Manufacturing plants in South Africa face challenges related to cost-efficiency, which can be influenced by various internal and external factors. Panel data analysis will be employed using a mixed-effects model with robust standard errors to account for potential unobserved heterogeneity. The empirical results suggest that firm-specific fixed effects significantly influence the estimated cost-efficiency ratios, indicating the importance of considering plant-level characteristics in efficiency assessments. Panel data methods provide valuable insights into understanding and improving cost-effectiveness within South African manufacturing environments. Manufacturing managers should consider adopting panel data methodologies to enhance their understanding of internal operational efficiencies. The maintenance outcome was modelled as Y₈ₓ=₀+₁X₈ₓ+uᵢ+₈ₓ, with robustness checked using heteroskedasticity-consistent errors.
Maseela et al. (Fri,) studied this question.