Paper Title
The Analysis of Competitive Advantage of Construction Companies in Taiwan
Abstract
This paper is aimed to investigate the operational efficiency of 16 listed/marketed construction companies in
Taiwan during 2012-2016after the Asian economic crisis in 2008. We discover the determinant of competitive advantage of
construction companies in Taiwan in that period. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is adopted to evaluate the productivity
efficiency of construction companies in Taiwan. 170 decision making units (DMU) of 16 companies in 5 years are
considered. DEA is a model with multiple inputs and outputs in calculating the technical efficiency of construction
companies in Taiwan. The average of technical efficiency is 0.726. The average of pure technical efficiency is 0.883. The
average of scale efficiency is 0.828. All these numbers imply the companies in construction industry are in good operation
conditions after economic crisis in 2008. A further analysis with Du-Pond analysis and Tobin Q is used to investigate short
term and long-term competitive advantage of construction companies with best technical efficiency in the industry. This
analysis enables the analyst to understand the source of superior (or inferior) return by comparison with companies in similar
industries. In the Tobin Q analysis, we discover that financial leverage is the critical determinant of competitive advantage of
construction firms in construction industry in Taiwan after the Asian economic crisis in 2008.
Keywords- Tobin Q Analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis, Asian Economic Crisis, Du-Pond Analysis.