Analyzing the Operations Strategies of Manufacturing Firms Using a Hybrid Grey DEA approach – A case of Fars Cement Companies in Iran

In competitive markets, the operations strategies of companies are normally formulated based on their competitive advantages. An effective operations strategy should maintain and improve competitive advantages based on the capabilities of the corporate operations resources. Considering the market requirements and the operational performance of the rivals is the key for success and survival of a company in the competition. Therefore, recognizing where a company stands in comparison with its rivals and adopting the appropriate operations strategy plays vital roles in the success of companies. This paper proposes a method for comparing and ranking operations strategies of companies based on the concept of efficient frontier using data envelopment analysis (DEA) in grey environment. In the aforementioned method, DEA is used to evaluate the efficiency of operations strategies of manufacturing firms. Also, grey theory is used to support the uncertainty of the experts’ opinions regarding the inputs and outputs of the DEA model. Then the respective units are ranked, and analyses are performed. The proposed approach is applied for the entire nine cement factories of Fars Province in Iran, and the units are ranked, respective analyses are presented regarding the efficient and inefficient units.