Efficiency Strategy, Product diversification and performance of Plantation Industry: The Case of Malaysia

Abstract

The paper investigates the efficiency of product diversified firms within the plantation industry of Malaysia. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) the firms in this industry are investigated and ranked using the efficiency scores generated by DEA Excel Pro. The correlation matrix shows a relationship between the efficiency variables (input) and performance variables (output), where the slack analysis additionally provides improvement strategy which the inefficient firms can utilise to move onto the efficient frontier. Overall the paper establishes that over nearly 87% of the diversified firms in the plantation industry operate inefficiently, hence the need to stick to the improvement strategy proposed thereof.