Journal of Applied Mathematics 
Volume 2004 (2004), Issue 5, Pages 395-407
doi:10.1155/S1110757X04310028

Prioritization method for frontier DMUs: a distance-based approach

Alireza Amirteimoori,1 Gholamreza Jahanshahloo,2 and Sohrab Kordrostami3

 1Department of Mathematics, Islamic Azad University, P.O. Box 41335-3516, Rasht, Iran
2Department of Mathematics, Teacher Training University, P.O. Box 41335-3516, Tehran, Iran
3Department of Mathematics, Islamic Azad University, P.O. Box 41335-3516, Lahijan, Iran
Received 7 October 2003; Revised 27 May 2004

Abstract

In nonparametric methods, if the number of observations is relatively small as compared to the sum of number of inputs and outputs, many units are evaluated as efficient. Several methods for prioritizing these efficient units are reported in literature. Andersen et al. and Mehrabian et al. proposed two methods for ranking efficient units, but both methods break down in some cases. This paper describes a new DEA ranking approach that uses L2-norm.