EFFICIENCY EVALUATION OF E-COMMERCE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES USING COMBINED APPROACH OF PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS AND DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS

摘要

This study considers measurement of technical efficiency of e-commerce practice in selected developing countries to see there is any difference in terms of practicing e-commerce. The measure of technical efficiency is carried out on cross-sectional data for 38 developing countries in 2005. Since the variables included in the output set are correlated, the non-parametric mathematical programming (DEA) along with principal components analysis (PCA) is used for this purpose. Empirical results show that 11 countries out of 38 are operating at an efficiency level of more than 70%. The mean efficiency is 44% indicating that, on average, there is a potential for a decrease in inputs of 56%. Most countries are experiencing decreasing returns to scale.