The purpose of this study is to measure the efficiency of Greek olive oil companies and to identify efficient decision-making units (DMUs) including the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) period that can be used as work samples in future case studies.
In the measurement of efficiency, financial and operational variables were considered for a sample of 68 DMUs. Efficient companies were identified through the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology with both CCR and BCC models oriented towards inputs and outputs. The time horizon of the study is defined from 2015 to 2023, thus including the years before, during, and the first years after the presence of COVID-19.
Findings revealed that most DMUs operate close to their most productive scale with an average efficiency of scale of 0.952, while only nine DMUs fall below the efficiency threshold of 0.60 CCR, highlighting significant inefficiencies. Additionally, the benchmark efficient DMUs were identified for each of the non-efficient DMUs.
This article is novel and pioneering because it measures for the first time the efficiency of DMUs of the Greek olive oil companies, in addition to including the current state of the literature on the application of the DEA methodology in the food sector. These findings contribute to the consolidation of the theory and also provide input for researchers, practitioners, managers, and policy makers.
