arbiter
JournalsPricingAccount

Measuring SMEs technical, cost and allocative efficiency and its determinants in South Africa

Adefemi A. Obalade & Anthanasius Fomum Tita

International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance2025https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmef.2025.10069294article
ABDC C
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

A question that has received little research in the empirical literature is whether small and medium-sized enterprises are efficient and what are the determinants of efficiency? We employ a two-stage efficiency analysis to measure the technical, cost and allocative efficiency of South African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their determinants. Our results showed that only 3.7% and 0.17% of the 588 SMEs analysed are technically and costefficient, respectively, with an overall average score for technical, cost and allocative efficiency of 84.7%, 70.8% and 94%. SMEs led by women are 3% points more cost and allocation-efficient than SMEs led by men. Cost efficiency emerges as the biggest challenge for SMEs' growth and survival, while foreign ownership, experience, and location are the major determinants of SME efficiency.

Open paper page →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmef.2025.10069294

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{adefemi2025,
  title        = {{Measuring SMEs technical, cost and allocative efficiency and its determinants in South Africa}},
  author       = {Adefemi A. Obalade & Anthanasius Fomum Tita},
  journal      = {International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1504/ijmef.2025.10069294},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Measuring SMEs technical, cost and allocative efficiency and its determinants in South Africa

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.