Meta-frontier: literature review and toolkit

Introduced in the 1970s and refined at the beginning of the 2000s, the concept of meta-frontier is now recognized as the most popular operations research technique to deal with technology heterogeneity when conducting an efficiency analysis. As proof, the number of publications has followed an exponential trend with almost 800 publications overall. In short, the concept is based on partitioning DMUs into groups where each group uses its technology. The meta-frontier is defined as the envelopment of the group-specific counterparts. Technology gap ratios are evaluated to distinguish inefficiency behaviours from technological differences. After 20 years of applications and extensions, it is now time to assess the impact of the meta-frontier in the efficiency analysis literature. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review of the concept of meta-frontier. We cover several important aspects such as its origins, developments, and applications, and discuss technical considerations. An important focus will be made on how the partitioning of the DMUs into groups is made in practice; a crucial aspect of the meta-frontier technique. Beyond a simple literature review, this paper represents a guideline and toolkit for practitioners.