Efficiency Assessment with Data Envelopment Analysis for Benchmarking Fitness Center Business Performance in Thailand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58837/CHULA.CBSJ.45.2.1Keywords:
Data Envelopment Analysis, Benchmarking, Fitness Industry, Sport Marketing, Performance MeasurementAbstract
The fitness center business (FCB) in Thailand has experienced increasing market value and economic impacts to the sports industry over the last years. Despite the fact that sports marketers often enhance competitiveness by increasing investments through various marketing strategies, efficiency has never been assessed. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Tobit regression model were first applied in FCBs for benchmarking their efficiency, which helps entrepreneurs, marketers, and scholars to fulfill the management gap to investigate influential marketing factors affecting FCB performance. Sixty FCBs in Thailand were qualified in the inclusion criteria to be decision-making units (DMU). The average efficiency score of DMUs is 0.9468, which is consistent with empirical data showing that they survived the COVID-19 pandemic. Personal trainer standards, product development, atmosphere, and interior decoration are significant influential marketing factors that affect FCB performance. Entrepreneurs and marketers should adopt personal trainers into their marketing strategies to drive FCB performance.
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