Productive efficiency of the Spanish regional public firms: The case of the philharmonic orchestras

The aim of this research is to determine the measurement of the technical efficiency of Spanish regional public firms that are oriented to the provision of public services. This study represents an innovative contribution because the analysis of the efficiency of this type of firms is a subject scarcely explored. After reviewing the limitations and restrictions that public firms bear as singular organizations: lack of market competition, existence of complex organizational objectives, existence of hardly quantifiable and multidimensional output and missing market prices, it appears appropriate the use of the production frontier analysis, specially the non-parametric technique, because it allows us to surpass the limitations and restrictions that characterize the service-oriented public firms. Lastly, it is measured the technical efficiency in the case of the particular Spanish regional public firms: the symphony orchestras.