Study On Efficiency And Its Influencing Factors Of Sichuan's Road Transportation

Modern logistics industry is a kind of productive complex, which serves as the basic strategic industry to support and boost economic development. Under the circumstances at home and abroad that online economy emerges and international financial crisis steadily spreads, developing modern logistics industry becomes the vital means of boosting the industrial structure adjustment, changing the development mode and improving the competitive edge of national economy. Therefore, State Council enacted a series of documents which made an essentially strategic design on the transformation and upgrading of modern logistics. However, nowadays problems such as high cost and low efficiency exist in national logistics industry, therefore, how to raise distribute on efficiency is the key to quickening the development and transformation of contemporary logistics and it has become one of issues that government and academic entity pay attention to. Sichuan is a powerfully economic province in the interior land of west, whose typical characteristic is that the transportation is mainly dependent on the road. The road transportation efficiency directly influences the logistics efficiency. Based on this background, this study adopted DEA method to objectively evaluate the road transportation efficiency of Sichuan. Moreover, it investigated the impact factors and profoundly knew about the current situation of road transportation efficiency, which can offer corresponding evidence for road transportation efficiency of Sichuan province and reach the goal of raising distribution efficiency of Sichuan.This paper is centered on efficiency evaluation, grasping the inducing demand traits of road closely and analyzing the current situation of Sichuan province from three dimensions of market position, supply characteristics and demand traits. What's more, it employed input directed SBM-DEA model to measure the road transportation efficiency in province and city-tier from 2007 to 2013, and studied the varying traits, regional characteristics and driving factors in details. Furthermore, it used Malmquist productivity index to investigate the operational efficiency of road transportation in Sichuan at the dynamic angle. Based on this, we employed Tobit random effects panel model to analyze the impacts of road transportation supply, demand, region, external shocks and competition on the road transportation efficiency.This study implied that:(1) At present, the logistics transportation is mainly dependent on road transportation, and the market demand of road transportation is gradually shifting toward transportation demand of products with high added value; (2) In general, the efficiency of road transportation in Sichuan is not high and has the slowly decreasing tendency, obviously fluctuating as the external shocks. The measurement results of SBM-DEA model and Malmquist productivity index indicate that in general the operational efficiency of road transportation in Sichuan is slowly on the decline, and the earthquake hit in 2008 triggered the significant fluctuation of the road transportation efficiency; (3) There is much regional variation in road transportation efficiency in Sichuan. Through comparing the road transportation efficiency of five economic regions in Sichuan, we found that the efficiency of southern economic region ranks first, behind which is Chengdu economic region, and efficiency in northwestern economic region in the lowest, connoting that obvious distinction exists among different economic regions; (4) The change of road transportation efficiency in Sichuan results from the driving force of pure technology efficiency and scale efficiency. Results of SBM-DEA model and Malmquist productivity index showed that changes in pure technology efficiency and scale efficiency push forward changes in integrated technology efficiency. Changes of scale efficiency are predominant in the extreme changes of efficiency, however, changes of pure technology efficiency are predominant at the relatively medium-effected stage of integrated efficiency; (5) Impacts of transportation demand and external shocks are significant on road transportation efficiency. Results of Tobit random effects panel model denotes that regional GDP per capita representing demand has positive influence on road transportation efficiency, and dummy variables on behalf of earthquake and international financial crisis significantly impact road transportation efficiency in a negative way, inferring that road transportation efficiency is prone to external shocks. What's more, railway competition has positive effects on road transportation efficiency.Combining the traits of road transportation in Sichuan, this paper puts forward solutions and suggestions to road transportation efficiency:reforming organization cooperation ways, pushing road transportation toward modern logistics; employing contemporary information technology to achieve the technology intelligence of the road transportation management; improving investment structure and targets, reinforcing the capital input of advanced roads and subordinate distribution facilities, supporting traffic construction in underdeveloped areas, boosting the coordination of regional road transportation development; building increasing pole of logistics, facilitating the scaling and networking of road transportation within regions, perfectly connecting other transportation means.