Efficiency of the supply chain collaborative technological innovation in China: An empirical study based on DEA analysis

Purpose: This paper is an attempt to investigate the current issues and efficiency of the supply chain collaborative technological innovation in China. Design/methodology/approach: DEA is employed to measure the efficiency of the supply chain collaborative technological innovation. Findings: From the results of this research, we can see the large gap among the selected companies and there are big spaces for improvement for them in terms of supply chain collaborative technological innovation, especially in the collaborative benefit aspect. Research limitations/implications: More industries are suggested to be investigated to generalize the conclusions in this paper. Practical implications: Our practical implications for the companies to improve their supply chain collaborative technological innovation efficiency are: (1) expanding the cooperative scope; (2) optimizing the collaboration operations; (3) improving the compactness in supply chain; (4) increasing the innovation input; and (5) improving the knowledge exchange capacity. Originality/value: The evaluation and the measure of the efficiency of the supply chain collaborative technological innovation both in theory and in practice have been proven to be very important and quite complex. From the observation, however, there have been limited researches in the current literature. This research investigates the current issues and development of the supply chain collaborative technological innovation in China, and provides the guideline in terms of improving the efficiency of supply chain collaborative technological innovation.