Prioritization and Analysis of Factors Affecting the Efficiency of Local Telephone Exchanges Using ANP/ DEA Technique (Case Study: Telecommunications of East Azerbaijan Region)

After the privatization and acceptance of Iran Telecommunication Company in the stock exchange, it is inevitable for the shareholders to know the efficiency status of the local telephone exchanges. The present study seeks to answer the fundamental question of how to identify the variables affecting the efficiency of exchanges and bring inefficient exchanges to the efficiency frontier. For this purpose, by collecting the opinions of experts in the form of a pairwise comparison questionnaire and analyzing the data using the analytic network process, effective variables in performance have been identified. Raw data have been prepared from planning, inspection and evaluation departments and financial statements for 2017. In the following, the efficiency of the exchanges is presented by data envelopment analysis method in terms of returns to a fixed and variable scale of calculation, ranking and strategies to improve the performance of inefficient exchanges. According to the findings, employee capability, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and management skills are the most effective variables in efficiency. The difference between the number of inefficient exchanges on a fixed and variable scale is the inefficiency of the scale, the non-functioning on the optimal scale and the waste of resources by the exchanges. The low rank of the cities necessitates the selection of the heads of telecommunications of the counties according to individual and specialized competencies. Also, the inefficiency of the exchanges is the lack of motivational competitive environment, decision-making power and risk-taking, and the existence of various organizational and legal constraints.