Title: Empirical study of the performance of Ontario's pulp and paper mills using bootstrap data envelopment analysis

Authors: Shashi K. Shahi; Mohamed Dia

Addresses: Research Centre for Operations and Decision Sciences, Department of Finance and Operations, Faculty of Management, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, P3E-2C6, Canada ' Research Centre for Operations and Decision Sciences, Department of Finance and Operations, Faculty of Management, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, P3E-2C6, Canada

Abstract: Ontario's pulp and paper mills have been facing extreme competitive pressures due to declining markets and low-cost competition from around the world, which have affected their performance and relative technical efficiency. This study uses a non-parametric technique, bootstrap data envelopment analysis, in analysing the operational efficiency of 23 pulp and paper mills in Ontario with sample data collected over a period of 17 years (1999 to 2015). The results indicate low levels of efficiencies due to the management of operations as well as the scale of operations, especially during the economic downturns. In addition, we noticed regional differences in the operational efficiencies of these mills. These results provide comprehensive details to mill managers to reallocated future resources.

Keywords: bootstrapping; data envelopment analysis; DEA; forest industry; pulp mills; paper mills; Ontario; technical efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2020.109330

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2020 Vol.31 No.1, pp.98 - 133

Received: 04 Mar 2019
Accepted: 07 Jun 2019
Published online: 03 Sep 2020 *

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