A new approach for ranking efficient DMUs with data envelopment analysis

Purpose: Classical models of data envelopment analysis (DEA) calculate the efficiency of decision-making units do not differentiate between efficient units. The purpose of this paper is to present a new method for ranking efficient units and compare it with the other methods presented in this field. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, a new method is presented for ranking efficient units. To validate the proposed method, a real case, which was studied by Li et al. (2016) is examined and the rankings of the efficient units are compared with four other methods including the Andersen and Petersen’s super-efficiency, game theory and the concept of Shapley value and the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution methods. Findings: The results show that there is a high correlation between the rankings of efficient units obtained by the new proposed method and the other methods such as Andersen and Petersen’s super-efficiency, game theory and Shapley value methods. Originality/value: The problem of ranking efficient units with the DEA method is an important issue for researchers. Extensive studies have been proposed to provide methods for ranking efficient units. This paper proposes a simple and fast method for ranking efficient units that achieves better results.