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Comparing Productivity Change in Italian and Portuguese Seaports using the Luenberger Indicator Approach

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Maritime Economics & Logistics Aims and scope

Abstract

This paper proposes a framework for benchmarking Italian and Portuguese seaports and the rationalisation of their operational activities. The analysis is based on the Luenberger productivity indicator. A key advantage of this method is that it allows for both input contraction and output expansion in determining relative efficiencies and productivity changes. Benchmarks are provided for improving the operations of those seaports that perform worse than others. Several interesting and useful managerial insights and implications arise from the study. The general conclusion is that the benchmarking of multi-country seaports gives a different picture than the one obtained by benchmarking the seaports of a single country, reflecting different cultural traditions and managerial practices.

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Notes

  1. Productivity measures based on differences are termed ‘indicators’ while measures based on ratios are termed ‘indexes’. Chambers (1996, 2002) and Diewert (1998, 2000) discuss the two approaches.

  2. The theoretical and empirical relationships between the Luenberger indicator and Malmquist productivity index are discussed by Boussemart et al (2003).

  3. See also Färe and Grosskopf (2000) for an overview of the directional distance function.

  4. See Shephard (1970) and Färe et al (1985) for thorough analysis of their implications on technology.

  5. All the computations are programmed in Mathematica language with the mathematica 5.0 software.

  6. We simplify the notations by posing z t =(x t , y t ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, Technical University of Lisbon, Rua Miguel Lupi, 20, Lisbon, 1249-068, Portugal

    Carlos Pestana Barros

  2. GEREM, IAE, Université de Perpignan, 52 avenue Paul Alduy, Perpignan, F-66860, France

    Nicolas Peypoch

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  1. Carlos Pestana Barros
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  2. Nicolas Peypoch
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Barros, C., Peypoch, N. Comparing Productivity Change in Italian and Portuguese Seaports using the Luenberger Indicator Approach. Marit Econ Logist 9, 138–147 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100176

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