Performance evaluation : foundations and challenges

This book examines performance evaluation in the context of assessing the non-financial outcomes of human activities. The topic is particularly relevant when economic, environmental or social performance has to be evaluated, e.g. the efficiency of actions and the lifecycles of products. The authors combine multi-criteria decision-making and production theories to develop a theoretical and methodological foundation for performance evaluation. They also demonstrate the typical pitfalls that are hindering the implementation of contemporary methods in practice. Special emphasis is placed on efficiency measurement with data envelopment analysis (DEA), and on data aggregation in life cycle assessment (LCA).