Multiple Criteria Decision-Making: A Novel Applications of Network DEA Model

Do retired professional baseball players become effective coaches? Are Taiwanese coaches up to the job of coaching in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL)? What are the key coaching factors affecting a CPBL team's performance in the regular-season? In this study, we examine the key coaching factors affecting the efficiency of CPBL teams from the perspective of efficiency and productivity, using network data envelopment analysis, truncated regression analysis, and bootstrapping methods to provide specific recommendations. We calculated the efficiency of each CPBL team from the 2014 to 2016 regular-seasons. First, the "ex-member" indicator had a significant negative impact on team performance, indicating that a coaching team consisting of coaches with different backgrounds or experience is advantageous to a team's performance in games; and second, the "ex-professional player" indicator had a significant impact on team performance in the regular season, indicating that the valuable experience of retired professional baseball players definitely has value. The proposed model, after being modified appropriately according to practical needs, can be widely applied to comprehensively track the coaching ability of professional baseball teams and coaches, as well as the players' ability and efficiency, and will help implement improvements in all aspects of performance management with originality and significant impact.