Performance Evaluation of Production Chain using Two-Stage DEA Method (Case Study: Iranian Poultry Industry)

Today, the poultry industry is one of the most important food industries in any country in providing food to the communities. Knowledge of how the production chain works in this industry is essential. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of 28 active production chains in the Iranian poultry industry and to calculate their relative efficiency and also determines the supply chain pattern for other chains. In order to achieve this goal, non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) method has been used. The relative efficiency of each unit is first calculated with the network DEA approach and then the traditional DEA and the results of the two methods are compared. Finally, the cross-efficiency method is used to rank the efficient units. The results showed that in the network and traditional model, out of 28 production chains under study, 3 and 7 efficient chains, respectively. In models, the minimum efficiency is 63% and 67%, respectively. Given the number of efficient units in the traditional DEA model, it is obvious that the decision to determine the pattern production chain for other production chains is difficult. This study proposes a network DEA model to evaluate the performance of Iranian poultry industry production chains.Keywords: Efficiency, Supply chain, Two-stage DEA, Poultry Industry.JEL Classification: C67, H0, L80