Benchmarking Marketing Productivity Using Data Envelopment Analysis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2005

Department

Marketing and Fashion Merchandising

Abstract

Benchmarking has not received much attention in marketing literature because of the lack of appropriate methodological tools to aid the benchmarking process. This paper tries to fill this gap in research and suggests a rigorous quantitative approach to benchmarking marketing productivity. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is suggested to aid traditional benchmarking activities and to provide guidance to managers. DEA is useful in identifying the best performing units to be benchmarked against as well as in providing actionable measures for improvement of a company's marketing performance. An illustration is provided to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of DEA as a benchmarking tool. Implications for managers and directions for future research are discussed. (c) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publication Title

Journal of Business Research

Volume

58

Issue

11

First Page

1474

Last Page

1482

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