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The purpose of this paper is to analyze efficiency and its evolution in teams that played in the UEFA Champions League during nine seasons. The aim is to present a research procedure for determining the most accurate data envelopment analysis to estimate and compare the efficiency.

First, the authors analyzed the existence of a temporal trend using the S-statistic. The authors calculated the Kruskal–Wallis statistic to verify if there is stability in relative ranks. The results of the aforementioned tests have indicated that window analysis is an accurate methodology to apply to the sample. The authors analyzed 94 clubs with a sample of 288 observations, obtaining 768 efficiency ratios. They have been calculated using super-efficiency which enables to discriminate efficient units.

Results indicate that there is a low efficiency level in the nine seasons observed. There is a strong correlation between sports results and the efficiency of semifinalists. The authors conclude that improvement in a club’s efficiency could enhance its sports results. Finally, as practical implications, the authors highlight benchmark teams and alternative sports tactics to help clubs become more efficient and achieve better sports results.

This paper contributes to sports efficiency literature by presenting a research procedure to identify the most accurate methodology to be applied to panel data. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first empirical study on international football competitions applying WindowDEA to incomplete panel data.

This paper aims to analyze efficiency of the subsidies granted by the Spanish authorities. The case study focuses on wind-generated electricity. We will study what type of subsidy is most efficient considering the economic and technical data of an existing wind power installation in Spain. A sensitivity analysis is made in order to provide judgment elements to propose the form of the more convenient subsidy. In view of the results obtained, we will evaluate the efficiency of subsidies granted by Spanish authorities.

This paper aims to analyze efficiency of the subsidies granted by the Spanish authorities. The case study focuses on wind-generated electricity. We will study what type of subsidy is most efficient considering the economic and technical data of an existing wind power installation in Spain. A sensitivity analysis is made in order to provide judgment elements to propose the form of the more convenient subsidy. In view of the results obtained, we will evaluate the efficiency of subsidies granted by Spanish authorities.

The purpose of this research is twofold: to evaluate the performance of Spanish First‐Division soccer teams, comparing the sports results that they actually obtain with those that they should have obtained on the basis of their potential, and to propose a future course of action.

In order to assess the potential of each team in the Spanish professional soccer league between the years 1998 and 2005 an output‐oriented version of Data Envelopment Analysis is used. In this way it is possible to calculate the number of points a team could have achieved with an efficient use of its actual resources and, consequently, its potential position in the league classification.

The main conclusion is that a team's final league position depends more on its efficient use of resources than on its potential.

From the practical perspective, the results seem to stress that measures directed at improving soccer teams' results should focus on improving their efficient use of available resources. Consequently, this work provides a preliminary result, obtained using economics tools, that suggests where soccer team managers might direct their efforts to improve their sports results.

The present work is based on the same concept of potential in sports teams as Zak et al. (1979) and Hofler and Payne (1997), but with a number of differences compared with the earlier studies. First, the potential of the teams and their actual results are compared not by assessing their efficiency in the use of resources, but by observing their final league table positions. Second, the technique which is used to estimate the frontier is in this case Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), or the deterministic non‐parametric frontier method, which has not often been used in order to measure efficiency in soccer. Finally, the object of study is the Spanish First Division soccer teams in the seasons 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2001/2002, 2002/2003, 2003/2004 and 2004/2005.

In order for production strategy to develop its role in the creative activity of value it is necessary to have the information that will facilitate decision making and to guide its performance. The aim of this study is to present the basic ideas of how a scorecard, adapted for use in production‐operations should be. More specifically it will present the key factors and indicators which it should contain, these being different depending on the production strategy used and on whether the information is directed at upper management levels or at levels with fewer responsibilities.

In the framework of the European Union, one of the economic sectors of most interest to politicians, academics and professionals has been the banking sector. The aim of this paper is to verify the existence of differences in the efficiency of the banking sectors and what variables determine these differences in European Union countries in the period 1988 to 1999. In spite of the role of the European Market as an element of homogenisation, the starting point of the banking sector in each country is noticeably different. In this paper we will compare the banking systems, looking at aggregate data for each country, since both the characteristics of the financial systems and the regulatory activity follow national guidelines. The efficiency values of each banking system calculated by the means of stochastic frontiers in the European Union will then be used as the dependent variable in the estimation of a regression.

Throughout this research, efficiency levels of the European railway industry are analyzed using non‐parametric methods. A sample of 21 companies is used, in the timeframe of 1984‐1995. The aim of the paper is the analysis of the influence on these firms’ efficiency of organizational change due to their adaptation to the environment in which they operate. This environment has been modified as a consequence of the EU directive 91/440/CEE, which mandates the split of the organizational structure of railway companies in two: operation and infrastructure. Results of this paper state clearly that a major part of the technical efficiency of European railway companies is a consequence of scale inefficiencies. In other words, due to mistakes in the size election. Besides, we have proved that technically efficient companies are those of small size. As a conclusion, we should recommend smaller sizes for the big European railway companies, if they are to improve their technical efficiency.