Evaluation of Economic Efficiencies of Veterinary Practices in Kars Province with Data Envelopment Analysis

Abstract

This study was performed to determine the economic activity and profitability of veterinary practices operating in Kars province by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In this study, the 2023 data of 53.6% of veterinary practices operating in Kars province were obtained through a face-to-face survey. In the DEA applied to determine the economic efficiency of practices, input-oriented constant returns to scale (CCR) technique were used According to the study findings, 6.7% of the veterinarians participating in the survey were female, 93.3% were male, and 46.6% were aged between 25 and 29 years. It was observed that all the veterinarians participating in the research had been practicing their professional activities since the date of graduation, and the majority (73.3%) had 3-12 years of experience (graduate date 2011-2020). It was determined that 10% of the veterinarians participating in the survey received postgraduate education (master's degree with thesis and PhD). It was found that 30% of veterinarians opened a practice after working in a practice. According to the DEA results for economic efficiency, it was determined that 90% of the practices were active. As a result, when veterinary practices were evaluated in terms of efficiency, it was understood that rent, maintenance-repair, general administrative costs, and other costs must be reduced in order to make economically ineffective veterinary practices to effective.