Are ERDFs Devoted to Boosting ICTs in SMEs Inefficient? A Three-Stage SBM Approach

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript consists of six main sections that logically present the methodological approaches and results of the study. It is devoted to an important issue of the a three-stage Slack Based-Measure (SBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model combined with Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), which considers data reported to the European Union (EU) as well as contextual factors, to appraise 51 OPs from 16 countries. The subject matter discussed in the article is an interesting one, and timely. It is useful from the scientific point of view and interesting for the readers.

The statement is transparent, factually correct and well structured. Both the basic assumptions underlying the methodological approaches and conclusions summerizing the significant findings are clearly presented. The cited bibliography confirms the thesis put forward by the authors. However, data sources in figures and tables should be improved - Authors should clearly indicate where the data comes from or who is their author. Numerous tabular statements are sufficiently commented. The presented final conclusions sufficiently relate to the thesis put forward by the authors. Some minor editing errors are visible, e.g. the font of the paragraph below the table 7, the font in Table 9. The English language and style are fine.

The above proves that the manuscript can be recommended for publication.

Author Response

Reviewer 1

The manuscript consists of six main sections that logically present the methodological approaches and results of the study. It is devoted to an important issue of the a three-stage Slack Based-Measure (SBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model combined with Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), which considers data reported to the European Union (EU) as well as contextual factors, to appraise 51 OPs from 16 countries. The subject matter discussed in the article is an interesting one, and timely. It is useful from the scientific point of view and interesting for the readers.

The statement is transparent, factually correct and well structured. Both the basic assumptions underlying the methodological approaches and conclusions summerizing the significant findings are clearly presented. The cited bibliography confirms the thesis put forward by the authors.

R: We would like to thank the reviewer for his/her positive comments.

However, data sources in figures and tables should be improved - Authors should clearly indicate where the data comes from or who is their author.

R: Thank you very much for your valuable suggestion. We have now clearly identified all sources below the figures and tables.

Numerous tabular statements are sufficiently commented. The presented final conclusions sufficiently relate to the thesis put forward by the authors.

R: We would like to thank the reviewer for his/her positive comments.

Some minor editing errors are visible, e.g. the font of the paragraph below the table 7, the font in Table 9.

R: Thank you very much for your valuable observation. We do not know what happened because in our manuscript the font size is similar throughout the document.

The English language and style are fine.

R: We would like to thank the reviewer for his/her positive comments.

Reviewer 2 Report

In general, the article is a complete scientific study with clear practical recommendations. Whereby:
1. the authors need to strengthen the literature review and consider more studies on this scientific topic; it would be good to do a small scientometric analysis to study the number and scientific areas of publications on this topic;
2. in my opinion, the authors should present the methodology used step by step to clarify the stages of the study, as there is no clarity at the moment.

Author Response

Reviewer 2

In general, the article is a complete scientific study with clear practical recommendations.

R: We would like to thank the reviewer for his/her positive comments.

Whereby:

1. the authors need to strengthen the literature review and consider more studies on this scientific topic; it would be good to do a small scientometric analysis to study the number and scientific areas of publications on this topic;

R: Thank you very much for your suggestion. With this regard, we have added a new section with a literature review devoted to papers dedicated to ICT policies in SMEs.

2. in my opinion, the authors should present the methodology used step by step to clarify the stages of the study, as there is no clarity at the moment.

R: Thank you very much for your valuable suggestion. We have now clearly identified all the steps of the methodology followed, both in the description of the methodology and in the discussion of results.