several harbors in Taiwan have been selected for this research, including Hualien and Taichung Harbors, which are managed under the public administration system, and Heping and Mailiao Industrial Harbors, which are currently managed under a privatized corporate system. Data derived are subjected to a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for exploration of the management efficiency in different harbors. This research is based on four input items, including the number of berths, number of tugboats, number of employees and operational expenditure, and three output items, including cargo handling capacity, gross tonnage entering the harbor and revenue to assess the overall management efficiency, pure technical efficiency (PTE), and scale of efficiency of the targeted harbors. A Slack Variable Analysis is also performed to pinpoint the directions for possible improvements. Results of this research show that, under the set constant and variable return to scale (VRS), Taichung Harbor has relatively higher management efficiency. No significant differences in management efficiency have been found between the two management systems analyzed in this research, and all of the research targets have been found to have sub-standard efficiency. The low performance is mainly shown in scale efficiency. Privatized harbor management companies have better ability to fine-tune the efficiency, and Hualien Harbor, on the other hand, is rather limited in the flexibility of resource input. Beyond the results, this research has also made recommendations regarding possible directions for improvement in harbor management and suggestions for follow-up research.