Performance measuring of wood-processing microenterprises through Data Envelopment Analysis: A case study of Slovakia, Poland, and Bulgaria

In the context of the role the wood-processing industry has in Slovakia, Poland, and Bulgaria, as an income provider in rural regions and contemporary challenges like inflation and intensive competition, there is a need to assess the performance of microenterprises using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), considering the crucial role these entities play in the regional economies. The aim is the creation of a more universally applicable DEA model for assessing the efficiency and performance of wood-processing microenterprises, taking into account the unique challenges and opportunities in Slovakia, Poland, and Bulgaria, defining the profile of optimal enterprise according to methodology in the current research, and indicating the leading problems in their performance. In their management, wood-processing enterprises respond to changes in the external environment, pursuing profit extraction in the competitive struggle. Comparisons with similar companies provide data on the economic efficiency of the sector and the gaps the enterprise needs to correct. Data from the Eurostat Structural Business Statistics were involved for 2011-2020. The current study used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a nonparametric technique that allows enterprises to compare their efficiency frontiers and, from there, reveal their competitiveness. Thus, they can be arranged and measured, and the differences between the inputs and outputs of enterprises can be measured, as well as the efficiency. The results revealed that all the surveyed countries have a problem with the gross value added by a wood-processing micro-enterprise. Polish and Bulgarian enterprises have a problem with pure technical efficiency. Slovakian enterprises have excellent performance and can be used as a benchmark in optimizing the activities of Polish and Bulgarian enterprises.