DEA models for the explicit maximisation of relative efficiency

It has recently been demonstrated that incorporating weight bounds and other non-homogeneous restrictions in DEA models may lead to underestimation of the maximum relative efficiency of decision making units. This paper suggests a way of avoiding this by replacing the objective function in DEA models by the relative efficiency of the assessed unit and converting the resulting models to linear forms. An alternative approach based on incorporating weight restrictions in the recently introduced maximin DEA model is also considered. It is shown that imposing weight bounds in the maximin model is equivalent to imposing bounds on ratios of individual weights. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.