Li Y., Hou S., Yao L., 2016, Profitability Assessment Using Data Envelopment with Cluster Analysis: A Case for Different Types of Gas Stations, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 51, 727-732.
The refined oil market in China is gradually opening up and becoming increasingly more competitive that urge the retail managers to assess the profitability of each gas station to increase its retail profits. This paper focuses on a profitability analysis of the gas station retail market by analyzing the sales and profitability which is commonly measured by examining the efficiency of the conversion of the inputs into outputs. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is utilized to assess efficiency through calculating the relative efficiency of various gas stations. First of the analysis, testing for subsets of gas stations in order to implement classified management which has proven to be a good management practice in actual operation. This paper applies cluster analysis (CA) toincrease the discriminatory power of DEAand improve the classification of gas stations. Then, 200 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) gas stations in Sichuan province are analyzed to evaluate the applicability and effectiveness of the methodology. Next, the DEA results are compared to the SE-DEA results of traditional types of gas stations based on geographical environment. Then, several proposals are made for managers to develop retail marketing and expand refined products at terminal network stations.
