A review of DEA approaches applying a common set of weights: The perspective of centralized management

The vast majority of DEA approaches assume that the decision making units under assessment possess total autonomy in terms of resource allocation and production planning according to their individual preferences. In contrast to these cases of a fully decentralized management, our review focuses on DEA approaches that imply a certain kind of centralized management by applying a common set of input/output weights. In this scenario, a central authority has at least partial control over the resource usage and output production of the units under consideration. Based on a comparison of the aspects of centralization within the contexts of organization theory and DEA literature, we derive a scheme to classify respective DEA approaches according to the way they derive input/output weights. On this basis, a Scopus database search identifies 135 unique publications that implicate various degrees of centralization. We analyze these publications especially with respect to different research streams and citation patterns. In addition to reflecting the current state of the art of DEA approaches applying a common set of weights, our review also aims at enhancing the awareness of the topic amongst scientists as well as practitioners and at encouraging further research.