Title: Olympics ranking and benchmarking based on cross efficiency evaluation method and cluster analysis: the case of Sydney 2000

Authors: Jie Wu, Liang Liang, Dexiang Wu, Feng Yang

Addresses: School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, He Fei, An Hui Province 230026, P.R. China. ' School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, He Fei, An Hui Province 230026, P.R. China. ' School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, He Fei, An Hui Province 230026, P.R. China. ' Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada

Abstract: In this paper, an extended tool of DEA, namely cross efficiency evaluation method, was used to measure the performance of the nations in the Summer Olympic Games of Sydney 2000. The model in the paper considered two inputs (GNP per capita and population) and a single output (the weighted sum of amounts of medals won). The advantages of the proposed model rest on the fact that it provides for a unique ranking of the participants and eliminates the unrealistic weight schemes without requiring the elicitation of extra weight restrictions. The average cross efficiencies were calculated and were compared to those originated from the radial efficiency method and other previous works. Also, cluster analysis technique was used to select the more appropriate targets for poorly performing countries to use as benchmarks.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis; DEA; cross efficiency evaluation; Olympic Games; ranking; benchmarking; cluster analysis; Sydney 2000; Sydney Olympics; GNP per capita; population; medals won; Olympic medals; national performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2008.020640

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2008 Vol.2 No.4, pp.377 - 392

Published online: 06 Oct 2008 *

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