Abstract The study investigates the efficiency of a sample of Italian aquaculture firms according to their legal status, size, and location. An efficiency analysis was conducted for a sample of 160 units using an output-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis. The average value of the efficiency scores reveals that it should be possible to significantly increase firm performance. The most inefficient farms are cooperatives, southern farms, and the smallest farms. The weight of efficient units is as follows: 34% of the cooperatives and 26% of the limited liability companies; 26% of units located in Northern-Central regions and 34% of those placed in Southern areas; 47% of the big and 23% of the small firms. Among subgroups of units, the only significant difference in the average efficiency score is related to the firm size. The sensitivity of the results to methodological choices reveals that the variable return to scale hypothesis fits the data better than the constant returns to scale and that bootstrapping while changing the value of the scores does not change findings in terms of size, location, and legal status. Actions which remove obstacles and increase firm size are the most obvious ways to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the sector.

中文翻译：

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评估意大利水产养殖公司的效率

摘要 本研究根据法律地位、规模和地点调查了意大利水产养殖公司样本的效率。使用面向输出的数据包络分析对 160 个单位的样本进行了效率分析。效率得分的平均值表明应该有可能显着提高公司绩效。效率最低的农场是合作社、南部农场和最小的农场。高效单位权重如下：合作社34%，有限责任公司26%；26% 的单位位于中北部地区，34% 的单位位于南部地区；47% 的大公司和 23% 的小公司。在单位的子组中，平均效率得分的唯一显着差异与公司规模有关。结果对方法选择的敏感性表明，规模收益可变假设比规模收益不变更适合数据，并且在改变分数值的同时进行引导不会改变在规模、位置和法律地位方面的调查结果. 消除障碍和扩大企业规模的行动是提高该部门效率和竞争力的最明显方式。