The table of contents contains sufficient detail, including a comprehensive list of figures and tables, many of which are duplicated on the accompanying CD. The material is visually appealing, including the placement and frequency of formulas and graphical displays. The book is written effectively and I did not notice any typos, misspellings, or grammatical mistakes. It is the incorporation of Excel into the text that allows for better and more practical examples. For example, in the section on evaluating supply chain efficiency, he illustrates a comparison of ten supply chain members.
linear programming in two dimensions, scheduling two machines) and leave it up to the reader to tackle “real” problems, Dr Zhu's examples tend to be fairly comprehensive.
Unlike some operations research books that may present “baby” problems (e.g. Examples contained in the text also appear on the CD that accompanies the book. But the software would appear to be helpful in providing a means to apply the material. This review will not consider the quality of the software program. The book ends with a detailed description of the DEA Excel add‐in (included with the book) including instructions on its use. Dr Zhu follows a consistent pattern of describing the modeling scenario, providing the mathematical derivation of the model, then using a numerical example to illustrate the application of the model. The topical coverage includes DEA with preference (chapter 4), context‐dependent DEA analysis (chapter 6), models for evaluating supply chains (chapter 8), congestion (chapter 7), super efficiency (chapter 10), and sensitivity analysis (chapter 11). After reviewing the subject of DEA as applied to performance analysis, Dr Zhu describes various specific performance evaluation and benchmarking scenarios and their corresponding DEA model. This review describes the book's contents and discusses its effectiveness from a variety of target audience viewpoints.
While readers with the requisite technical background will likely find the book useful, many practitioners may find the coverage to be incomprehensible due to its mathematical content. The book includes descriptions of many specialized DEA models, examples of their use, and an Excel add‐in program that allows for the implementation of the models. Joe Zhu provides a well‐crafted book on data envelopment analysis (DEA) and its application to performance analysis and benchmarking. Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
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