The factors with interval target levels in data envelopment analysis

Abstract

In reality, there widely exist kinds of factors that have interval target levels. Differing from traditional DEA, the factors are demanded to achieve the interval target levels for better performance. The paper gives a supplement to the situation that all target levels are able to be reached by DMUs. Furthermore, we measure the DMUs with interval-targeted factors though formulating new production possibility sets and models based on previous papers. This paper has great advantages in decision-making and applications. Firstly, the paper offers an approach to solve the problems that DMUs with interval-targeted factors. Secondly, interval target levels offer decision makers much more flexibility and inclusiveness than fixed target levels. Thirdly, they are applicable to many areas, such as education and resource allocation. Decision makers can use our studies on interval target levels to develop reasonable goals in practice. Graphs and examples are given to illustrate our thought.