The Use of Data Envelopment Analysis to Select Financial Strategies for Industrial Enterprises

摘要

The expediency of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) usage for gas distribution system (GDS) operators of Ukraine has been substantiated. Such enterprises were estimated and allocated by their degree of efficiency and profitability. This allows to trace changes at the enterprises profitability and the use of resources in comparison with other GDS operators and to form an effective financial strategy. The GDS operators have been divided into 4 groups and variants of strategies for the investigated enterprises have been proposed on the basis of the "profitability - superefficiency" matrix. These variants of strategies are: investment strategy (focused on investing in energy saving technologies, enterprise property, increasing competitiveness and growth of the enterprises market value), diversification strategy (provides for finding ways to increase the superefficiency index through the introduction of expansion of additional services provision, as well as analysis of the main sources of financial activity and its results to ensure the enterprises financial sustainability), cost reduction strategy (aimed at eliminating all factors leading to a negative financial result, as well as revising the main cost items of operating activities and searching for reserves for their optimization) and anti-crisis strategy (involves the action development to minimize insolvency risks, financial and economic diagnostics and consideration of enterprise's reorganization and restructuring possibilities).