Efficiency evaluating and improvement by using the network SBM-DEA model with undesirable output: A case study of Iranian airlines

Measuring and improving the efficiency of organizations, as one of the most important parts of the organization's performance evaluation and a tool to control it, is a contemplative issue in order to survive and advance in the area of competition. Transportation is also a key element in the growth and development of countries that creates an unbreakable link among the various sections of the economy. Therefore, evaluating and improving the efficiency of the transportation industry, especially air transportation, as a fast and expensive method, is of particular importance in today's world. The purpose of this article was to evaluate and improve the efficiency of Iranian airlines, that for this purpose, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Method, as the most popular method of evaluating efficiency, has been selected. In recent years, network envelopment data analysis models have been developed, taking into account various parts of the organization's activity in computing efficiency. Also, undesirable outputs have been considered as the reality of the outside world in these models. In this article, the Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model as one of the newest data envelopment analysis models has been considered that simultaneously sought to increase outputs and reduce inputs, in a network form and associated with undesirable output as the basis of efficiency computations. The efficiency of 14 Iranian airlines was evaluated using the mentioned model.