Evaluating two-stage holistic production systems using novel CSDEA approach

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to apply data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques to the collective decision-making environment to appraise two-stage production process under different decision preferences. Design/methodology/approach - The authors propose a novel multi-criteria group decision-making approach that uses consensus-strategic data envelopment analysis (CSDEA) to appraise two-stage production pr(rPss under two different decision strategies, which are efficiency- and fairness-based group decision preferences. Findings - The authors find that the proposed CSDEA model evaluates the performance of the decision-making units (DMUs) not by diminishing other competitors but rather based on group interests of the entire decision set. Originality/value - The authors extend Li's two-stage model to cases that consider both intermediate inputs and outputs. The authors address the issue of incorporating collective managerial strategy into multicriteria group decision-making and propose a novel CSDEA model that considers not only the individual-level performance of a DMU but also the group-level or collective decision strategies.