Standard Indicators of the Efficiency of Minas Gerais Credit Cooperatives Obtained from Data Envolvement Analysis (DEA)

Abstract

The contribution of the present work is the construction of reference indicators for the analysis of the efficiency of credit cooperatives through the use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The efficiency of a credit union can be measured by its ability to offer credit to its members, since one of its purposes is to make credit available to all people by making it cheaper and easier to obtain. In addition, the efficiency of a cooperative can also be measured by its ability to generate surplus, which is partly distributed, thus increasing the income of its members, or reinvested, thus promoting the growth of the institution. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyze the efficiency of credit cooperatives in Minas Gerais, according to their size, and identify indicators of efficiency standard. The analysis was conducted from 2013 to 2015. The results obtained through the normalized frontier indicated that the most efficient small, medium and large cooperatives have administrative and fund-raising expenses that represent 4.04%, 5.52% and 6,82%, respectively, of the sum of the outputs analyzed (surplus + credit operations). These values can be used as parameters for the analysis of these institutions, aiming to assess the internal management of the resources in the cooperative and the amount of benefits provided to their members.